MdBio Foundation Inspires Maryland High School Students With Hands-On Science Experiences In The Mdbiolab

More than 10,000 Students Across the Eastern Shore and Central Maryland to Attend Classes on Mobile Laboratory and Learn About STEM Careers during 2016-17 School Year

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 10,000 high school students across Maryland will have the chance to perform real-world, cutting-edge experiments and work with advanced laboratory technologies, such as comparing DNA among species, when the MdBio Foundation’s MdBioLab visits 35 high schools across nine counties and seven events during the 2016-17 school year. Now in its 14^th year serving the state’s students, the custom-built mobile laboratory has inspired more than 130,000 students to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) regionally by giving them hands-on experience in current laboratory concepts and techniques.

“We are particularly proud this year to be able to bring the mobile lab to schools on the Eastern Shore, giving those students a unique opportunity to get hands-on STEM experience not otherwise available.”

“At the MdBio Foundation, our mission is to improve science literacy throughout the state, introduce students to exciting career options in STEM and encourage them as they make decisions about higher education and future employment. However – particularly in rural communities – schools have limited resources to bring the newest technologies and lab techniques to their students,” said Brian Gaines, CEO of the MdBio Foundation. “We are particularly proud this year to be able to bring the mobile lab to schools on the Eastern Shore, giving those students a unique opportunity to get hands-on STEM experience not otherwise available.”

MdBioLab visits each school for one week. The lab is staffed by science educators who lead students through inquiry-based laboratory activities and provides all necessary equipment, reagents and supplies for the activity. MdBioLab can accommodate up to 32 students, who work in pairs.

High schools being visited by MdBioLab this year include:

Anne Arundel County
Broadneck High School
Meade High School
Northeast High School
Old Mill High School
Phoenix Academy
Severna Park High School
South River High School

Dorchester County
Cambridge-South Dorchester High School
North Dorchester High School

Howard County
Glenelg Country School
Glenelg High School
Hammond High School
Marriotts Ridge High School
Oakland Mills High School
Reservoir High School
River Hill High School
Wilde Lake High School

Kent County
Kent County High School

Montgomery County
Albert Einstein High School
Gaithersburg High School
Magruder High School
Montgomery Blair High School
Northwest High School
RICA (Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents)
Rockville High School
Seneca Valley High School
The Frost School High School
Walt Whitman High School

Queen Anne’s County
Kent Island High School

Somerset County
Washington Academy and High School

Wicomico County
James M. Bennett High School
Mardela Middle High School
Wicomico High School

Worcester County
Pocomoke High School
Snow Hill High School

MdBioLab also will be at numerous events and locations throughout the community, including Baltimore Innovation Week at the University of Maryland BioPark in later this month; Manufacturing Day at W.R. Grace & Co., the Maryland Association of Science Teachers Conference and Frontiers in Space in October; ATLAS STEM College & Career Symposium in November; and B’More Healthy Expo and Maryland Day in March.

To see the full MdBioLab schedule, visit the MdBio Foundation website.

The MdBioLab operates thanks in part to generous sponsors, including AT&T, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., MedImmune/AstraZeneca, MilliporeSigma, W.R. Grace & Co. and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC).

About MdBio Foundation

MdBio Foundation is a charitable non-profit organization that provides innovative, effective, and experiential STEM education opportunities with a focus on bioscience. The Foundation’s interdisciplinary approach uses science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to explore real-world, problem-centric curriculum that bridges school, community, health, and business. MdBio Foundation’s flagship education program MdBioLab, a mobile laboratory for high schools, has provided quality educational experiences to more than 130,000 students throughout the state of Maryland since its launch in 2003. The Foundation also operates other celebrated STEM education programs such as the Young Science Explorers Program for middle school students, the Maryland BioGENEius Award, and ATLAS: Advancing Tomorrow’s Leaders + STEM college and career symposia. For more information, visit www.mdbiofoundation.org.