Ravensworth ES in FCPS has accepted to conduct a STEM club with The Future Brighter every Thursday starting February 23rd throughout the end of the school year.

Gunston ES in FCPS has accepted to conduct a STEM club with The Future Brighter every Monday starting February 13th throughout the end of the school year.

In this session, Nicole Xu, Ph.D., National Research Council Postdoctoral Scholar at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory will present projects from her previous and current work on bioinspired robots for ocean exploration. Bioinspired designs take ideas from nature and apply them to engineered systems. Examples she will discuss include bionic jellyfish (made from a robotic backpack and live jellyfish) and 3D-printed shark skin surfaces. The goal is to use these new robots to learn more about our oceans and how to protect them.

The Future Brighter is proud to announce that Dr. Swati Mohan, Perseverance Mars Rover Mission, Guidance, Navigation, & Control Systems Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory will provide a special virtual talk for 3rd through 6th graders to give a glimpse into the life lessons that helped her get to where she is today!

This STEM session is open to students all over the world!

Here is a link to a flyer explaining more about this special STEM session with Dr. Mohan!

Here is a link to a Google Form to sign up!

Every Friday starting January 28th until the end of the school year!

Every Friday starting January 14th through the end of the school year.

In this session, Genevieve Housman, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago will introduce students to the field of anthropological genetics. She will present some of her favorite and most exciting areas of research, including primate evolution, epigenetics, and induced pluripotent stem cells.

In this session, Amy will lead an interactive discussion about why NASA is going back to the Moon and what’s left to discover. How will going to the Moon help astronauts get to Mars? Why do we want to land astronauts on Mars? We will answer these questions and more as we explore from the Moon to Mars. Following the discussion, students can get an idea of how large our solar system is as they create a pocket size scale model of the solar system.

Westlawn ES in FCPS has accepted to conduct a STEM club with The Future Brighter every Thursday starting December 9th throughout the end of the school year.

In this session, Sara Brooke, Neuroscience Graduate Student at Johns Hopkins will introduce her work and describe her career trajectory in neuroscience. Specifically, she will go over some basics about the brain and the field of neuroscience, common topics and methods of research, her current work, and what it’s like to work in a lab.

In this session, Audrey Marsh, Genetics Graduate Student at UW-Madison will conduct a STEM lesson about the building block of life DNA. Specifically, she will go over how DNA is made, why it is important, and the ways in which scientists use it in the real world to answer scientific questions.

Every Friday starting October 22nd through the end of the school year.

Every Monday starting October 18th through the end of the school year.

Every Friday starting October 8th through the end of the school year.

In this session, University of Tennessee BCMB Graduate Students are excited to share their journey of becoming a scientist with you! All of them work in different fields of biology and they hope to share their science with you!

In this session, Tomi Akindele, Monique Warren, and Colin Yamaoka from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will share fun science videos followed by a Kahoot!

In this session, Tina Mazzacane, Mathematics Coordinator, VDOE will conduct a STEM lesson that explores the 17 United Nations Sustainable Goals. You will participate in several activities to explore the goals and reflect upon your role in our society and world through the lens of mathematics.

In this session, Alexandra Zelin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will introduce students to the field of psychology. She will present some of her favorite areas of psychology, including gender-related issues and psychology applied to the workplace.

In this session, Othalene Lawrence, Environmental Scientist, Harvard University Senior Executive Fellow will share her career journey and provide some helpful career and workforce tips.

In this session, UTK BCMB Graduate Students are excited to share their journey of becoming a scientist with you!

In this session, Remy Pangle, Education Manager, CASE at JMU will be discussing the importance of renewable energy as a solution to climate change.

In this session, Amy Barra, Visitor Center Director at NASA Wallops Flight Facility Center Visitor Center will lead an interactive discussion about why NASA is going back to the Moon and what’s left to discover.

Every Monday starting January 4th through the end of the school year.

In this session, Emma Dauster, PhD Candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst will lead an interactive discussion about the differences and similarities between your brain and your pet's brain.

In this session, Kawkeb Said, Transportation Operations Engineer, VDOT will conduct a STEM lesson that will discuss transportation safety and her role as a transportation engineering at VDOT.

In this session, Crystal Hill, Sr. Civil Engineer, Mason & Hanger will conduct a STEM lesson about bridges and various structural design considerations.

Every Monday starting December 14 through the end of the school year.