Exploring Science and Race with K-12 Students

BioBus is a community-based nonprofit organization that makes science come alive for young students through their interactive programming and mobile laboratories housed in buses and trailers. The “BioBus” usually visits K-12 schools in the New York City area, about two-thirds of which are located in low-income districts. With more than 80% of their staff coming from groups and communities underrepresented in STEM fields, the organization works to make science fun, accessible, and inspiring for children of all backgrounds.

In the midst of COVID-19 restrictions, BioBus has been continuing this mission virtually, including holding a Student Town Hall series on racism and society. These discussions were sponsored, in part, by a CSS Public Outreach Grant provided through their partnership with the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute.

Learn the inspiration behind this series from the organizers and get an overview of their latest event, a discussion on how racism impacts science, via our website.

Featured Events:

Our online calendar of events includes virtual events.

Apocalypse Pending: Religion, Politics, and Social Media (Panel 1 and Panel 2)

These panels consider the growing popularity of conspiracy thinking. It explores the role of media technologies, how the moral panic it generates is impacting social and political life worldwide, and if its effects can be mitigated. Free and open to the public; registration required via event webpages. 

A Medical Disaster and its Aftermaths: The Quest for Sleeping Sickness Eradication in Colonial Africa

Guillaume Lachenanl traces the rise and fall of a 1950s "wonder drug" for sleeping sickness and the sequence of hubris, denial, and violence that accompany it. Learn how colonial medicine left strong marks in African bodies, ecologies and memories. Free and open to the public; registration required. 

Persistent Plagues: Race, Space, and Epidemiological Thinking in Illicit Drug Use Research, 1950-1980

Join the New York History of Science Lecture series as Samuel K. Roberts explores how a lack of understanding about race and epidemic theory played a role in the War on Drugs and mass incarceration. Free and open to the public; registration required. 

An Evening With the Tricentennial Project and Dr. Diana Hernandez

In this discussion and Q & A, the student-led Tricentennial Project will speak with Dr. Diana Hernandez about understanding the environment as an urban phenomenon, locality in climate, and what it means to design solutions for your own community. Free and open to the public; no registration required. 

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The Science and Society Newsletter is sent biweekly and features updates from the Center and featured upcoming events and deadlines. While we can not guarantee that your event will be featured, we are always happy to include relevant upcoming events, grant deadlines, calls for papers, open positions, etc on our website. Please email us at scienceandsociety@columbia.edu with any submissions. 

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