April 25th, 2010 is National DNA Day.
North Carolina DNA day was created to commemorate the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003 and the anniversary of the discovery of DNA’s double helix by Watson and Crick in 1953. Our mission is to inspire and build a community between educators from academia and NC high school system (grades 9-12) to promote and enhance science education. It is our goal to expose students to presentations and activities and cutting edge research conducted by graduate students and post-doctoral research scientists from all around North Carolina. This will allow high school students to acquire knowledge and generate interest that would lead to careers in scientific research. Our vision is to reach as many school across the great state of North Carolina as possible with an emphasis on serving more rural schools that have limited exposure to career scientists. It is our pledge to focus our efforts in the success of cultivating the minds of the next generation of scientific leaders for the United States and global communities.
In 2009, approximately 160 ambassadors visited 101 high schools around the state. However, the number of schools that applied to participate was far greater than the number of ambassadors. In order to reach more schools, our goal is to recruit more DNA Ambassadors in 2010. Our vision is to serve more rural schools that have limited exposure to career scientists. Join us in celebrating NC DNA Day 2010!
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) thanks the ambassadors of the North Carolina DNA Day for their hard work and expresses how “geeked” he is about the 2007 DNA day. (Roll over the image below and press the play button on the image to view the video) Content on this page requires Adobe Flash Player 8 or higher.
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