"ACORNS (Activities for Community Outreach in STEM)": In-person Badger Talk in Wausau, WI

Join presenters Zach Lewis and Erin Motherway on August 23, 2025, at 10:00 AM at the Children's Imaginarium for STEM Saturday!

Studies show that feelings of belonging are the number one indicator of retention in STEM. The ability of students to see themselves in STEM spaces is crucial to building this sense of belonging. At the same time, students are only able to envision themselves as scientists inasmuch as they are doing science. An ACORNS program is a highly interactive, tactile STEM-themed activity. These could include modeling planet formation with ice cream and cookies, exploring stellar fusion with the ingredients of s’mores, and measuring the speed of light using a chocolate bar.

This shift from a lecture-style format to a hands-on, student-led dialogue allows for an immersive STEM experience, highlighting both that science can be fun, accessible, and messy, but also that anyone is capable of doing it, regardless of expertise. Science is a state of mind, defined by curiosity–and every person has plenty of that.

Zach Lewis is a graduate student in astronomy at UW-Madison. His research focuses on the evolution of elements inside galaxies. He uses JWST observations of distant galaxies to characterize how stars produce elements and eject them into their host galaxy, and how those elements then escape the galaxy or form new stars.

Erin Motherway is a graduate student at UW-Madison pursuing her PhD in astronomy. Her research thus far has consisted of studying the evolution of binary star systems found in different areas of the universe such as within star clusters or in the field of space. She uses observational data from a variety of astronomical instruments to constrain the physics of binary evolution, understand likely progenitor systems and formation mechanisms, and help build an observational framework to advance binary star evolution theory and models.

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