Science fiction becomes reality at Cybrospace

Thermo-imaging cameras like in the movie Predator and wireless robo-bugs are just a couple of the gadgets the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) plans to bring to life for Māori and Pacific students in the Wellington area.

Dr Jason Turuwhenua, Institute Associate Director (Māori), will be taking some of the cutting-edge scientific inventions developed at the ABI to the 2010 Cybrospace Journeys to Success event.

The event being held at the Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua, is aimed at celebrating Māori and Pacific success in the sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics, architecture and design and to encourage youth and whānau to fully engage with the sciences at secondary and tertiary level and make healthy decisions.

It is the first time the Institute has been involved in the Cybrospace event and Dr Turuwhenua is looking forward to showing the youngsters what University has to offer.

“It’s a great opportunity to show these students that science-fiction isn’t necessarily fiction. We’re making so many huge advances in all aspects of bioengineering that it’s easy to believe anything is possible.

“What we really want from this event is for the kids and their families to realise the opportunities that are out there and that further education is the key to new discoveries, in all senses of the phrase,” says Dr Turuwhenua.

The Cybrospace event is organised by Te Rōpū Āwhina, the Faculties of Science, Engineering, Architecture and Design at Victoria University of Wellington, and Pacific Health Services Porirua in association with The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, The Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology & Evolution, Te Puni Kōkiri and Ngati Toa.

Notes
Cybrospace – Journeys to Success
Where: Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua
When: 9.30am-3pm - Friday 27 August, 2010
www.victoria.ac.nz/science/awhina/