Saturday – November 17, 2018, 9:30-11:00am
Please RSVP to jrcafe@tacny.org
Milton J Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology – Syracuse, NY
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Talk 1: “You Are What You Eat” Speaker: Rachel Elman, Senior at Fayetteville Manlius Senior High School, and Student Researcher, Department of Biology, Syracuse University
Talk Overview: We’ve all been told that unhealthy food makes for an unhealthy consumer. Decades of research has shown that the United States “western diet”, full of high fats and sugars, is detrimental to our health. This consumption has been linked to the development of metabolic syndrome, a collection of cardiovascular risk factors that serve as a precursor to type two diabetes, a life threatening disease that impacts synthesis and release of insulin. But what if our western diet wasn’t just bad for the health of our bodies, but was bad for the health of the brain as well? See how a fellow student aimed to answer this question, and explore a line of research that seeks to understand the complicated effects of our food on our brain.
Biography: Throughout her high school career, Rachel has worked as a student researcher in a neurobiology laboratory at Syracuse University. This SU lab’s research interests focus on the neural mechanisms of learning and memory, while her own research has centered on the cognitive effects of a “western” high fat diet through investigating synthesis of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the rat brain and body. Rachel entered her project into the Central New York science and engineering fair this past year and won the grand prize. Her more recent research focuses on BDNF function in female rats with variations of the val/met polymorphism of the BDNF gene. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys reading, travel with her family, and participating in special Olympics unified sports and volunteering in her school’s special education department.
Talk 2: “Cracking the Code of AI” Speaker: Maximilian Du, Junior at Fayetteville-Manlius High school, and Student AI Researcher and Developer
Talk Overview: It seems that computers are now something that we can’t live without. From the smartphones in our pockets to the supercomputers that drive us ever closer to curing cancer, they have become more and more important in our daily lives. Unfortunately, because of their abundance, we often forget how incredibly complicated they really are. A lot goes into every “Ok Google”, every self-driving car’s turn, and every recommended video on YouTube, but as different as these tasks sound, they all have a singular driving force: Artificial Intelligence. Come learn about this concept that used to only belong on the pages of science fiction books and see what an aspiring AI researcher is doing to help expand this powerful tool to uncharted domains.
Biography: Always interested in science, Max has a home chemistry lab and electronics workbench, and enjoys tinkering around and fixing whatever is broken. Throughout his high school years, he has not only been fascinated with electrical engineering and chemistry, but also with artificial intelligence and its application towards real-life problems. Last year, Max designed a novel and non-invasive infant monitor that monitors breathing sounds from a baby using Recurrent Neural Networks, a form of artificial intelligence, to monitor for SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. He entered this project into the CNYSEF this past March and won the grand prize along with two other contestants, and competed in Intel ISEF, winning two special awards. In his free time, Max enjoys playing tennis, gardening, and most of all, figuring out what fascinating and often profound thing he should do next for fun.
TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique
TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique, a program for middle-school students founded in 2005, features discussions about topics in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an informal atmosphere and seeks to encourage students to consider careers in these areas. Students must be accompanied by an adult and can explore the MOST at no cost after the event.
Technology Alliance of Central New York
Founded in 1903 as the Technology Club of Syracuse, the nonprofit Technology Alliance of Central New York’s mission is to facilitate community awareness, appreciation, and education of technology; and to collaborate with like-minded organizations across Central New York.
For more information about TACNY, visit www.tacny.org.
