Volha Minich, Stephen F. Austin State University human anatomy and physiology lecturer, explains the effects of radioactivity to several high school students in the “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” session during STEM Day 2016.
More than 230 high school students from 12 Texas school districts attended the annual SFA science, technology, engineering and mathematics event on Friday, Feb. 26, hosted by the STEM Research and Learning Center on the SFA campus.
Sponsored this year by Lockheed Martin, the event has brought more than 1,300 students during the past five years to the university to spend a day engaging in hands-on, inquiry-based science and mathematics in a cooperative learning environment. An SFA faculty member led each session with support from university undergraduate and graduate students.
Scott Thompson, an engineer with Lockheed Martin’s Lufkin operations facility, volunteered as a judge for the afternoon activity of designing, building and testing catapults.
“Students investigated photosynthesis, chemistry transformations in culinary arts, and mathematical patterns in nature and the military,” said Dr. Jana Redfield, assistant director of the STEM Research and Learning Center in the SFA College of Sciences and Mathematics. “They also worked on creating computer games and much more.”
