Kumar Mallikarjunan, BSE Associate Professor, has conducted classes for Governor’s School students, teaching food process engineering as an elective during the summer. The one-week activity includes two hours per day of hands-on laboratory activities, including freeze drying, baking using a continuous convection oven, and freezing fruits and quality evaluation (color, odor, and texture). On the final day, students participate in a quiz show similar to Jeopardy. The classes are conducted in the food engineering laboratory and a classroom in Seitz Hall.
BSE Associate Professor, Justin Barone, provides demonstration/labs on visits to K-12 classrooms at the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School in Roanoke, Virginia as well as to K-12 visitors to campus. Justin also conducts laboratory tours and hosts science fair projects with students. He has participated in the Roanoke Valley Governor's School annual science fair and mentored students. Usually they go to his lab to work, and he routinely hosts the Environmental Chemistry classes taught by Gwen Sibert for tours and lectures here at VT.
Several extension faculty members in BSE have developed a comprehensive extenuation program that includes K-12 as one of its target audiences. The Bioenergy Engineering Education Program (BEEP) conducts outreach activities in conjunction with 4-H, third graders, and K-12 educators.