College Fair
The purpose of the YBS College Fair is to introduce middle and high school students to Colleges and Universities with programs in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. Students will have the opportunity to watch videos, browse brochures, and read program descriptions in our online University Showcase starting Friday, May 21, 2021. The day of the symposium, students and their families can visit the tables of programs they are interested in to talk with a representative and ask questions.
Colleges, universities, and other programs interested in reaching prospective students are invited to register to exhibit for the YBS College Fair.
Registration is $300 and includes:
- An assigned virtual table during the symposium to speak with students and their families.
- Your school’s logo and link to a website of your choosing on the YBS website.
- An entry in the University Showcase for each program you wish to showcase, up to 4 bioinformatics related degree programs.
Upload material for each showcased program
- Your school’s logo
- Only one logo is required, all programs will be listed as sub items
- Description of the program (PDF)
- PDF/PNG of any flyer, brochure, or infographic
- Program presentation or recruitment video as an MP4 file
- File should be saved with the university name followed by a dash (-) and
the name of the program. - If doing a video presentation, slides should be widescreen16x9 ratio which
export best to 1080p videos.
All materials must be uploaded by Tuesday, May 18, 2021.
Student Challenge
The purpose of the Student Challenge is to allow middle and high school students to think creatively, conduct background research, and develop a proposal for a unique solution that can help address important problems that face the medical field. Through this process, students will be able to think like scientists and learn how to make existing technologies even better.
Theme:
The theme for the Student Challenge is Healthcare improvements due to Bioinformatics. We want students to have room to explore their own interests and see how computational and engineering methods can be applied to the topic.
Examples of Healthcare improvements due to Bioinformatics include:
- Pharmaceutical Discovery
- Genetic Screening
- Personalized Diagnostics
Students should think about how computer science and engineering solutions can help improve healthcare. The competition is not limited to areas mentioned above.
Before the Symposium:
Students should brainstorm and think of ideas within the scope of the topic Healthcare improvements due to Bioinformatics. All attendees interested in participating in the Student Challenge will add the title and abstract for their project during the registration process. Attendees will have the opportunity to edit their registration to add their project information if they decide to participate after they have registered to attend. All projects need to be in the registration system by May 13th. All participants in the Student Challenge will receive an additional email with information on where and how to submit their project. All projects must be uploaded by May 18th.
During the Symposium:
At the symposium, there will be scheduled time within the program when each participant in the Student Challenge will answer questions about their work with the various attendees at the symposium (family and friends) and will also present their work to the judges. The judges will score and determine the top projects, who will receive an award during the closing ceremonies.
Project Details:
Before the symposium all participants in the Student Challenge MUST upload their project. Your submission should be between 3-5 minutes and consist of voice over slides or a video. All Student Challenge submissions will be available for on-demand viewing 48 hours before the symposium.
- Save your presentation as an MP4 file with the first name, last name, and project title.
- Slides should be widescreen16x9 ratio which export best to 1080p videos.
Some helpful tips on planning your recorded talk are available at these links:
Presenting your poster in a lighting style format using the PechaKucha or Ignite talks presentation style or a single slide or PDF is an option for presenters.
Here is a example of a presentation: https://youtu.be/rbLbb7eOao8
All projects must be uploaded by Tuesday, May 18, 2021.
At the Student Challenge, individuals will be assigned a virtual table and be available to answer questions about their project.
Judging Criteria:
| I. Research Question (15 pts) | |
| clear and focused purpose | |
| identifies contribution to field of study | |
| testable using scientific methods | |
| II. Design and Methodology (10 pts) | |
| well designed plan and data collection methods | |
| III. Creativity (15 pts) | |
| project demonstrates significant creativity in one or more of the above criteria | |
| IV. Presentation (20 pts) | |
| clear, concise, thoughtful responses to questions | |
| understanding of basic science relevant to project | |
| recognize the potential impact on social and ethical issues | |
| quality of ideas for further research | |
| Total Points Possible: 60 | |
Workshops
Applications of Computational Biology
This workshop will review a range of applications in computational biology, a rapidly evolving field that utilizes novel data analysis techniques and mathematical modeling to analyze biological systems.
Organizer: Anirudh Bansal
Introduction to Computational Neuroscience
Computational neuroscience involves the usage of mathematical models to understand the brain. We will specifically focus at the level of ions and synapses and use modeling software NEURON. Students will learn how to construct models of neurons using NEURON, write hoc source code, and graph an action potential. Past experience in python is recommended.
Organizer: Tarun Suresh