The 4th annual USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C. attracted more than 365,000 attendees who engaged in over 3,000 hands-on activities. GSA piqued the interest of 5,000 participants by asking them to help choose “America’s Next Top Model Organism” or to build their own Drosophila mutant.  This year, the Top Model Organism was C.elegans, taking the title from Drosophila, who won in 2014. Take a look at some of the fun in the photos below:

GSA would like to acknowledge the efforts of Victoria Scanlon, the outreach intern for the festival.
Special thanks the following people and institutions who made this outreach effort possible:

  • Alicia Howard, University of Maryland Baltimore County Department of Biological Sciences
  • Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center
  • David Eisenmann, University of Maryland Baltimore County Department of Biological Sciences
  • Fungal Genetic Stock Center
  • Jennifer Loros, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth University
  • Mark Millard, US Department of Agriculture
  • Project BioEYES, Carnegie Institution for Science
  • Stephen Miller, University of Maryland Baltimore County Department of Biological Sciences
  • Theresa Fulton, Institute for Genomic Diversity, Cornell University
  • Wormclassroom.org
  • Zhongchi Lui, University of Maryland
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Chloe Poston is the Policy and Communications Manager for the Genetics Society of America where she serves as a liaison to the Public Policy Committee. She has a background in bio-analytical chemistry and science policy.

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