Pollen Power Camp 2015
Pollen Power Camp 2015
Pollen Power! A week long day camp for talented girls who are interested in the biological sciences.
Hosted by the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology on the University of Illinois campus, the camp will provide an opportunity for girls to study plant responses to climate change in the distant past and the coming century. Research groups of 8 to 10 campers led by a female graduate student will use million-dollar microscopes to image pollen, giving the campers first-hand experience in a research environment with female mentors. The camp is designed for girls who have completed 6th or 7th grade, or are entering 7th or 8th grade in the Fall 2015, and who have an interest in plants and the environment. The camp was co-organized by IGB Core Facilities Director Glenn Fried, with assistance from other IGB members.
The camp was designed to give girls a kaleidoscopic picture of what it means to be a plant biologist: activities included using the IGB Core Facilities’ high-powered microscopes, designing and printing 3D pollen grains at the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab, learning to identify different types of pollen and to pollinate corn, planning and recording a climate newscast with green screen technology, and hearing guest talks from IGB researchers on the science of pollen and the crucial role that women play in STEM fields.
This will be the third year that the IGB Core Facilities will be providing microscopy facilities for the Pollen Power Camp hosted by Lisa Ainsworth and Andrew Leakey. The camp will be held July 6-10, 2015. Registration is now open for this year’s camp. For more information, visit our website at: http://pollensummercamp.illinois.edu/.
