The Citizen Science Lab

Students in 7-12th Grade can register now thru March 10th for Oakland Planning and Development Corporation's School2Career Healthcare Showcase! The workshops are Wednesday’s for eight weeks from March 10th to May 5th on Zoom. There will be presentations every Wednesday and all material will be provided to you free of charge. Register at: http://ow.ly/RATo50DP8Qr... #STEM #Healthcare #RemoteLearning

"We want to immerse kids in authentic experiences to ignite their curiosity about the world. Our secret weapons are facts, photos, fun, and all things animal! Here are some great publications that inspire and challenge young scientists to engage with #STEM through activity-based books! https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/ #STEMActivities #STEMBooks #VirtualLearning

Are you ready to spring forward into some hands-on, interactive science experiments this month?! All throughout March, our budding scientists will be diving into the study of animals and learning all about chemical compounds! There’s always something exciting happening at The Citizen Science Lab! #STEM #RemoteSchool #STEMActivities #Science

Our last, but certainly not least, #BlackHistoryMonth #STEMSuperstar of the Day is Dr. Andre Samuel. Dr. Samuel was raised in Washington, DC and graduated from the University of the District of Columbia with a degree in Biology. Following graduate study at The George Washington University in Genomics and Bioinformatics, he received his PhD in Biology from Duquesne University. At Duquesne, his research focused on studying the structure and function of the cold shock related pr...oteins in E. coli. As a Ph.D. candidate, Dr. Samuel founded the S.I.G.M.A Science Mentorship Initiative, a summer study program designed to introduce diverse ninth graders to the university’s lab with the long-term goal of encouraging the pursuit of careers in scientific research. Dr. Samuel’s research experience includes studying toxicology and carcinogenicity effects of novel drugs, hookworm vaccine development under the direction of Dr. Peter Hotez and tuberculosis reactivation in non-human primates in the laboratories of Dr. JoAnne Flynn. Over the past 5 years The Citizen Science Lab and its executive director have received a number of awards for its work throughout the community. In 2015 Dr. Samuel was awarded the BMe Community Leadership Award for his excellence and positive impact through The Citizen Science Lab. In 2016 The Citizen Science Lab received four awards for their participation in SeaPerch Program and The Citizen Science Lab was also selected to participate in the Navy Embark Program. Also in 2016, Dr. Samuel received the President's Volunteer Service Award from the Obama Administration. In 2017 The Citizen Science Lab received the PSAYDEN After-School Champion Award and the Iota Phi Foundation’s Excellence in Education Award. Dr. Samuel has also been selected as an inaugural member of the Lead Now Pittsburgh cohort created by Leadership Pittsburgh and recently, in 2020, received the Carnegie Science Center’s Leadership in STEM Education Award. #STEM #RepresentationInSTEM

Today's #BlackHistoryMonth #STEMSuperstar of the Day is our very own Dr. Candice Johnson. Dr. Johnson is a microbiologist, immunologist, and the STEM coordinator of our South Hills Office. Born in Pittsburgh, Candice graduated from Gateway Senior High School in 2003. Growing up in Monroeville, she developed an admiration of biomedical sciences in middle school, which she explored in weekend workshops at Carnegie Mellon University. She completed her undergrad at the University... of Maryland Eastern Shore, graduating in 2007, but would return home to Pittsburgh each summer to conduct research at the Center for Genomic Studies at Allegheny General Hospital in the Allegheny Health Network. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, at Meharry Medical College in 2007. Choosing Microbiology and Immunology as her concentrations, her thesis project focused on identifying surface proteins involved in parasite attachment and entry into host cells and how you can utilize the information to cure infection. After finishing school, she did a post-doctoral fellowship at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the Office of Vaccine Research and Review. Her work there focused on the possible pathogenicity of M.catarrhalis during ENT infections. Her government science career continued at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, developing standards for spectrometer calibration for sample analysis. She realized that her true passion was science outreach, and left the government labs to join The Citizen Science Lab. She is responsible for curating and organizing scientific experiences to share with the community to support and strengthen the future generations of scientists. #STEM #Science #WomenInScience #RepresentationInSTEM

Some more experiment kits packed up and ready to go! Little sneak peak of our one of our #MysteryMarch experiments, things are going to get a little wacky To find your next experiment, visit:... https://www.thecitizensciencelab.org/remote-learning or https://www.thecitizensciencelab.org/field-trip-in-a-box #STEM #STEMEducation #Science