A group of St. Bonaventure University science faculty and students got out of the Bona Bubble to share the excitement and fun of science with the community at the Cuba-Rushford Elementary School STEaM Night event on Friday, Feb. 7.

Activities at the event centered around Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM).

Thirteen students in the university’s American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) student chapter celebrated “DNA in our life” with the students and families.

“They taught children and adults how to extract DNA from fruits we eat and make it into necklaces to wear. Visitors also made bracelets with their names using the language of DNA,” said Dr. Xiao-Ning Zhang, professor of Biology at St. Bonaventure and adviser of the ASBMB student chapter.

Four members of the Chemistry Department – Assistant Professor AJ Rupprecht, Assistant Professor Katsu Ogawa, Postdoctoral Researcher Devin Mulvey, and Professor Scott Simpson – conducted hands-on demonstrations of several aspects of chemistry, which included:

• Demonstrating an acid-based indicator utilizing a common household vegetable, red cabbage.
• Making art with students utilizing “appearing ink.” Students made pictures utilizing a precipitation reaction.
• Showing the interaction of molecules with light, demonstrating how some molecules give off light or fluoresce.
• Producing “gold” pennies from the production of different alloys.

Tae Cooke, a senior lecturer in the Physics Department, demonstrated how alternative energy could benefit daily life.

Students used a hand crank generator to light a light bulb, showing how they could do work to create light. The same generator was then used with a fuel cell to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gas, demonstrating that energy was being stored in the gas. The hydrogen was then used to run a fan, illustrating energy recovery. A windmill was also available to show one of the many different ways a generator can be spun.

Lance Feuchter, the STEaM teacher and technology integrator at Cuba-Rushford Central School, appreciated the activities SBU faculty and students contributed at the activity night.

“Your help made a difference in making the night fun and engaging. It was great to see families learning and exploring together, and that wouldn’t have happened without you,” he said.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).