Nerd Nite Ann Arbor is a monthly event organized by the Ann Arbor District Library to promote fun learning and outreach. Each month, three speakers take 15-20 minutes to give an informative, yet informal (no slides allowed!), talk on a topic that they research, or just know a lot about! It is a great place for the speakers to practice their communication skills and it is great entertainment for the audience. Everyone walks away knowing a little bit more about three different topics.

Claire prepared a talk titled “The Microfluidics of an At-home Covid Test”. This was a great topic for Claire to present, as her research in the Bailey Lab focuses on developing microfluidic devices for epigenetic profiling. It was also a topic that easily connected to the diverse audience, as almost everyone has endured one of these lateral flow assays in the past two years.

Claire constructed a giant replica of a covid antigen test, complete with pom-poms for antigens and velcro strips as a capture agent, to walk us through the steps in the test. It was a great presentation and we are all very proud of Claire for partaking in the event! The other two presenters taught us about knot tying and the musical genre, Ska. We all learned something new!

For more information about Nerd Nite in Ann Arbor, visit their website here!