Summer Enrichment Program in Agriculture & Environmental Science

Virginia State University is hosting its annual Summer Enrichment Program in Agriculture & Environmental Science for high school juniors and seniors. The deadline to apply is May 15.  Please let Michelle know if you have questions; contact information below.

MICHELLE OLGERS
Director of Marketing & Communications
Virginia State University
College of Agriculture
P.O. Box 9081
Virginia State University, VA  23806
Office: 804.524.6964  Fax: 804.524.5967
Cell: 804.304.4200
Email: molgers@vsu.edu

Registration information can be found here-
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SwKrpvZVeoDVi9tDQPCLHgz30mmAlMARjWbxx9RWvzQ/viewform

Did You Know?
VSU College of Agriculture prepares students to become part of Virginia's #1 industry-agriculture and forestry-with a total economic impact of $70 billion and providing more than 400,000 jobs in the Commonwealth.

VSU College of Agriculture prepares students for careers in agribusiness, natural resources, veterinary science, nutrition, child development, hospitality management, and fashion design and merchandising.

In 2014 a VSU College of Agriculture sophomore was 1 of only 6 undergraduate college students across the state to be awarded a $500 research grant by the Virginia Academy of Science.

VSU's ag students have the opportunity to gain small business and marketing experience by growing and selling their produce through on-campus farmers markets and CSAs.

VSU's College of Agriculture co-administers Virginia Cooperative Extension with Virginia Tech.

In 2014 VSU's Small Farm Outreach Program was awarded close to $1 million to help fulfill its 1890s land grant mission to help strengthen Virginia's agricultural economy by assisting small-acreage farmers and ranchers.

April 25th Egg Drop at VBI

Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech (numbers 119 and 120 on a campus maphttp://www.maps.vt.edu/PDF/campus-map-highres.pdf) will host a Egg Drop and Straw Rocket hands-on activity on April 25th from 10-3 pm. Oh Snap, a First Lego League Team will host an activity called "Learn to Program a Robot Alligator!". 



Free and open to the public. All are welcome to participate in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fun! Children must be accompanied by an adult.



Cars may park in front of the building; Virginia Tech parking permits are not required. 



Activity is part of Kids' Tech University, a program hosted by VBI and Virginia 4-H.

Hokiesaurus Presents: Planetary Adventures

April 23, 2015 Thursday, 4:30-5:30 pm

Join us for an afterschool program by students of the geoscience honor society, Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE). This hands-on program will focus on planets, the moon and a sense of scale! The program will be held in the Museum of Geosciences, 2062 Derring Hall on the VT campus.


Pre-registration requested with Leigh Shannon at leigh7@vt.edu.   
Also appropriate for pK-12 teachers and other educators who would like to replicate these activities. 

Elementary School age, Limit to 24. 

Hokiesaurus Presents: ... is a youth program series developed and presented by Geoscience students. 

April 11th, Virginia Tech KTU exhibitors

Our rocket launch will be ran by New River Valley Rocketry. 

NRVR is a Low, Medium and High Power rocket club here in Blacksburg, VA. The club operating under the bylaws and safety code of the Tripoli Rocketry Association. We provide professional grade launch equipment and technical support to assist those interested in rocketry to do it right, do it legally and do it safely. We actively support local scout troops, schools and church youth groups and our members provide dozen of hours of volunteer outreach.

Our mission is to provide a safe, regular venue for rocket launches, offer help to those wanting to pursue high power rocket certifications, while educating and fostering activities in related STEM fields of study that our community and country so desperately need.

We fly rockets of all sizes from 4 inches tall to over 12 feet tall and invite those interested to check out our website and come out to a launch. We hold monthly launches at some of the most beautiful locations in the New River Valley.

Safety is our first priority and all of our launches are insured through our parent organization Tripoli Rocketry Association.

April 11th, Virginia Tech KTU exhibitors

"3D Printing"

3D printing (or additive manufacturing, AM) is an additive process where successive layers of material are laid down under computer control. These objects can be of almost any shape or geometry, and are produced from a 3D model or other electronic data source. A 3D printer is a type of industrial robot. At our booth we will be showing various 3D printers and the materials the we print with.

Button Family

The Button Family is from Caroline County, Virginia. They enjoy electronics of all kinds and building robots.

____________________

"STEM activites!"

Make earrings, keys, necklaces, and key rings at the Tech Take Apart booth, make cards and pictures that light up at the Conductive Card booth, make a robot and create an art master piece at the Art Bot booth, play Math Games, and make a cool Lava Lamps!

Service Learning Volunteers at Virginia Tech

Kids' Tech University works with about 80 STEM Service Learning Volunteers each year. These volunteers are required to do service hours for their classes. 

April 11th, Virginia Tech KTU exhibitors

"Fun with 3D Printing!"

Three dimensional printing can be used for a wide range of fun and useful things.  Undergraduate science students from Virginia Tech’s Da Vinci and Curie Living Learning Communities have a 3D printer in their own residence hall! These students have been working on projects such as 3D printed anatomical models of humans and pigs, bird skulls to help a museum rebuild skeletal displays, a periodic table of elements, and even a prosthetic device to help a dog walk! Students will present a sampler platter of 3D printed projects ranging from scientific models to fun stuff like Christmas ornaments and name plates and 3D printouts of their own voices. Come learn how these students use computer aided design software to print the most amazing things in 3 dimensions!

Curie and Da Vinci Living Learning Communities

Curie and Da Vinci are part of Virginia Tech's inVenTs living-learning community, a combination of four STEM residential communities in Lee Hall.  Curie and Da Vinci students study physical, quantitative, biological and life sciences.  See http://inventscommunity.org for more details!

______________________

The Physics Outreach team has many exciting and electrifying hands on demonstrations of physics concepts. Crowd participation is encouraged! Both young and old will be able to enjoy learning everything from what happens to marshmallows in space, to how electric generators work.

The outreach team will bring a large collection of small physics demonstrations with them to show. The demonstrations cover four overlapping areas of physics: Waves and light, Mechanics, Pressure and Heat, and Electricity and Magnetism.

The students presenting are all taking the class Phys 2404, physics outreach. This is a class for students to get a chance to teach physics as a means of outreach to the local community. They are all prepared ahead of time on how to safely show the demonstrations to all ages while encouraging participation. They are also prepared to explain each demonstration on differing levels of complexity depending on the audience.

April 11th, Virginia Tech KTU exhibitors

"SNDA-Kids Eat Healthy!"

SNDA (student nutrition and dietetics association) will have a booth set up displaying various foods for kids to try. We will have a wheel to spin and other nutrition information for the kids.

Student Nutrition and Dietetics Association (SNDA)

Virginia Tech club, SNDA, is composed of Virginia Tech dietetics students that volunteer in the local community. We love sharing our knowledge of nutrition with the public and doing so in creative ways.
-----------------------------------

"Virginia Career VIEW"

Stop by and visit us for take-home printables about careers in the fields of science and engineering! Discover careers that use 3D printing, explore activities you can do at home, and search the Virginia Career VIEW website to learn about careers in all sixteen federal career clusters!

Virginia Career VIEW

Virginia Career VIEW (Vital Information for Education and Work) is recognized as the Commonwealth's Career Information Delivery System for all students in grades K-8 in Virginia. We are located at Virginia Tech as part of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences in the School of Education. As part of the Office of Educational Research and Outreach, our mission is to inform, encourage, and support the education and career development of the people of Virginia. Virginia Career VIEW is supported by State funds from the Virginia Department of Education, directly through Virginia Tech. Our efforts combine independent research, engaging activities, in addition to hands-on statewide training and outreaches with the most current data presented using the latest technology.   

April 11th, Virginia Tech KTU exhibitors

"Virginia Tech Team Vertex"

Rovers are required to withstand the challenging terrain present on celestial bodies, as well as be able to accomplish scientific objectives while traversing such terrain. These two primary design objectives are precisely what the National Institute of Aerospace, in conjunction with NASA, has incorporated into the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts-Academic Linkage Exploration Robotic Operations Competition. NASA’s Rock Yard, located at Johnson Space Center, includes the Sand Dunes, Lunar Craters, Gravel Pit, Rock Yard, and finally Mars Hill, which all simulate extraterrestrial terrains. The accomplishment of scientific objectives is simulated by designing the Robo-Ops competition around the collection of colored rocks scattered about the terrain.



AOE RASC-AL Robo-Ops Virginia Tech



The main actors involved in this design process are the eight members of the design team, Justin Marut, Dong Yun Shin, Mike Fulton, Ronald Sisido, AJ Yost, Stephen Krauss, Hisham Ezaldeen, and Jesse Pedroni. Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh, the faculty advisor, for the design team has weekly meeting with the team and provides feedback and direction on design aspects and topics. Dr. Shinpaugh was the faculty advisor for the 2014 Virginia Tech RASC-AL Robo-Ops team that placed third overall, the first year of entering the competition. He is also the Director of IT, HPC, and Computing Services for the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute. The Space@VT facility houses the main work laboratory that our team will be using to construct the rover. Team meetings are also held at this location.