Virginia Tech® home

Community Outreach and Events

Roanoke STEAM Day 2019
Local youth learned about neurons, heart muscle cells, brains and physiology at the Taubman Museum of Art during the 2019 Roanoke STEAM Day. Faculty, staff, and graduate students from the research institute volunteered for a full day of activities to support STEAM education in the Roanoke Valley.

Sharing Science. Educating our Community.

During the 2019-2020 academic year prior to the pandemic, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute faculty, staff, and students participated in 17 science outreach events and laboratory tours, which engaged 1,300 community members. 

Upcoming Community-Based Events

  • Home Item
    Machine Learning and Human Thought - A Modern Frontier
    Machine Learning and Human Thought - A Modern Frontier , home

    Sept. 28, 2023, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Read Montague, Ph.D., Virginia Tech Carilion Vernon Mountcastle Research Professor and Director, Center for Human Neuroscience Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute; Professor, Department of Physics, Virginia Tech College of Science | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Cloudy with a Chance of Science: The Intersection of Wicked Problems, Perception, Communication, and Risk
    Cloudy with a Chance of Science: The Intersection of Wicked Problems, Perception, Communication, and Risk , home

    Oct. 19, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | J. Marshall Shepherd, Ph.D., Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography, Director, UGA Atmospheric Sciences Program, University of Georgia, and Member, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Learning and Relearning Movement
    Learning and Relearning Movement , home

    Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Amy Bastian, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Neuroscience and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Chief Science Officer and Senior Vice President, Kennedy Krieger Institute; Member, National Academy of Sciences | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Advances in Frontotemporal Dementia: From Diagnosis to Treatment
    Advances in Frontotemporal Dementia: From Diagnosis to Treatment , home

    Dec. 7, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Bruce Miller, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Director, Memory and Aging Center, Founding Director, Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Long Covid: the Lasting Legacy of the COVID-19 Pandemic
    Long Covid: the Lasting Legacy of the COVID-19 Pandemic , home

    Jan. 25, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Ziyad Al-Aly, M.D., FASN, Chief of Research and Development Service, Director, Clinical Epidemiology Center, VA Saint Louis Health Care Systems | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    The Human Milk Microbiome: A Paradigm Shift for Infant Health
    The Human Milk Microbiome: A Paradigm Shift for Infant Health , home

    Feb. 22, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Michelle "Shelley" McGuire, Ph.D., Director and Professor, Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Idaho, Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    The Impact of Climate Change on Vulnerable Populations: What Can Be Done?
    The Impact of Climate Change on Vulnerable Populations: What Can Be Done? , home

    April 4, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Zulfiqar Bhutta, Ph.D., Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    What is Alzheimer's Disease and Can We Prevent It?
    What is Alzheimer's Disease and Can We Prevent It? , home

    April 11, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Kristine Yaffe, M.D., Professor and Roy and Marie Scola Endowed Chair of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, Director, Center for Population Brain Health, University of California, San Francisco, Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Building Health Resilience to Climate Change in Individuals, Communities, and Nations Around the World, Especially Among Those at Highest Risk
    Building Health Resilience to Climate Change in Individuals, Communities, and Nations Around the World, Especially Among Those at Highest Risk , home

    May 9, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Rick Woychik, Ph.D., Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health; Director, National Toxicology Program, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

Loading player for https://youtu.be/d4q0SkrC9mo...

Field Trips

Are you a teacher in the Roanoke region? We work together with local educators to provide educational tours to give regional youth the opportunity to meet real scientists, see labs, and learn about the important research we do here. Bring your class to tour our laboratories and learn a little bit about how physiology, biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics help researchers develop new medications and treatments to help sick patients. To begin planning a tour, please contact Matt Chittum for more information.

Summer Camp Programming

We work together with local non-profits, including Goodwill Industries of the Valleys and the Science Museum of Western Virginia, to facilitate tours and educational programming for summer day campers. 

Welcoming Week

Welcoming Roanoke is a City-led campaign that involves dozens of partner institutions across the valley to welcome newcomers, with a particular emphasis on international populations and community members with diverse backgrounds. Each September, the City organizes a Welcoming Week event series to bring communities together. This year, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute is taking part in the events by providing volunteers to do STEM outreach in the community, and to volunteer at other Welcoming Week events.

Roanoke STEAM Day

The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute is proud to participate in Roanoke STEAM Day each year. In 2019, research institute faculty, staff, and students contributed 90 combined hours of service to support this initiative. Visitors learned about brains, made their own neurons, peered into the microscopic world with scopes, and played interactive games to learn about the heart and circulatory system. 

School Visits from Faculty and Students

Many of our faculty and graduate students are passionate about sharing science with our community, and will collaborate with local teachers to bring educational programming to the classroom.

Loading player for https://youtu.be/420q7rH8Eto...

Laboratory Tours

Are you a teacher in the Roanoke region? We work together with local educators to provide educational tours to give regional high school students the opportunity to meet real scientists, see labs, and learn about the important research we do here. To schedule a tour, please contact Matt Chittum for more information.

High School Student Lab Mentorship Opportunities

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute faculty provide a very limited number of research mentorship experiences each year for advanced (junior or senior) high school students. Learn more about the application process and training opportunity on our High School Training Programs page.

The Virginia State Science Fair

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC were selected to host the Virginia State Science Fair for three years between 2018 and 2020. Faculty, staff and students contributed hundreds of hours of service to host the fair by promoting and planning the event, providing on-site assistance, and serving as judges. 

Are you a teacher in the Roanoke region? We work together with local educators to provide educational tours to give regional high school students the opportunity to meet real scientists, see labs, and learn about the important research we do here. To schedule a tour, please contact Matt Chittum for more information.

The Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series

The Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series brings nationally renowned experts to the Roanoke community. These lectures are offered monthly throughout the academic year and are designed to help educate members of the general public about important topics related to health, research, and policy. 

Brain School Lectures

The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's Annual Brain School is held each March as part of Brain Awareness Week: a campaign that unites the efforts of organizations worldwide in a weeklong celebration of the brain. This initiative is spearheaded internationally by the Dana Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that supports brain research, and locally by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.

Watch Archived Scientific and Academic Lectures

The research institute hosts roughly 100 visiting scholars each year. Many of these lectures - such as our Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series, and the Timothy A. Johnson Medical Scholars Lecture Series - are intended for Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and Carilion Clinic audiences. However, members of the public can tune in via Live Webcast and watch archived lectures. 

Roanoke Brain School

Since 2013, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's Annual Brain School has been held each March as part of Brain Awareness Week: a campaign that unites the efforts of organizations worldwide in a weeklong celebration of the brain. This initiative is spearheaded internationally by the Dana Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that supports brain research, and locally by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. Each year the research institute hosts a week of educational programming and public lectures to teach community members about neuroscience.

Summer Camp Programming

We work together with local non-profits, including Goodwill Industries of the Valleys and the Science Museum of Western Virginia, to facilitate tours and educational programming for summer day campers. 

The Virginia State Science Fair

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC were selected to host the Virginia State Science Fair for three years between 2018 and 2020. Faculty, staff and students contributed hundreds of hours of service to host the fair by promoting and planning the event, providing on-site assistance, and serving as judges. 

Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunities

We offer year-round opportunities for undergraduates wishing to receive research training. Undergraduate positions vary, and may be for-credit (Fall/Spring/Summer), volunteer, or paid. Students who have identified investigators whose research appeals to them should submit an application here online. Prospective trainees may learn more about individual faculty, their research, and publications through our Primary Faculty and Laboratory pages.

  1. A resume, including any laboratory skills and experiences, and courses taken (and in progress) with grades
  2. An unofficial university transcript
  3. A statement of the student's research interests, including specific research institute faculty they are interested in working with
  4. An estimate of the time the student would be available to participate in research (e.g. Fall semester, 10 hrs/week)

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Opportunities

Exceptional undergraduate students looking for summer opportunities are encouraged to apply for one of Virginia Tech’s competitive summer undergraduate fellowship programs. Many of these programs provide a stipend, housing, and short-courses to compliment the research experience. For more information and to apply, visit the program websites:

  • The NeuroSURF Program emphasizes Translational Neurobiology and is now open for applications for its inaugural class. The program supports accepted students with a stipend, and housing for those who need it.
  • The Molecular Visualization SURF Program emphasizes use of imaging technologies across multiple fields of biomedical research, and will soon be open for applications for its inaugural class. The program supports accepted students with a stipend and housing for those who need it.
  • Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program’s Summer Research Internships
    The internships include a $3,000 stipend, free room and board, a 10 week GRE prep class, and a variety of other weekly activities and excursions. Awardees may perform research with participating institute faculty.

Launched by graduate students working at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, the Big Lick of Science Podcast features engaging interviews with our faculty members. Learn more about the podcast.