LigerBots Host Newton FLL Qualifier

Events

On November 18, Newton’s high-school robotics team, the LigerBots, hosted a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Newton Qualifier tournament — in which teams of elementary and middle schoolers passionate about robotics compete using LEGO robots that they have designed and built. The LigerBots have hosted FLL tournaments since 2008. This event had LEGOs and robots in every corner of the building, booming voices of the MC announcing matches, 14 FLL teams competing, and 70 LigerBot student volunteers working hard to run this show. FLL teams displayed their projects, on this year’s FIRST theme — The Arts — in the Newton North cafeteria.

FLL teams preparing their robots for competition — L: New England Code Crackers, R: Cookie Coders

The LigerBots set up a booth on Newton North’s Main Street corridor to showcase their 2022 FIRST Robotics Competition robot and two hands-on STEAM activities: making custom buttons and origami pieces. The FLL team members enjoyed interacting with the robot — a machine that can shoot giant tennis balls for them to catch — and found the  STEAM demonstrations entertaining.

Of the 14 FLL teams that attended, four are from Newton:  New England Code Crackers, Cookie Coders, The First Layer, and Voltage.

Newton FLL teams in the qualifying tournament, clockwise from top-left: New England Code Crackers, Cookie, Coders, The First Layer, and Voltage.

The tournament concluded with an awards ceremony and a dance party. All four teams from Newton received awards: Cookie Coders (Innovation Project first place), Voltage (Innovation Project second place), New England Code Crackers (Core Values first place) and The First Layer (Judges Award).

Among the six teams that qualified to continue to the state finals next month are two teams from Newton — Cookie Coders and New England Code Crackers — and four other teams: Goofy Gyros, Mechanical Madness, Acton Avengers, and The Mind Coders. These teams will compete at the upcoming Massachusetts FLL Championship, which will be divided between competitions at WPI and at Newton North High School.

The MA FLL Championship tournament at Newton North High School, also run by the LigerBots, will be on December 16, 9AM-4PM — free and open the public. As many as 48 FLL teams will compete head-to-head, and the LigerBots will once again host a STEAM Expo, run alongside the competition. At the STEAM Expo, 10AM-3PM, FLL team members and all attendees will have the opportunity to engage in a large variety of hands-on STEAM activities, explore a number of local organizations’ booths, and interact with bigger robots from FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge.

LigerBots to Host FLL Regional Qualifying Tournament at NNHS, Nov. 18

Events

The LigerBots will again host the Newton Qualifier, a FIRST LEGO League robotics competition for Massachusetts students in Grades 4-8 on Saturday, November 18, 8AM-4PM, at Newton North HS. It’s free and open to the public. The theme of this year’s competition is Masterpiece. Teams will compete using LEGO robots they have designed, built, and programmed to perform complex tasks. The public may also view the teams’ displays of their solutions to real-world problems related to the urban-design theme. There will also be hands-on STEM activities for kids, and the LigerBots’ First Robotics Competition robot will be on display.

The next FLL competition hosted by the LigerBots will be Massachusetts FLL Championship Tournament on December 16 at Newton North HS.

Grades 8-12: Register Now for Northeastern Splash!, In-Person, Nov. 11

Events

Each fall and spring, NEPTUN (a Northeastern University student group) hosts Splash!, a free program for students in Grades 8-12 to take fun and informative mini-classes led by Northeastern undergraduate students. This year, Splash! will again be held in-person at Ryder Hall (11 Leon St, Boston) on the Northeastern campus, on November 11, 8:30AM-6:40PM. The $0 cost includes free pizza and a T-shirt. Registration is now open and is first-come/first-served and requires setting up a free student account. For more information, see the FAQs or contact nu.neptun@gmail.com. Among the 26 in-person Splash! courses this year are these STEM offerings:

  • Electronics and Soldering Workshop
  • The eggscellent challenge
  • Will robots destroy the world?
  • The Entire Internet in an Hour!
  • Emoji: How They Work and Why They Break Everything
  • How to Preserve Dead Things
  • Real Life Sci-Fi: Gene Editing
  • Black Holes
  • From Atoms to Adam: Science’s Best Understanding of the History of Everything
  • Miraculous 3-Pound Jell-O
  • Homemade Gel Electrophoresis/Edible DNA!

Grades 9-12: Register by Oct. 29 for MIT Splash, Nov. 18-19

Events

MIT’s Splash program runs for two days each year on the weekend before Thanksgiving — running in-person this year on November 18-19. Students in Grades 9-12 can take a wide range of mini-courses taught by MIT undergraduates and participate in drop-in activities. This year, Splash! is offering over 180 courses including many in Science, Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics. The cost is $40 regardless of the number of courses taken, and generous financial aid is available. The first phase of registration is now open, in which students will have until October 29 to register and specify their preferences for classes. Classes will then be filled by lottery, treating equally all those who register anytime in the first phase of registration. After the lottery results are announced, some classes may be available for those registering later, in a subsequent phase of registration. See the Program Details. For more information, email splash@mit.edu.

New England Sci-Tech: StratoScience 2024 engineering class

After School

The New England Sci-Tech (NEST) STEM education center (16 Tech Circle, off Route 9 in Natick) will offer StratoScience 2024, an engineering class hosted by the New England Weather Balloon Society. Students will work both independently and together to design and build a scientific payload aboard a high altitude balloon that will fly to the edge of space. Students will participate in the planning, building, launching, tracking, recovery, and analysis of the mission. Register for the required Info Session, which is offered on two alternate dates: October 28 and November 4. Classes begin November 18 and will meet on most Saturdays, 1PM-2PM, until August 24.

Bridgewater State University: Open Lab Night, Nov. 8

Events

On November 8, 5PM-8PM, Bridgewater State University’s Center for the Advancement of STEM Education (CASE) will host Open Lab Night 2023, featuring STEM activities and demonstrations at BSU’s Dana Mohler-Faria Science & Mathematics Center. It’s free and open to the entire community, especially students in Grades K-12. Registration is required. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Parking is available in the Bridgewater State University Parking Garage. The BSU Observatory may be open until 9PM, weather permitting. For more information, email casebsu@bridgew.edu.

Broad Discovery Series: New perspectives on diabetes: The many subtypes of type 2, Nov. 9

Events

The next presentation in Broad Institute’s Broad Discovery Series of free, public lectures (formerly Science for All Seasons) will be on November 9, 6PM-7PM. Physician-geneticist Miriam Udler and computational and cellular biologist Melina Claussnitzer will discuss what genetics reveals about the subtypes of type 2 diabetes, and how researchers can use that understanding as a springboard for learning how this disease really works — and what to do about it. Register to attend — either in-person (415 Main Street, Cambridge) or virtually. In-person attendees are invited to a reception in the Broad Discovery Center following the talk.

LigerBots Open House, Sept. 28

After School, Opportunities

The LigerBots, Newton’s dual-high-school FIRST Robotics Competition team, will host an open house for prospective team members on September 28, 6:30PM – 9PM in the engineering room at Newton South High School (Room 9170). All Newton North and Newton South students are invited. This event will include an introductory presentation about the team and hands-on challenges in many of the skill areas that team members learn, like mechanical and electrical engineering, programming, driving robots, CAD (Computer Aided Design), marketing, graphics, photography, and public speaking. Masks are required at all LigerBots meetings. For more information, see the links above or send an email to info@ligerbots.org.

HMSC exhibition: Surveillance – From Vision to Data

Opportunities

Harvard Museums of Science and Culture has opened a new exhibition, Surveillance: From Vision to Data associated with its Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (1 Oxford Street, Cambridge). The exhibition extends beyond cameras and their watchers to explore the profound influence of data, highlighting historical instruments that have been used to transform individuals and landscapes into data. It explores “how powerful entities, from colonial empires to U.S. intelligence agencies, have harnessed surveillance data to produce and perpetuate hierarchies of human difference.”

On Monday, September 24, 12PM-1PM, there will be a Lunch & Learn exhibit talk during which curators will highlight selected objects and “critical artworks that have resisted now ubiquitous data-driven surveillance.” Registration recommended. Attendees may bring their own lunch.

The HMSC Connects! podcast has a new episode on the exhibit.