Outreach

Science, and the academy as a whole, has a long history of gatekeeping - selecting for those individuals who come from inherited positions of privilege and power while excluding those from marginalized backgrounds. These barriers range from systemic oppression of racial and ethnic groups to failure to distribute appropriate resources to those in need. This cycle, if left unchecked, will continue. Furthermore, it must be knowledged that progress in science has often, and repeatedly, been made at the expense of marginalized groups and without proper recognization to those who pushed forward that progress.

Acknowledging the shortcomings and gaps in the current system is important but not enough to elicit change. To that end, I am committed to promoting science, and engaging in science outreach in hopes of inspiring and offering support to those students that perhaps has never considered science an option.

My outreach efforts range from science experiment demonstrations to career panels to informal chats with students. My goal is expose as many students to science as a potential career and as a tangible opportunity - STEM is not an abstraction found only in textbooks!

If you would like to connect for outreach collaborations, please feel free to reach out via email!

Past Outreach Efforts

Pizza Talk! High School Edition

I was invited to give a small scientific journey talk to a high schoolers; Practice for the real pizza talk in April!

November 8th, 2021

Student and Career Development: Alumni's Perspective

Kean University invited Víkko (B.S. '18) back to his alma mater to give a guest lecture and answer questions about his path going into graduate school.


The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the opportunities that students can partake in at Kean University both as students and budding professionals. The meeting was held in a hybrid format to over 50 students!

Inspiring STEM Stories with sySTEMic Flow LLC.

DBS collaborated with sySTEMic flow LLC to offer a career panel to 400 high school students across Massachusetts.


sySTEMic flow is dedicated to inspiring, motivating, and building the next generation of STEM leaders by supporting students' fundamental learning in math. They have a focus on providing educational resources to students who idenitify as Black, Indigenous, and/or women of color. They aim to bridge the gap from the time students are graduating high school and tranisitoning to post-secondary education with access to advanced math course.


Víkko and Adrianna both presented!


Recording can be found here!


November 10th, 2021

Crash Course on the Ferret as a Model Organism

Presented a short video on the ferret as a model organism to students of NBIO 140 - Principles of Neuroscience. This course is mandatory for the Neuroscience major and for both Masters and Doctoral students in the program.