STEM Week 2022
Every year, Solebury School's math and science departments celebrate the fields of science, technology, engineering, 通过举办stem相关活动来学习数学, activities, and guest speakers. The week is meant not only to engage the entire school with those subjects but also to inspire thinking about STEM-related careers.
Monday
Justin Botts P'25 joined us to talk about his experience as a commercial pilot with United Airlines and as a military pilot. He shared that he has accumulated 8,500 flying hours and has visited over 80 countries. He discussed some of his missions in Afghanistan as an air medical evac and showed a video of how refueling in the air works. To end the presentation, Justin invited students to try on his uniform!
Leanne White P’24 P’26
is an agricultural engineer who spoke to students about careers in the field. She has had extensive experience in consumer products working for three major companies and starting her own consulting business. Her presentation focused on the qualifications and benefits of becoming an engineer, 将消费品推向市场, and courses to consider today that will set them up for success tomorrow. 学生们都很投入，问了很多问题 which sparked exciting conversations when they discussed how products make it to the shelf. Leanne talked about sourcing raw materials to get products into stores. She shared statistics on products that make it to market and reasons preventing them. “One in twenty products make it to market in food,” she explained. Some products that complete stability testing and test marketing could die before getting on a shelf. Other factors include marketing costs, profit margins, and retailers.
Finally, Leanne credited other foundational courses (statistics, writing, debate, and others) for helping students consider careers in engineering. She shared how they apply to their work by enabling them to run quick variable tests on the line to identify problems, 清晰地沟通并创建文档, justify project costs, 培养演讲技巧.
Steven Valeri 是Aave的区块链开发人员. 他向学生们讲述了区块链是什么, why it’s important, 并解释了如何在区块链上运行代码. Using this technology, participants can confirm transactions without a need for a central clearing authority. Steven went over a basic transaction and also showed some live coding examples.
Tuesday
Michael Knapp 我们自己的养蜂人是教员吗! Two hives were added to Solebury campus last spring. 迈克尔解释了蜂巢的工作原理, 如何提取它们生产的蜂蜜, and the difference between a honey bee and a yellow jacket. He also discussed how the use of smoke helps prevent the bees from communicating with one another, which also helps keep them calm so they are less likely to sting. Some students were brave enough to get a closer look and even hold one of the honey frames covered in bees!
Jamie Pfister and Cynthia Ststtner joined us from NOVA, Bucks County’s Comprehensive Victim Services Agency. They talked about how the organization was started, 是什么造就了健康的关系, and forensic nursing. Students asked questions about the process of collecting DNA evidence and the different types of swabs done.
Ken Baron P'23 has been working as a statistician in the field of finance and investing for the last 30 years. 在这次演讲中, AP Statistics students worked to figure out what makes candy taste good through data analysis and linear regression. Ken also talked about how statistics are used in the stock market, as well as various careers and fields that use statistics.
Francis Collins
is the president of the Primrose Creek Watershed Association. He spent the morning talking about the quarry and shared information about his role. The quarry adjacent to Solebury School would pump out 500,当它处于活动状态时，每天要消耗1000加仑的水. Today, it sits dormant. In partnership with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the quarry owner, and Solebury, they determine the best management practices to fix the area. He gave students a video tour of the quarry and spoke about the new arboretum installation. One of the final shots focused on the electric pump used to get water out of the quarry. He talked about the directional path the water travels once pumped out. Francis shared charts of macroinvertebrate measurements used to check the pump, water temperature, and conductivity. This information can indicate when there is a problem in the water. He talked about the importance of educating the community to take care of the water and encouraged students to get involved. He shared a story about an incident upstream when someone dumped copper sulfate used to remove algae from a swimming pool, 把我们的小溪染成蓝色，杀死青蛙.
Finally, Primrose Creek Watershed received a grant to build an arboretum last year. Francis shared plans to plant more arboretums along the creek to promote life in the creek. He pinpointed the areas and explained the importance of those locations. Ultimately, they plan to create a walkway through the arboretum from Hope Hall, our new dormitory.
Matisha Dorman 是一名天体化学家，现任博士.D. 威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的候选人. Her presentation focused on molecules collected in space. 她的论文工作以天体化学为中心, which she defined as a cross between astronomy and chemistry. She showed students pictures from the telescope to identify the location in space to gather molecules for her studies. 一旦分子被收集, Matisha使用旋转光谱设备, which she also referred to as a Rotational Fingerprint. 这台机器捕捉分子的指纹. Students learned that molecules have their unique fingerprints, just as we do. 当分子通过机器时, 它们被赋予了光谱常数, which are numbers to help define fingerprints more concisely. She presented a video to show molecules processed in the lab. When light from the machine is shined on the molecules, it creates movement, which she analyzes. Students were engaged and asked questions about the molecule collection process and how they put them on spectrometer slides.
Wednesday
Madeline David is a climate scientist who joined us to talk about community solar energy. She shared her journey in environmental science, ultimately leading to climate and renewables. Madeline spoke about the benefits of renewable energy and how her company transforms its delivery to communities. She currently works for Summit Ridge Energy in Arlington, VA., which owns and operates solar projects in the Maine, Illinois, and Maryland markets. They have developed “solar farms” to allow people to subscribe to offsite energy. The company leases farmland on back acres to set up solar farms, 这有助于为农民提供稳定的收入, 在社区创造就业机会, 减少碳足迹, and allows more people to take advantage of the energy source. In addition, it eliminates the issue of older homes that may not be equipped to handle the installation and makes it more affordable. 学生们都很投入，问了很多问题. Madeline talked about her day-to-day duties and responded to questions about the effect of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 on her work.
Matt Pignatore started in marketing but decided to pursue a career change a few years later. He went through a six-month full-stack coding boot camp and 14 months later, 转变为全职UI开发. Matt Currently works for Hilton Hotels and discussed his role to translate creative software design concepts and ideas into reality using front-end technology. Students shared which areas of development they are most interested in pursuing a career in and he gave an overview of how to get into coding for those been thinking about it but haven't tried it.
Lisa Rain 环保主义者是水质专家吗. She currently works for Duke Energy Company in Orlando, FL. Her work ranges from strategic and economic development to help tech and startup businesses and communities plan for future success, 寻找可持续能源, to immersing into the metaverse for training and research.
Lisa’s journey started in the direction of becoming a doctor—taking the sciences and graduating with a degree in biology and chemistry. She discovered that would not be her path after spending hours shadowing people and volunteering in that field. “Get internships and immerse yourself in seeing if that’s something you really want to do,” she offered students trying to decide on career choices. Lisa’s work at Duke Energy keeps her very engaged with the community. 作为创新和竞争的一部分, 她与许多外部机构合作, including counties, sectors, 还有商会, 开发公司可以帮助社区的方式. Another part of Lisa’s job involves looking at sustainable energy sources. She talked about cool new technology developed to use hydrogen to generate energy. Students were fascinated by the idea of getting energy out of water. She spoke about the process of pulling molecules out of the water and the difference between pink hydrogen and green hydrogen. “Hydrogen is a very clean way to generate energy,” explained Lisa.
One of the biggest highlights was the discussion about Lisa’s work in the metaverse. She talked about a cool project where they created the very first version of a twin city of Orlando in the metaverse. They can see, feel, touch, and experience Orlando using VR. The benefit is that they can project live data into the metaverse to predict things or create hurricane projections. Lisa also shared other benefits of using VR for training simulations. Students asked various questions about life experience in the metaverse, the likelihood of households adapting to the technology, 以及迪士尼在奥兰多双胞胎酒店的存在.
Matt Goddeeris figured out he wanted to be a scientist in 9th grade. 马特是Cellarity的生物学副总裁, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company applying machine learning to create novel therapeutics. Matt holds a doctorate in Cell and Developmental Biology from Duke University. He shared that his research has tackled many different areas in biology including mechanisms of aging, 心脏发育所需的信号, 肌肉萎缩症的病因和治疗, 以及细胞如何组织它们的局部环境. 当被问及他最喜欢自己工作的什么时, he commented that he enjoys that it is always changing and he is constantly learning. He also shared that most experiments don’t work and that failure is 95% of the job.
Randall Gellens ’77 first thought he would be an actor, then maybe a writer. When he started at the University of Delaware he happened to take a computer science course and found that it fit him really well. He was hired as a systems programmer at the University of Delaware while attending school, giving him full access to all of the school's data. He then went on to work for a company in DC working with classified and public information to analyze international political developments and helped to develop threat assessments for American assets.
Randall also talked about his experience assisting with developing software that aids in locating individuals when they call 911. He has also assisted in developing software that sends crash data to dispatchers so that dispatchers have more information about the crash (the speed of the car, whether or not the passengers were wearing a seat belt, the deceleration rate, etc.) as they are dispatching ambulances, trauma helicopters, etc.
During assembly, Vince D’ Ambrosio of Castle & Associates spoke to the school about architecture and design. He is currently helping to build the new dorm and the wastewater treatment plant. Vince has a career in architectural engineering and construction management and outlined the exciting future of Solebury School in the next coming years.
Thursday
Melissa Carbonara is a physical therapist with a specialty in orthopedics. She gave an overview of the different types of therapy such as outpatient, acute care, inpatient rehab, and home care. She emphasized that empathy plays a big role in this career, and it is important for anyone considering pursuing this career path. Melissa explained some of the injuries she's seen in patients and discussed the classes needed for anyone interested in the career.
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Phoebe Douglas and 阮兰德Brickner-McDonald from the Naik Consulting Group joined us to talk about civil engineering. They shared information about civil engineers' role in city planning for bridges, highways, tunnels, and many other development projects we may not realize. Phoebe discussed a project to relocate the interceptor sewer around a rail yard using a microtunneling process. 瑞兰德描述了这个过程，并演奏了一段 微隧道动画 to demonstrate the method used for deep sewers and pipeline installations. Other projects included work on the Broadway Junction subway station and the Delta Terminal at Laguardia Airport.
Bart Wolman 是EnRevo Pyro公司的CEO. The company uses a process to convert scrap tires and plastics to usable end products. Bart walked the students through the whole conversion process of waste tires and how this process was more efficient than the traditional disposal of scrap tires. He talked about the hazardous conditions created when tires are thrown on the side of the road or remain in landfill piles, trapping water, 使它成为害虫的理想环境, rats, and mosquitoes. In addition, tires in traditional waste-to-energy facilities produce harmful pollutive emissions by burning them. Bart shared how his process heats the materials without introducing oxygen so that they avoid a fire that creates toxins. He talked about the airlock intermediary set of seals that controls the flow of materials into the chamber, 把氧气挡在外面.
Students asked about the processing time, volume to convert scrap tires, and plant efficiencies. They learned that the chamber could process 35 tons of tires per day. 一半的短链聚合物加热腔室, selling the excess short hydro-chain gasses to a cement kiln company. 他们的任务是实现零垃圾填埋. Finally, 当被问及采购废旧轮胎时, Bart talked about how they acquire scrap tires and shared images of the tire mountain repository in Colorado. The picture showed roughly 60-70 acres of waste tires.
Erik Vallow P’21 '26 works on various robotic applications at Apex, AI as a customer solution manager. He talked about some of the most recent projects he’s worked on including an autonomous-driving semi-truck. He shared images of what a computer/car sees when driving to know what to avoid and where to drive. Erik ended the presentation by discussing some of the majors that are related to robotics.
Jan Mejia-Toro ’23 寄主分化蜜蜂. The Differentiation Bee is like a spelling bee but with derivatives—a fundamental component of calculus. The derivative of a function at a point can actually be approximated using something all of our students learn in Algebra I—the slope of a secant line (aka the slope of a line between two points).
Friday
Brian Perry 是土木和环境工程师吗. Brian talked with a packed room of students about soils, hydrology, 环境咨询, and surveying. He walked students through some of the projects he has worked on and passed around samples of porous pavement. He explained how porous pavement provides mitigation for stormwater runoff.
“I believe there will be a cure to cancer in my lifetime, or at least we will be able to manage it like a chronic disease,” shared Dr. Avinash Desai P’24 with students. The Chief Medical Officer at Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Desai has dedicated his professional life to making this dream a reality. 在他的演讲中, students learned about the history of cancer treatment, 临床药物试验的过程, and the evolution of a cancer cell versus a healthy cell. Dr. Desai also explained the four main cancer categories (carcinoma, sarcoma, leukemia, and lymphoma) and treatments that are currently being used and those that are being developed.
Max Hegedus is a civil engineer, with a focus on structures for 10 years, and a carpenter. He discussed his work on the Tappan Zee Bridge sharing that he helped build football field-sized sections at a time that would then be placed by crane. He showed the class some pictures and played a video about how to analyze trusses. Max also talked to students about the measurement smoot. He explained that a smoot is a unit of measurement that measures exactly 5 feet 7 inches after Oliver R. Smoot, 加入Lambda Chi Alpha的兄弟会誓约, who in October 1958 laid down repeatedly on the Harvard Bridge so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge.
Dr. Mary van Vleet人们亲切地称他为博士. V.V. by her students, is an assistant professor at Spelman College. Her presentation focused on computational chemistry. She talked about the role of computer simulations and predictions and her work to make models better. Simulations are sometimes conducted when experiments are impossible, dangerous, or too time-consuming. Dr. V.V. talked about four areas of simulations, including weather forecasting, working with corrosive compounds or dangerous chemicals, drug design molecular simulations for faster results, and blind (structure and dynamics of water) simulations. Students watched a protein fold in a molecular simulation video she played for the class.
Dr. V.V. talked about the study of motion for small molecules and how she examines the effect on the water when other ions are added. She shared a diagram to discuss atoms and their interactions based on potential energy versus internuclear distance. She explained the Lennard-Jones potential model and the energies of interacting objects. “Sometimes models are oversimplified to predict what happens in real data,” Dr. V.V. said. 她努力让这些模特变得更好.
从索伯里毕业后， Chris O’Brian ’17 attended Cornell University where he received a bachelor's in computer science. He currently works as a professional software engineer at Lutron where he primarily works on embedded software design. He reflected on his time at Solebury sharing what some of his favorite classes were and looking back with fond memories of his time as a boarder. Chris also talked about the different types of programming languages and then answered questions from students about the transition from Solebury to college life.
Every year, Solebury School comes together for a school-wide STEM event on the final day of STEM Week. 今年的活动是寻宝游戏! Advisories worked together to answer STEM-related questions and based on the answer to the question, 他们知道下一步该去哪里. For example, find the sum of the atomic numbers of all the noble gases. 然后质因数分解这个数. 它有多少质因数? 叫它z，去阿比z房间. Great job everyone, and thanks to everyone who made this a fantastic STEM Week!
