Education and Outreach
Building an on-ramp for everyone to learn synthetic biology, AI/ML, and laboratory automation — from K-12 classrooms to industry professionals.
A broad, welcoming on-ramp to automation in synthetic biology.
Democratize access to synthetic biology, AI/ML, and automation.
Reach a broad audience, including students, educators, and industry professionals.
Foster relatable, engaging experiences to build a vibrant community of learners and future STEM leaders.
Broaden the iBioFoundry’s impact and cultivate the next generation of innovators.
Multiple Target Audience, One Shared Platform
The iEduBiofoundry is building and delivering programs for audiences ranging from high school students to industry professionals.
| K-12 Students | Undergrad & Graduate Students | General Audience | Educators | Industry Professionals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Impact | Agora Days (20+) · Engineering Open House (100+) · Museum of Science & Industry (1000+) | Summer School · Seminars | — | Outreach Training Workshop | Certificate Program · Industry Partnership Program |
| Resources | Digital Activities | Field Guides · MOOC | Field Guides · MOOC | High School Curriculum · Training Materials | — |
| Research | — | — | — | — | Supporting Creativity in the BioFoundry |
| A shared platform for all outreach activities | |||||
iEduBiofoundry
From interactive activities that get students hands-on with foundational ideas in the classroom, to expert-level training scenarios for the challenges of real-world automated biology, iEduBiofoundry is a first-of-its-kind platform for sharing the knowledge of the iBioFoundry with all — technologically integrated with the iCloudBiofoundry, so we can build educational and training materials for every level of expertise.
- K-12 students: hands-on activities, digital and analog
- K-12 educators: teacher resources
- Undergraduates & general audience: field guides
- Professional biofoundry users: training scenarios
Recent Outreach Activities
Hands-on biofoundry programming, delivered in classrooms, at university-wide events, and at one of the country’s largest science museums.
Agora Days
“Future Biologists: Inside the Labs of Tomorrow”
Feb 10–14, 2026 A 4-day workshop with 21 high school students. We designed reusable activities on biofoundry concepts — automation/robotics, computation/AI, and the Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle — taught through hands-on activities, lectures, and discussion.
Engineering Open House
“Forging the Future” · Grainger Engineering, UIUC
Apr 10–11, 2026 A 2-day, campus-wide event where thousands of K-12 students explore science and engineering. About 100+ interactions at the iBioFoundry station.
Middle School Outreach
Sep 2, 2026 Biofoundry activities for middle school students, hosted at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. About 50+ interactions at the iBioFoundry station.
World of Genomics
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Upcoming · Oct 11–12, 2026 Interactive activities for thousands of museum visitors, children and adults alike, with hands-on analog and digital iEduBiofoundry activities.
iEduBiofoundry Resources
All digital activities live on iEduBiofoundry — free, browser-based, and ready for the classroom.
How to Draw a Smiley Face
Teaches automation, robotics, and the difference between talking with AIs versus deterministic programs.
Try the Activity →Grow a Color Challenge
Teaches automation, biological experimentation, and data analysis. Builds on “Drawing with Boop” and pairs with the hands-on Pipette Race activity.
Try the Activity →Analog Activities
Hands-on versions of the digital activities, plus Pipette Race and the DBTL Cycle card game, with facilitator instructions.
Outreach Resources →Field Guides
An on-ramp to biofoundry concepts, written in plain language with interactive mini-games — three guides live now, with more in progress.
Read the Field Guides →K-12 Learning Modules
A 4-day workshop curriculum built for high school classrooms — 45-minute lessons with slides, moderation instructions, worksheets, and activities.
Access the Learning Module →For Educators
Outreach Training Workshop
Apr 2026 Prepares undergraduates to lead outreach events: how to run activities, engage different age groups, connect the material to computing, biology, and STEM careers, and explain biofoundries.
Outreach Training Materials
Workshop materials and activity moderation instructions, available through Outreach Resources on iEduBiofoundry.
Outreach Resources →Workforce Development
Certificate Program
Structured training for professionals working with biofoundry automation.
Interactive Training Scenarios
Troubleshooting practice with the iCloudBiofoundry.
Summer School
Intensive hands-on sessions covering biofoundry automation and design.
Supporting Creativity in the BioFoundry
The first rigorous human-computer interaction study of how scientific innovation happens in biofoundries, and how the design of biofoundry user interfaces can speed up scientific progress. Through human-centered design, observations, interviews, and system building, we map current practices and new opportunities for software tools that support scientific creativity.
Mingyan Tian and Sarah Sterman. 2026. Creativity in the BioFoundry: Supporting scientific creativity in the age of automation. In Proceedings of the 2026 Conference on Creativity and Cognition (C&C ’26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 316–328.
