Los Altos High STEAM Week returns to its regular fall schedule this year, with a range of industry professionals in the arts and sciences – as well as two student speakers presenting original research – participating in the annual event Monday through today.
Activities also will include a panel discussion featuring experts who represent corporate, academic and government careers, moderated by a Los Altos High student.
As in past years, the goal of STEAM Week is to expose students to the vast range of opportunities offered in science, technology, engineering and math, and how the fields can be intertwined with artistic endeavors. Topics from expert speakers include ethics in artificial intelligence, drug manufacturing, the semiconductors behind the digital world and urban gray foxes.
Student presenters
Two organic chemistry researchers – who also happen to be Los Altos High seniors – will each deliver a presentation on their respective work with the Aspiring Scholars Directed Research Program. Sarah Su, who has been part of the program since her freshman year, has worked on various projects researching compounds and chemical reactions that may be able to regulate cell cycles to fight cancer. Alexandra Keira Chatwin, part of ASDRP for approximately a year, also contributes to cancer research.
Both students developed an interest in science and medicine at a young age and hope to communicate to their peers that pursuing the sciences isn’t as intimidating as it may seem.
“I think it gives us an opportunity to kind of expand the scope of how organic chemistry is normally interpreted,” Su said. “I think a lot of people think organic chemistry is this really scary, untouchable subject, and I think that by speaking to peers directly, we’re showing them that organic chemistry is something that anyone can kind of dive into.”
Chatwin noted that communicating research in and of itself is part of the scientific process.
“I think communicating science is probably one of the most important parts of implementing science as a whole, because absent this communication, you can’t exactly get your discoveries or proceedings anywhere,” she said. “So, I think it’ll be a good experience for us as researchers to be able to practice presenting our research to people who have less experience with these concepts, and hopefully it will also be a good experience for the audience to understand some of the cool research you can get involved with.”
Industry professionals
Los Altos Hills resident and featured STEAM Week presenter Andrew Evans is a Bay Area magician and CEO of The Magic Patio in San Francisco. While the STEAM Week website and directory categorizes his speech under “art,” Evans will discuss the way his background in engineering and his passion for magic came together to allow him to pursue a unique career.
“The way that I approach magic is very much through the lens of design and engineering, so all of the tricks are things that I designed and built myself, for the most part,” he said. “I think that’s kind of my unique angle into it – it’s very much from the design, construction and engineering world, but then also from the arts, the performance, the script-writing world.”
Evans said he is excited to talk to students in his own community about the many ways they can carve an individual path for themselves in whatever field or combination of fields they are passionate about.
Harpist and jazz composer Destiny Muhammad’s work falls more specifically into the arts – the “A” in STEAM – but she said her STEAM Week talk also will speak to perseverance. Muhammad, who came from an economically disadvantaged background, first picked up the harp at 30 years old and now makes her living entirely on music, something which many people in her life told her would be impossible. Her story speaks to a universal message that she wants young people – especially those passionate about the arts – to absorb.
“The circumstance that we come from is not the last word,” she said. “Wherever you are right now, use it as a catalyst for where you want to be, and then dream larger than you even possibly can.”
For more information, visit lahssteamweek.com.
