A sugary candy but subtly smoky odor evoking Christmas markets and completely happy campfires stuffed the Yeh demo kitchen on Dec. 11 as college students roasted marshmallows to make s’mores. Chestnuts baked in an oven close by, and an abundance of inexperienced espresso beans had been ready to be heated subsequent.
“The goal today is I just want you to just think about what is happening during this process and why is it so delicious,” mentioned Janine Nunes, director of training outreach on the Princeton Materials Institute.
The Science of Roasting occasion was a part of the Center on Science and Technology (CST) Brainy Bites collection, the place college students make and style meals whereas studying associated science. As college students snacked, Nunes dove into the chemical compositions of marshmallows and espresso beans. Then, she led college students to determine the first scientific reactions that happen when each meals are heated with air: the Maillard response, which results in browning, and caramelization.
“These are things that we see in everyday life, and I think that … makes the science more accessible and palatable, because we can easily relate to it,” mentioned Ananya Chakravarti, a fourth-year chemical and organic engineering graduate scholar who attended.
“I want to keep learning and want to keep being curious about other fields,” mentioned fellow attendee Margaux Emmanuel, a first-year graduate scholar within the division of French and Italian. “I thought this was an excellent way to kind of have bite-sized science.”
Brainy Bites is one in every of a handful of collection the CST has launched prior to now few years, all aligned with the middle’s purpose to “advance STEM literacy across the University and beyond,” based on Sami Kahn, CST govt director. The heart was established on campus in 1989 because the Council on Science and Technology, however final yr, was renamed to acknowledge its progress far past its school committee origins.
“We believe that STEM is relevant to everyone and is just a miraculous way of understanding the world around us,” mentioned Kahn.
During the 2024-25 tutorial yr, CST hosted greater than 70 occasions — primarily designed with undergraduates in thoughts — and averaged greater than 40 attendees per occasion. According to CST directors, a variety of the collection, corresponding to Brainy Bites, began as singular occasions that had been very talked-about.
A Faculty Salon collection started after a casual group of college who loved interdisciplinary dialog determined to prepare gatherings that “focus on one material and see how people from different disciplines interpret this material,” based on Z. Vivian Feng, assistant director of STEM training on the heart. The group despatched an electronic mail soliciting school volunteers inquisitive about giving low-stakes, 10-minute flash talks, and Feng was shocked by the robust response. During the primary yr of the salons, school met 3 times to debate glass. This yr, the salons are centered on gold, with one gathering held within the fall and two extra deliberate this spring.
The RadLab workshop collection for college students, which began nearly throughout COVID and continues to be going robust, is just like the college salons in that college students volunteer to present quick talks of about quarter-hour, however the matter is totally of their selecting. Sessions have ranged from language to 3D artwork to “trashion” (upcycling discarded supplies to make modern items).
Lilia Burtonpatel ’27, an ecology and evolutionary biology main, introduced on video video games with ecological themes after researching the topic to put in writing a paper for a course. She realized that RadLab “would be a great way to share it and talk about this with people who are interested, and also a great way to practice science communication, which is a very good skill to have.”
As a freshman, Burtonpatel served on CST’s roughly 20-person Student Advisory Board (SAB), a gaggle of undergraduates who convey scholar views to CST’s occasion planning. Then, Burtonpatel spent a yr as one in every of two management liaisons — scholar workers of CST who lead the scholar board.
“My role essentially with the SAB is [to] sit back,” mentioned Craig Marshall, assistant director of STEM training on the heart. “I watch them dream … and I also provide them snacks, ’cause we all need snacks, right?”
Last spring, the scholar board conceived of and hosted a BioBeauty occasion, which introduced collectively specialists on magnificence and skincare from and in and exterior the University — corresponding to molecular biology professor Jeffry Stock, who has based or co-founded a number of startups, together with a skincare firm — and featured hands-on workshops on fragrance, henna, and basis make-up.
“The CST gives us resources in order to host these events like BioBeauty, but of course to use them, we have to be organized, and that’s the main challenge … executing the group vision,” mentioned Burtonpatel.
In addition to brainstorming and internet hosting occasions, the scholars “can help get the word out” about all CST occasions, based on Manna Sam ’27, a molecular biology main who’s serving as management liaison alongside Aanya Kasera ’28, a fellow molecular biology main.
Sam advised PAW that, this tutorial yr, they’re centered on supporting CST’s social media.
“I do think that not enough people know about the CST,” mentioned Sam.