Bioengineering students at the University of Pittsburgh are committed to giving back to the community through outreach, service, and resources.
Both our undergraduate and graduate chapters of BMES (Biomedical Engineering Society) facilitate and volunteer in outreach in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.
What programs do we offer for the community?
Biobots
As part of STEAM Saturdays at the Hill District Community Engagement Center, we host 6-8 week programs in the fall and winter/spring semesters to introduce 3rd-6th grade students to bioengineering concepts. Through exciting hands-on activities, we have learned about neural engineering, biomechanics, and more!
S.T.E.A.M. Saturdays Program Website
Contact: Sharada Narayanan (shn79@pitt.edu)
Camp BioE
CampBioE 2.0 is a dynamic day camp that engages our scholars in the wonders of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through intentional mentorship and exposure to cutting edge, hands-on activities related to bioengineering.
Contact: campbioe@pitt.edu
RUACH neuroscience workshop
In collaboration with the RUACH Youth Bicycle Club, we are organizing a neuroscience workshop series. With hands-on activities and coding, our aim is to introduce curious students to research and science. The workshops are taking place at the Homewood CEC and cover various topics (from brain anatomy to Brain-Computer-Interfaces) at a very introductory level.
Contacts: Ceci (VERBAAR@pitt.edu) and Camille (cag329@pitt.edu)
Make Me!
As part of the S.T.E.A.M. Saturdays program at the Hill District Community Engagement Center, we host weekly programs in the fall and spring semesters to middle school students to open their eyes to a potential career in prosthetics and healthcare. Through fun engineering activities and challenges, we have been able to teach the kids about various fields in healthcare, including prosthetics, biomechanics, and physical therapy.
Contacts: Shlok (skv18@pitt.edu) Andrea (aem181@pitt.edu) Sisritha (sra64@pitt.edu)
Adult Coding workshop
Carried out at both the CEC Hill District (Fall) and the CEC Homewood (Spring), this 8-10 week workshop aims to teach the basic concepts of programming to adults (ages 18-70) through Python using Thonny IDE. The students come in with various goals such as becoming more digitally literate, teaching their kids how to program, and a step to advancing their careers. At the end of the course, each student presents a project of their choice that uses 1) variables, 2) indexing, and 3) conditional statements (if/else, loops etc.).
Contacts: Hunter (hus56@pitt.edu), Edgar (edc48@pitt.edu), Lucy (lul49@pitt.edu)
Vascular Educational Summer Session for Emerging Laboratory Scientists (VESSELS)
The Vascular Educational Summer Session for Emerging Laboratory Scientists (VESSELS) hosts a 2-week summer workshop focused on vascular tissue engineering for current undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds. Students will gain hands-on experience implementing 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering approaches to solve translational needs in vascular medicine.
Contact: Dan Shiwarski (djs87@pitt.edu)
Other Opportunities
High school:
- Breakthrough Pittsburgh
- Gene Team
- Health Career Scholars Academy
- Magee-Women’s Biomedical Research Institute Summer Internship Program
- UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Academy
- Investing Now
- Summer Health Career Academy (HCA)
Variety of ages:
Many programs are offered at the different Pitt Centers for Community engagement. These range from programs like biobots for young children to adult classes in coding and career help.
Get involved!
Enroll your child in one of the many other outreach programs we offer! The links and contacts should help guide you on how to enroll/apply, but please reach out to us with any questions.
Want us to host an event for your school or organization? Reach out to shn79@pitt.edu so we can get chatting!
