October 2024
Dr. Sui, Indika, and Amrit visited Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC), a tribal college in Belcourt, North Dakota, where we instructed 36 Native American students coming from Turtle Mountain Community Middle School, Turtle Mountain Community High School, and TMCC to fabricate batteries using zinc, copper, electrolytes, and fruits. We first introduced the basic knowledge and elementary theories of all kinds of batteries to the tribal students and later guided them to set up different types of batteries. The students expressed high spirits with these hands-on experiments, especially when the LED lights and digital watches were turned on with their own efforts, through which we hope to trigger their curiosity about science and interest in STEM education.
September 2024
Dr. Sui and the team visited the tribal college Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) in North Dakota, where we led Native American students to construct natural batteries using various fruits, such as lemons, apples, oranges, and tomatoes. The hands-on chemical experiments aim to cultivate the critical thinking and problem-solving abilities of the tribal students and to inspire their interest in research-oriented STEM education.
April 2024
Dr. Sui and Amrit visited the tribal college Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College (NHSC) in New Town, North Dakota. We illustrated the basic knowledge of different types of saccharides and their importance to human health to Native American tribal students from K-12 schools including New Town High School, White Shield High School, and Williston High School. We also led the students to design and conduct hands-on experiments to differentiate saccharides with varied properties.
November 2023
Dr. Sui visited a tribal college in North Dakota, Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC), where he conducted five sugar-related experiments together with Native American students, expecting to arouse their curiosity about science, especially chemistry and life science, through hands-on experiments.
October 2023
Dr. Sui visited Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC), a tribal college in North Dakota, to instruct Native American students with basic knowledge about carbohydrates and sugars and how they are related to human health, attempting to lead the students to think about daily life questions from a scientific angle.
September 2023
Dr. Sui and Amrit visited a tribal college, Sitting Bull College (SBC), in North Dakota, where we showed Native American students how to differentiate between reducing sugars and non-reducing sugars by conducting a series of hands-on chemical experiments with the students, aiming to inspire their interest in STEM.
April 2023
Dr. Sui and Mouhmad attended the First Robotics Competition for 7th – 12th grade students held at UND. We used pre-designed hands-on experiments to show the middle and high school students how indicators work in acidic and basic conditions, how the vacuum works on materials of different densities, and how to design 3D computational models of small organic molecules and macromolecular DNA strands.
March 2023
Dr. Sui gave a presentation about the cutting-edge research in the field of polymers and smart nanomedicine for cancer treatment to non-academic audiences from the nearby communities of UND at the science café.
November 2022
Dr. Sui visited another tribal college in North Dakota, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College (NHSC), where he illustrated the basic knowledge of polymers to Native American tribal students from K-12 schools including New Town High School, White Shield High School, and Williston High School through hands-on experiments with the students to make polymer-based bouncy balls using household items and to measure the bounciness of the balls.
October 2022
Dr. Sui, Amrit, and Abdur visited Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) for scientific activities with Native American students from tribal high schools including Devils Lake High School, Four Winds High School, Minnewaukan High School, and Warwick Public School. Dr. Sui gave a presentation about the fundamental theories of polymers and plastic materials that are extensively used in daily life, and then, together with the students, showed the tribal students how to use common items to make playful polymers.
September 2022
Dr. Sui, Sonia, and Amrit visited Sitting Bull College (SBC), a tribal college in North Dakota. We instructed Native American students from tribal K-8 schools, including Fort Yates Middle School and Cannon Ball Elementary School, with basic knowledge about polymers by means of working together with them to make slimes and bouncy balls using Elmer’s glue, Borax, and Cornstarch.
November 2021
Dr. Sui visited Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC), another tribal college of North Dakota. He had a tour of the campus, labs, and facilities of CCCC and listened to a presentation given by a CCCC student, Nicholas Bittner, about his research work using 3D printer. He also met with STEM faculty there and they planned to work on the Sunday Academy program together to get more local middle and high school students involved in STEM education.
October 2021
Dr. Sui visited Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC), one of the five tribal colleges in North Dakota, communicated with the faculty and instructors of TMCC, and had a tour of the lab spaces and facilities. They discussed the opportunity for TMCC students to learn more about scientific research and the collaboration in NSF Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education (NATURE) program.
