FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and all middle and high school students in grades 6-12 from throughout the region. Registration required. Space is limited. Click “Find Out More” to Register Today!

At Teen Science Cafes, teens have the opportunity to interact with science professionals in an informal and relaxed setting. Teen Science Cafes are presented and powered by Junior Academy of Science Youth Leadership Council members.

Featured Cafe Presenter: Boahemaa Adu-Oppong, Ph.D. candidate in the EEPB (Evolution, Ecology, and Population Biology) Program, Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, and graduate student in the Dantas Lab (Gautam Dantas is a 2015 Academy of Science Outstanding St. Louis Scientist Innovation Award recipient)

In this interactive and insightful Teen Cafe on How Scientists Study Bacteria, you’ll play the role of a scientist who has just sequenced a ton of bacteria, but unfortunately someone in the lab mixed up the labeling! Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to unscramble the mixed up labeling to figure out what environment you are studying.

FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and ALL area middle and high school students in grades 6 – 12 only. Registration required.

This cafe is now full. Accepting WAIT LIST registrations only as of 11:30 a.m., Wed, November 15. Click “Find Out More” to register for a spot on the WAIT LIST.

Featured Cafe Presenter: Alexander Jones, Owner, Renew Audio; Associate Director and Digital Cyber Security Architect, Cognizant

Join us as we explore the dark world of computer hackers and learn how we can best defend our privacy against unwanted invasion. Our speaker, Alexander Jones is a Cyber Security Architect working on the front lines of the battle to protect computer systems and data from cyberthreats.

This cafe is now FULL. Accepting wait-listed registrants ONLY as of Saturday, March 10.

Washington University in St. Louis Danforth Campus (PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL after registering for a CONFIRMATION with IMPORTANT INFORMATION on required liability waiver, driving directions, parking, student drop-off and pick-up, and campus building location for this cafe!)

FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and ALL area middle and high school students in grades 6-12. Registration required. Advance registration for Junior Academy members ONLY through Wednesday, March 7. General registration opens Thursday, March 8.

Registration required! CLICK “Find Out More” to register!

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

Location:
Washington University in St. Louis Danforth Campus
NSLC Natural Sciences Learning Center
Life Sciences Building (G-4, #72 on Campus Map)
and
215 Rebstock Hall (G-4, #102 on Campus Map)
Forsyth Boulevard (between Big Bend and Skinker Boulevards)
St. Louis, Missouri 63130

5:30 pm – 6:00 pm: Dinner
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm: Presentation & Activities

Featured Presenter: Ram Dixit, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis

Journey into cells and discover how beams, motors and cables inside cells work to dynamically create and change their shapes. Do a hands-on lab project to design and create a cell shape of your choice using materials provided. The team that best replicates a complex 3D cell shape will win a prize!

(PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL after registering for a CONFIRMATION with IMPORTANT INFORMATION on required liability waiver, driving directions, parking, student drop-off and pick-up, and campus building location for this cafe!)

FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and ALL area middle and high school students in grades 6-12. Registration required. Advance registration for Junior Academy members ONLY through Saturday, March 17. General registration opens Sunday, March 18.

Registration required! CLICK “Find Out More” to register!

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

6:00 pm – 6:30 pm: Dinner
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm: Presentation & Activities

Featured Cafe Presenter: Debbie Yee, Graduate Student, Cognitive Control and Psychopathology Laboratory, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis

What motivates you when you are making a decision or trying to achieve a goal? How do you choose whether or not a goal is worth the effort? Human decision-making is influenced by a wide variety of motivational factors, but a challenge that researchers face is understanding how motivation can influence the decisions and actions we perform on a daily basis. In this interactive Teen Science Cafe, you’ll learn about the challenges of measuring motivation in the laboratory setting, and perform a hands-on experiment to gain experience with how psychologists study the effects of motivation on behavior.

FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and ALL area middle and high school students. Registration required. Advance registration for Junior Academy members ONLY through Tuesday, April 24. General registration opens Wednesday, April 25. CLICK Find Out More to register!

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

6:00 pm – 6:30 pm: Dinner
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm: Presentation & Activities

Featured Cafe Presenter: Crystal Jones, Compliance Project Manager, Environmental Operations, Inc.

Cafe Topic:
Explore innovative and exciting ideas that are changing the way we approach the cleanup necessary to repair the environmental damage that remains from industries that have long since passed. In this insightful Teen Science Café on Greening Our Future, Teens explore both the environmental impact of small scale in-home actions of everyday people and the large scale impacts on our environment from the actions of commercial and industrial facilities. Teens do exciting hands on activities that bring these issues a little closer to home, illuminating what our individual choices mean for us, our neighbors, and our communities in the long term.

FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and all middle and high school students in grades 6-12 from throughout the region. Registration required.

PRE-REGISTRATION for Junior Academy members ONLY, on Thursday, October 18. General registration opens on Friday, October 19. Space is limited! Click Find Out More to Register Today!

Hear from National Weather Service hydrologist Mark Fuchs on measuring and forecasting rising rivers and meet with STEM and EMT (emergency management technology) professionals and first responders in this interactive Teen Science Cafe on the technology used to predict, respond to, and manage flooding emergencies. Tour EMT Stations featuring representatives from the American Red Cross, Missouri Department of Transportation, St. Charles County Division of Emergency Management, St. Louis County Department of Public Health, and the National Weather Service.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and all middle and high school students in grades 6-12 from throughout the region. PRE-REGISTRATION for Junior Academy members ONLY thru Thursday, March 21. General registration opens Friday, March 22. Click Find Out More to Register.

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

PROGRAM

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm: Presentation & Activities

Featured Cafe Presenter: Adam Weyhaupt, Ph.D., Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Fontbonne University

When asked to describe major advances in science and knowledge, people typically describe results from medicine, engineering, computing, and chemistry — mathematics wouldn’t often be mentioned. What is mathematics research? What are some of the questions mathematicians wrestle with? What is mathematics like in the age of social media and supercomputers? We’ll talk about these questions and explore some open (unsolved!) problems in theoretical mathematics. This Cafe’ won’t require any mathematics you learned in school, so bring your curiosity but leave your algebra at home.

THIS EVENT IS FULL! Registration for Not Just Pill Counters is CLOSED as of Noon, Fri, Apr 5.

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

PROGRAM

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm: Presentation & Activities

Featured Cafe Presenter: Amy M. Tiemeier, Pharm.D., BCPS, Director of Community Partnerships, Associate Director of Experiential Education and Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, St. Louis College of Pharmacy

What do Pharmacists do? Where can they work, and what skills are needed to become one? Meet Dr. Amy Tiemeier, an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice at St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Play a pharmacy-related Kahoot game and participate in a hands-on drug compounding activity. Find out what it’s like to offer advice and dispense information about medication side effects, disease prevention, nutrition, tobacco cessation, diabetes management, and more.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and all middle and high school students in grades 6-12 from throughout the region. PRE-REGISTRATION for Junior Academy members ONLY thru Friday, July 26. General registration opens Saturday, July 27. Click Find Out More to Register!

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

PROGRAM

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm: Presentation & Activities

Featured Cafe Presenters: Andrew Hoffman and Seth Kilby, graduate students, Missouri University of Science and Technology

In this interactive teen cafe on Materials Science, we’ll discuss what the field of materials science actually is, look at how we can go from the atomic scale to a finished product, and explore one important aspect of materials science in particular, which is studying why materials fail. This takes a little detective work, and we will put your skills to the test. Can you use the information and tools available to scientists to find out why a material failed, and what you could recommend to prevent this from happening again?

Important information on parking and exact cafe location sent with registration confirmation.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and all middle and high school students in grades 6-12 from throughout the region. PRE-REGISTRATION for Junior Academy members ONLY thru Friday, October 18. General registration opens Saturday, October 19. Click Find Out More to Register!

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

PROGRAM
6:30 pm – 7:00 pm: Dinner and Icebreaker
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm: Presentation & Activities

Featured Cafe Presenter: Kari Allen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology & Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

What did the first primates eat? How big were they? Did they live in the trees or on the ground? In this interactive teen cafe on comparative anatomy, you’ll work in teams to explore the anatomy of your team’s mystery monkey and predict the answers to these questions. And you can put your artistic skills to work—each team will draw their monkey and choose a name for their newly discovered species of primate.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and all middle and high school students in grades 6-12 from throughout the region. PRE-REGISTRATION for Junior Academy members ONLY thru Friday, November 15. General registration opens Saturday, November 16. Click Find Out More/Event Information to register!

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

PROGRAM
6:30 pm – 7:00 pm: Dinner and Icebreaker
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm: Presentation & Activities

Featured Cafe Presenter: John F. DiPersio, M.D., Ph.D., Deputy Director, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center; Virginia E. and Samuel J. Golman Endowed Professor of Oncology; and Chief, Division of Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Leukemia is a disease that affects adults and children; it is the most common cancer in children and teens, accounting for almost 1 out of 3 cancers. Oncologist, Dr. John DiPersio’s research focuses on using blood stem cells for transplantation and genetic interventions to fight leukemia. This can include gene editing of T cells, one type of immune system cell. Learn how immunotherapy can make cancer treatment more effective. In this interactive Teen Cafe on fighting cancer, you’ll role play, research, argue, and defend your position in one of two medical ethics scenarios 1) around the use of HeLa cells, or 2) the use of aggressive clinical interventions in advanced cancer care treatment.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Space is limited. FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and all middle and high school students in grades 6-12 from throughout the region. PRE-REGISTRATION for Junior Academy members ONLY thru Friday, February 14. General registration opens Saturday, February 15. Click Find Out More to Register!

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, click here.

Featured Cafe Presenter: Catherine Espinoza Patharkar, Ph.D., Senior Molecular Biology Scientist, CoverCress, Inc.

CoverCress is a startup company focused on developing a new cover cash crop for the American Midwest. Molecular Biologist, Catherine Espinoza Patharkar, discusses how CoverCress is using gene editing to rapidly domesticate pennycress into a crop that produces a high-quality biofuel and animal feed, while protecting the soil during the winter. In this interactive teen cafe, you’ll play the role of a gene detective and use bioinformatics tools to understand how gene editing technology, CRISPR, targets, deletes or repairs DNA and results in the CoverCress crop.

Can’t make the Academy’s A CRISPR Way teen cafe on Thursday, February 20? Register to attend A CRISPR Way teen cafe at the Saint Louis Science Center’s Taylor Community Resource Center on Wednesday, February 19.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Space is limited! FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and ALL middle and high school students in grades 6-12! Click the Event Information button below to register. Pre-registration for Junior Academy of Science members ONLY through Friday, Dec 4. General registration for ALL open on Saturday, Dec 5. Look for Cafe login information in your email confirmation.

To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, CLICK HERE.

Featured Cafe Presenter: Ram Dixit, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Program Director, Plant and Microbial Sciences, Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis; Principal Investigator, Working Group 2, Co-Leader, Center for Engineering MechanoBiology, National Science Foundation

Unlike human-made structures, biological structures are created without an underlying template or blueprint. Instead, these structures arise dynamically through a process called self-organization in which higher-level patterns emerge from interactions between lower-level components. Use computer modeling in this interactive virtual Teen Science Cafe to explore what self-organization means and how it applies to biological systems.