VINSE hosted our Inaugural Friends and Family Day on April 16th, 2022, with more than 250 registered attendees.
During the two-hour event members of the nano community were able to participate in 16 different hands-on demonstrations with topics that included electroplating, graphene transfer, hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties, light diffraction and ferrofluids. In addition to the Vanderbilt graduate student volunteers within our institute, VINSE partnered with undergraduate students from Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science (VSVS) and high school student volunteers from John Overton High School to host our science demonstrations.
Attendees could tour the VINSE Core Facilities, including inside the cleanroom, analytical, and advanced imaging. Demos in advanced imaging, analytical and our 3-D printing lab were the fan favorites. For children too young to go into the cleanroom there were gown dress-up stations, cut outs of people in cleanroom gear for photo opportunities, and a cleanroom window tour led by Dr. Jason Valentine.
In addition to the tours and hands-on science booths, guests were able to grab lunch at the Califarmia food truck and dessert at the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream stand. Throughout the event there were several raffle drawings for people to win door prizes, including Baby Yoda figures that were 3-D printed in our own VINSE labs.
The 2022 VINSE Friends and Family Day was a huge success, and we are looking forward to hosting the event again next year.
Visit our album page to see more photos of the event!