9:00am - 9:30am: Check-In & Ice-Breaking Activities | Campus Center
9:30am - 10:30am: Welcome & Keynote Address | Jemez Rooms
10:30am - 11:45am: Workshop Session 1 | Assigned Classroom
11:45am - 12:45pm: Lunch and Group Photo | Campus Center
12:45pm - 2:00pm: Workshop Session 2 | Assigned Classroom
2:00pm - 4:00pm: Raffle & STEAM Fair | Jemez Rooms
Dr. Diane Oyen is a Computer Scientist and Team Leader of Artificial Intelligence Foundations at Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). She received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico. At LANL, Diane develops machine learning methods for accelerating scientific discovery. She has applied these methods to analyze ChemCam observations on Mars, accelerate physics simulations, characterize malware for cybersecurity, and analyze information in technical images. Before joining LANL, Diane designed computer hardware in the semiconductor industry and taught high school math in Albuquerque. For fun, she has visited all 50 states and 5 continents. She can usually be found outside hiking and running; or inside remodeling her house.
A ) Fun with Computers, Music, & Robots
with Teri Roberts
Ever wonder how computers and robots actually work? Discover the surprisingly simple ideas behind digital computers while exploring the exciting world of coding and robotics. You’ll build visual computer programs, experiment with creating music and art through code, and bring robots to life! See how robots process, move, and respond to instructions—and then try programming them yourself. Come ready to create, code, experiment, and discover what you can make technology do!
B ) Investigating Electricity
with Susan Webster and Molly Quay de la Valee
Students will investigate how batteries supply energy to circuits. First, they will create a circuit that contains a wet-cell battery. Next, after learning to draw schematics for circuits, they will create a circuit that powers an electric fan. Finally, students will measure the difference between a single-battery circuit and a compound battery circuit using a voltmeter.
C ) Greenhouse in a Jar
with Ty McCormick
What does a plant need to survive and thrive? In this hands-on workshop, you’ll explore how plants use water, light, air, and nutrients—and discover how their environment affects their growth and health. Then, put your new knowledge to work by designing and building your own terrarium! You’ll make choices about the materials and conditions your plant needs while creating a miniature environment where it can grow. Along the way, you’ll discover how plants and their surroundings work together as a living system. Come ready to explore, create, and get your hands a little dirty!
D ) Magnifying Curiosity
with Adriana C. Salazar Coariti
In this interactive workshop, students become "science detectives" to explore the invisible world around them. The session begins with a dynamic multimedia presentation where students learn the core principles of optics. Following the presentation, students engage in a hands-on "Guess & Draw" exercise as they are shown mysterious, highly magnified images of everyday objects, form a scientific hypothesis about what the objects are, and draw their predictions. Students then test their hypotheses by building these fully functional paper microscopes, which they use to observe real samples like plant cells and fabric.
E ) Hungry Hungry Predator!
with Harpreet Batther, Stephanie Sutton-Dauber, Jennifer Pentz, and Zoe Taylor
The big question that workshop strives to answer is: "Why did life go from single cells to groups of cells working together?" During this workshop, students will test if being multicellular actually protects yeast from predators by comparing single-celled yeast to multi-celled (cluster) yeast see which survives better when there's something trying to eat them.
F ) Waves Unleashed
with Zhangxi "Jesse" Feng, Jacob Williams, Esteban Hernandez, Michael Taylor, Makenzie Nord, and Alexis Carney
What do ripples in water, sound, and a slinky have in common? They all reveal the fascinating science of waves! In this hands-on workshop, you’ll experiment with water, tuning forks, slinkies, and other materials to uncover how waves behave. But there’s a twist—you won’t always know what caused the patterns you observe! You’ll investigate, make predictions, test different variables, and use your observations to solve the mystery. Then compare your discoveries with other students and see if you cracked the wave code. Come ready to experiment, investigate, and make some waves!
