BALTIMORE UNDERGROUND SCIENCE SPACE Inc

Youth Courses and School Programs: BUGSS continued providing courses for students from kindergarten through middle school. Included were nine courses at BUGSS delivered directly to the public, courses organized specifically for homeschool students, and courses organized for other nonprofit partners including a five-week summer, middle-school program for Merit Health Leadership Academy and two four-week middle-school camps for STEMcx and Latino Educational Advancement Fund. In addition, we continued working with Carnegie Institute of Washington and Project Bioeyes to deliver a one-week Microbes In The Classroom course to students at Baltimore middle schools.

iGEM: In 2023, BUGSS again mentored a team competing in the international Genetically Engineered Machines competition (iGEM), the East Coast Bio Crew team. The team met at BUGSS throughout the spring and summer to design and carry out a project to combat pollution of our waterways by agricultural runoff, which situation leads to harmful algal blooms. In addition, students interviewed experts, investigated how the project could be developed and implemented in the real world, learned about the social and ethical implications of the project and whether it was feasible, taught the public about issues related to the project and, more broadly, about diverse scientists, and produced video and oral presentations. The 2023 team included 33 high school students and nine mentors, who were professional scientists, postbaccalaureate and graduate students. As a culmination of their work, team members attended the 2023 iGEM Jamboree either virtually or by traveling to Paris, where they presented their work to judges, met other teams and earned a gold medal for their accomplishments.