Congratulations to the Center for Biophotonics Science & Technology at UC Davis for winning a spot at the inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival on the Washington D.C. Mall and Pennsylvania Avenue on October 23^rd and 24^th . The National Science Foundation chose the CBST Education team as one of 15 exhibitor teams to represent the foundation.

CBST’s Chief Education Officer, Marco Molinaro, together with Jodie Galosy, Michelle McCombs, and Suzanne Papamichail, led the CBST exhibit and demonstrations. They were joined by Leah Meza, a recent graduate, who interned with CBST and the UC Davis Cancer Center as part of the CBST Summer Internship and Emerging Technologies – Continuing Umbrella Research Experiences (ET-CURE) programs. Leah is currently a post-baccalaureate fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Leah is only one of the many underrepresented minority students who participated in a variety of CBST education and outreach activities, and who intends to pursue a medical research career in oncology.

Over the two days of the festival with 1,500 booths and over 500,000 people, CBST had the pleasure of engaging over 1600 people of all ages and interests! The CBST exhibit gave visitors a chance to see how light, from the far-infrared to the ultraviolet, interacts with the human body and biological matter in general, and how those interactions help in research to detect and treat diseases like cancer and study how viruses, like HIV, spread at the cellular level. 

As an additional source of information for Festival attendees, Molinaro developed a website where all 17 Science and Technology Centers, only 4 of which were invited to attend, can share activities for students and teachers – http://nsfstc.org/thingstotry (search for “biophotonics”).

Of special note, on the first day we were interviewed by Brazilian television, Channel G1, for an upcoming science show to air in November. 

On the second day, the American Physics Society interviewed Molinaro for a podcast on the uses of lasers in medicine. Both days we enjoyed numerous visits from NSF dignitaries including Lance Haworth, Director of the Office of Integrative Affairs, and the Science and Technology program, and Jeff Nesbitt, Director of the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs.

The USA Science & Engineering Festival is a grassroots collaboration of over 500 of the nation’s leading science organizations, from major academic centers and research institutes, and government agencies, to cutting-edge high tech companies, museums and community organizations. Hosted by Lockheed Martin, the Festival enjoys the support of a bipartisan Honorary Congressional Host Committee with over 100 Members, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congresswoman Doris Matsui, and Congressman Mike Thompson.