UNE students and staff volunteer at annual Portland STEM Expo

Michael D'Apice, Rachel Russell, Neal Mecum and Katy Lowe get ready for the Portland STEM Expo
Michael D'Apice, Rachel Russell, Neal Mecum and Katy Lowe get ready for the Portland STEM Expo

UNE volunteers and staff from the laboratory of Ian Meng, Ph.D., director of the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences (CEN) and professor of biomedical sciences, recently gave comparative brain and anatomy lessons to hundreds of children at the at the 5th annual Portland STEM Expo.

More than 2,000 students from Portland schools attended the expo. They were encouraged to visit 50 STEM-related exhibits set up at the University of Southern Maine.

Meng Lab members included lab manager Rachel Russell, Katy Lowe (Neuroscience, ’20) and University of Maine graduate students Neal Mecum and Cara Sullivan.

During the event they assisted CEN K-12 Outreach coordinator Michael D’Apice.

The expo marked CEN K-12 Outreach’s first event of the season. The team will soon be volunteering in Biddeford, giving brain anatomy and concussion safety lessons.

UNE students and staff gave comparative brain and anatomy lessons to hundreds of children at the expo
UNE students and staff gave comparative brain and anatomy lessons to hundreds of children at the expo

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.