SCIS Students Continue STEM Outreach
On March 19th, members of the School of Computing and Information Science and the University of Maine community volunteered their time and expertise at the Maine Science Festival (MSF). Launched in in 2015, MSF is held annually with events across Downtown Bangor and at the Cross Insurance Center. Last year, the festival had more than 10,000 people celebrating Maine science at over 45 events (panel discussions, hands-on activities, workshops, and exhibits) during the weekend.
A total of 23 people represented the VEMI lab at the event, including SCIS undergraduate and graduate students, and volunteers. The students conducted a multitude of different demonstrations on STEM topics, such as computer science and virtual reality. These included a demonstration that included designing a virtual world in real time using audio input, as well as four interactive virtual reality/artificial reality experiences that included Toy Box, Tornado, Edge Detection, and Apondcalypse.
Volunteerism was not only seen among SCIS students, as a number of SCIS faculty and external faculty members showed their support for the festival. Dr. Nicholas Giudice and Dr. Richard Corey represented the VEMI lab at the event. Dr. Corey interviewed SCIS Director Dr. Max Egenhofer and Professor Dr. Kate Beard-Tisdale on the main stage of the event. Other UMaine faculty and administration that Dr. Corey interviewed at the event included Dr. Anne Knowles of the history Department, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Emily Haddad, Shawn Laatsch from the Emera Astronomy Center, and Vice President for Research and Carol Kim, Dean of the Graduate School.
More information on the Maine Science festival can be found here. To request a STEM presentation at your school by SCIS students, contact the VEMI Lab.