Students explore careers at open house on Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus

Annual event provides students, parents and teachers chance to tour the campus, explore science, technology & medical professions, and participate in hand-on activities

Hundreds of students in grades seven through 12, along with their teachers and parents, took full advantage of the third annual student open house on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus on Monday.

The event, hosted by the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and the University at Buffalo's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, and powered by AT&T, offered a chance for families to tour the growing downtown campus at their own pace, explore future career opportunities, and talk to professionals in a variety of research, medical and health fields. It was designed to expose area students to the many and varied career options offered locally, and to provide "hands-on" opportunities to imagine working on the medical campus or in similar settings.

The free event was open to area students on a first-come, first-served basis and quickly filled to capacity. Students had the opportunity to talk with professionals and tour UB's Center for Materials Informatics, and Center for Computational Research, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo Manufacturing Works, the Jacobs Institute, Gates Vascular Institute, Unyts and other facilities. They also participated in hands-on activities to learn more about the inner workings of laboratory, research and surgical functions on the medical campus, including test driving the Robotic Surgery Simulator (RoSS) used to train surgeons, learned about a catheterization lab, watched a pre-recorded surgery, created "microbial" art, saw robotic demonstrations and 3-D printers in action, learned about new technology and innovations with 43North, and took a turn as a virtual welder.

Kari Bonaro, director of communications and external affairs for the BNMC, said, "Many families hear about the medical campus, but may not really understand what type of work goes on here every day. The open house is a great way to share some of the exciting work happening here, but more importantly, to engage the next generation of researchers, scientists and medical professionals."

"Having a first-hand experience inside many of the medical campus facilities can really open the imagination of students to the possibilities for their future," said Dr. Sandra Small, integrated science education manager for UB's CBLS "By talking to experts and other professionals, students get a chance to ask questions and get a better sense of what medical campus careers are like and consider if a medical or scientific career is something they may like to pursue."

"AT&T is proud to again collaborate with the CBLS and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus to introduce local students and their families to the wide array of STEM-related career opportunities available in their own backyard," said Marissa Shorenstein, president, AT&T New York. "AT&T's continued support of this unique event grows out of our ongoing commitment to provide resources for STEM-related educational programming in Western New York to equip students with the necessary skills to compete in the global innovation economy."

A&T's continued support of this event is part of the company's legacy of supporting educational programs focused on STEM disciplines in New York through AT&T Aspire, the company's signature, $400 million philanthropic initiative that drives innovation in education by bringing diverse resources to bear on the issue, including funding, technology, employee volunteerism and mentoring. Aspire is one of the nation's largest corporate commitments focused on school success and workforce readiness by creating new learning environments and educational delivery systems to help students succeed and prepare them to take on 21st century careers.

Visitwww.bnmc.org to learn more about the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.