Fischell Institute Hosts Annual Take Your Child to Work Day

The Fischell Institute hosted its annual Take Your Child to Work Day event on Thursday, April 24, 2025, in the fifth-floor conference room of A. James Clark Hall.

The program was designed by Ambi Narula, the Fischell Institute’s communications and program specialist, to spark curiosity and inspire the next generation of engineers.

“I have fond memories of going to my dad’s office for Take Your Child to Work Day,” Narula said. “I wanted to recreate that magic for the Fischell Institute community.”

Thirteen children, ages 4 to 13, participated in four hands-on engineering activities led by graduate students from across the institute.

Futoon Aljirafi, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in chemical and biomolecular engineering in Fischell Institute DirectorBill Bentley’s Biomolecular and Metabolic Engineering lab, kicked off the day with a nod to the University of Maryland’s agricultural roots. She led an edible "dirt cup" activity, where kids combined chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms to creatively explore soil layers.

Shadin Doski, a first-year bioengineering Ph.D. student in Affiliate Fellow Gregg Duncan’s Respiratory NanoBioengineering lab, demonstrated how scientists work around biological barriers in drug delivery. Using oil, water-soluble food coloring, glitter, and alka-seltzer tablets, Doski guided the children through an experiment that mimicked the process of overcoming chemical resistance to deliver medication.

Jason Chen, a Fischell Institute and MPower Entrepreneurship Fellow and master’s student in robotics, led the final two activities. Children created colorful, stretchy slime by mixing common ingredients and adjusting the ratios to see how changes affected texture. Then, they built miniature volcanoes by experimenting with different proportions of baking soda, vinegar, water, and soap to create the most explosive chemical reaction.

Following the engineering activities, the group toured the UMD campus farm, where they learned about UMD’s agricultural history and animal care, and met baby goats born just days earlier.