Education & Outreach An important part of the Garland Initiative is education and outreach to the public. The Garland Initiative has continued a series of seminars where outside experts can come and interact with researchers at UCSB. While at the same time Garland faculty traveled to outside universities and presented our research to inform, inspire, and create new opportunities for learning and collaboration.

During summer 2015 our labs were opened to interns from high schools and undergraduate institutions as part of the CIRM Research Mentorship Program and the Institute for Creative Biotechnology Program. A video of which is featured on the right hand side of this page.

Over the past year, the Garland Initiative Faculty was also engaged in outreach via seminars to general audiences at various public venues. These included: Cate School Convocation, Carpintaria, CA (again this year); Foundation Fighting Blindness Symposium on Cell and Gene Therapy (Denver, CO); Foundation Fighting Blindness Fundraiser (Goleta, CA); Usher’s Syndrome Family Conference (New Orleans, LA); Foundation Fighting Blindness Visions Meeting (Baltimore, MD); UC Santa Barbara Orientation (Santa Barbara, CA); Ground Breaking Research and Innovative Technology Talks, UC Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA); Freshman Seminars, UC Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA); Wilcox Family Chair in Biomedicine Investiture, UC Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA); Lectures for 10th and 11th Grade Biology and Health Classes, San Marcos High School, (Santa Barbara, CA ); Stem Cell Awareness Day, Camarillo High School (Camarillo, CA); Tech Savvy Event, GET WISE (Santa Barbara, CA); Stem Cell Awareness Day, Santa Barbara High School (Santa Barbara, CA); Family Ultimate Science Exploration Program (Santa Barbara, CA); Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (Los Angeles, CA); California State University San Marcos (San Marcos, CA).

We are grateful to the William K. Bowes Foundation for funding this exciting program of research, education and outreach and look forward to next year.