Help educate and support the students in the College of Natural Sciences! Our events celebrate the diversity within the college and provide unique opportunities to students!
Support Natural Sciences Council’s events and outreach programs that fuel connections, mentorship, and unique opportunities to College of Natural Sciences (CNS) students and to local the Austin community.
Diversity in STEM - Diversity in STEM is a speaker panel co-hosted by Natural Sciences Council (NSC) and the Council for Diversity Engagement (CDE). Diversity in STEM is a personal, candid conversation with CNS alumni and faculty about what it means to come from an underrepresented background in STEM: equity, microaggressions, self-advocacy, tokenization, and more are all on the table for discussion. Students can come to learn about the experiences of others and hear stories like their own. Please support our celebration of these inspiring alumni and faculty within the College of Natural Sciences!
CNS Connections - Bringing together dozens of companies, CNS Connections offers science undergraduates an opportunity to network and connect with company representatives, interested in meeting some of the best and brightest UT has to offer. Both students and company representatives have the opportunity to build meaningful career connections and discover relevant advice for pursuing their goals post-college. Companies that have attended in the past include Macromoltek, Inc, Google, NovaCentrix, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Oracle, Teach For America, Luminex Corporation, IBM, and many more. CNS Connections started off as a small project to expose students to industry careers and has expanded to an event with attendance of more than 200. Sponsors allow us to expand the scope of CNS Connections and have even more companies interact with some of the brightest sciences students at UT!
The Curie Diaries: Women In STEM - The Curie Diaries empowers UT undergraduate women in STEM by giving them an opportunity to speak to distinguished female faculty members. Our women in STEM event recognizes the incredible dedication and achievements of our faculty members and serves as source of inspiration for CNS students. Bringing together the extraordinary female science faculty on the International Day of Women and Girls, the Curie Diaries allows undergraduate students to learn about the opportunities the college offers and form lasting connections. By providing role models in various STEM fields, we encourage undergraduate women to pursue their dream career, succeed in their field of interest at UT, and beyond!
Young Scientists - Young Scientists (YS) is an educational outreach program whose purpose is to expose students in under-served schools to the fascinating world of science. Each week, students from the University of Texas go to elementary and middle schools to teach interactive science lessons. Many of these children would be first generation college students, and this program helps excite them about pursuing a degree in the sciences. Through Young Scientists, the kids learn how to transform bacteria, make magnetic slime, and build roller coasters. A favorite lesson for kids is learning how to extract and visualize DNA from strawberries. Young Scientists opens the door to a future career in STEM for these students, many of whom would not otherwise have access to these subjects and resources.
Sponsors allow us to expand these programs, teach more exciting topics, and obtain equipment or other lesson-enhancing supplies!
Kids Who Code - Kids Who Code (KWC) is an educational outreach program where Natural Sciences Council members go to underserved local schools to teach students the basics of computer science. KWC has made a huge impact on the education of hundreds of elementary and middle school students. Each week, our volunteers visit multiple schools, teaching lessons on Python coding, robotics, and other technology topics. One particularly exciting lesson involves cryptography and ciphers. In this lesson, students learn common encryption mechanisms like the Caesar cipher and Block cipher, how to encode messages with these ciphers, and even how to break the codes! Kids Who Code opens the door to a future career in STEM for these students, many of whom would not otherwise have access to these subjects and resources.
Sponsors and curriculum partners allow us to expand these programs, teach more exciting topics, and obtain robots or other lesson-enhancing supplies.
Congratulations to the Great 40 Hour Scavenger Hunt Winners!
1st Place: Natural Sciences Council wins $5,000!
2nd Place: Kappa Kappa Psi wins $2,000
3rd Place: Tau Beta Sigma wins $1,000
SURPRISE 4th Place: The Orange Jackets win $500!
Other Bonus Prizes
$250: Tau Beta Sigma – First Dunking of the Day
$125 Tau Beta Sigma- Most parent donations TIE
$125 Deans Scholar Student Assoc- Most Parent Donations TIE
$250 TX Votes- Most donation in one hour
$200 Camp Texas- Dunking First Deans During Event
$300 Sailing Team -Dunking First Deans During Event
$250 Camp Texas – Sunrise Photo
Thank you all so much for participating! We hope you had a great time!
