A nod to Industry Experts for adding educational value to our annual school STEAM Fair
Laurus International School was fortunate to have the participation of several esteemed business and science professionals at our annual STEAM Fair, this year held on March 20th. Our guests dedicated their time & expertise to judge one of the fair’s highlights, a friendly competition of best-in-category, Utopia-themed science projects from pre-selected primary, middle and upper grade students.
Each of the students were graded on (1) project, (2) slide material, (3) presentation, (4) topic knowledge, (5) communication skill, and (6) fit to the STEAM Fair theme. After tallying the numbers and using the grades as a general guide; one worthy winner was selected by the judging panel from each category.
Our judges included:
Ariel Thorpe, D.C. - As a healthcare practitioner and owner of Electra Chiropractic (https://www.electrachiropractic.com/), Dr. A. Thorpe is actively involved with patient care and well-being consultation. Throughout her career, she has directly supported healthcare education.
Colin Rowat, Ph.D. - Dr. C. Rowat is a senior research scientist at the Rakuten Institute of Technology and an expert in applications of computer science to AI, finance, risk management and economics.
Daniel Addo-Gyan, Ph.D. - Dr. D. Addo-Gyan is originally from Ghana and completed his doctoral training at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University focusing on CRISPR technology applications. He is currently employed as a laboratory automation specialist for Eppendorf Corporation Japan.
Haruhiko Bito, MD, Ph.D. - Professor H. Bito is Chairman of the Neurochemistry department at the University of Tokyo. He is widely published and internationally recognized for his research contributions to the field of Neuroscience.
Hideo Sekino, Ph.D. - H. Sekino is a research professor in the Institute for Advanced Computational Science of Stonybrook university, New York and an expert in computational quantum physics and chemistry. Independently he is a Shakuhachi bamboo flute player and active in performing internationally. He also heads performing art spaces, RAKUDOAN (n-as.org/rakudoanin) in Kanda and Art space Syzygy (n-as.org/Syzygyy) in Sanbancho, Tokyo.
Michael Paumen, Ph.D. - Dr. M. Paumen is a long-term resident of Japan with a scientific business career in medical diagnostics and medical research technologies. He is currently the country manager for Pacific Bioscience, Inc., a leading company for state-of-the-art high-through-put DNA sequencing machines and reagents.
Sepideh Dfirouzjah - Ms. S. Dfirouzjah is currently a Ph.D. candidate and researcher at the Institute of Science in Tokyo. Her doctor thesis work is focused on neuroscience.
These professionals, widely viewed as thought leaders in their fields, were recruited by Paul E. Cizdziel, Ph.D. (“Doctor Cheese”); our school’s Science Advisor. His decades of experience in the Japan business and scientific community provides a professional network that enriches the educational experience at our school. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Dr Cizdziel, as well as each of the esteemed STEAM Fair judges for their invaluable contributions towards education.