• Deliverables
• Attributions: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Attributions
• Project Description: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Description
• Contribution: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Contribution

• Engineering Success: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Engineering
• Collaboration: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Collaborations
• Human Practices: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Human_Practices
• Proposed Implementation: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Implementation

• Integrated Human Practices: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Human_Practices
• Project Modeling: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Model
• Science Communication: https://2020.igem.org/Team:RUM-UPRM/Education

Following last team’s efforts, we organized a series of events to educate Puerto Rican communities. The main event being the second edition of SynBio 101 Summer Camp for high school students. The 80 participants received week long intensive workshops where they were given the tools needed to create their own projects using Synthetic Biology. Our hope is that they use the knowledge obtained and apply it to their academic journeys. In addition, we offered workshops to different school groups on the opportunities in the Synthetic Biology field and our project. Furthermore, the second edition of the Synthetic Biology week took place. It was a week-long event of webinars with over 100 participants from all communities where they were exposed to different topics of Synthetic Biology, its applications and our project. IGEM RUM-UPRM will continue to value the two way dialogue when educating others in the possibilities within Synthetic Biology.

As a representation of the UPRM we recognize the importance of being inclusive in our scientific community. Giving individuals that are not directly linked to the Synthetic Biology community a space where they can collaborate and contribute to our project and this field. This semester we decided to contribute with individuals and organizations that agree with our vision of synthetizing a better world. We collaborated with the University Association of Sign Language (AUSL) at our university. We worked together with this organization to educate ourselves, the University community and the general public on the importance of inclusion within the scientific community. We also wanted to take into the account the experiences of people who participated in the cause against military activity in Vieques, which is why we had conversations with activists. We will continue our efforts including different communities with the goal of reaching a more inclusive Synthetic Biology field.

When designing all aspects of our project, we approached different stakeholders with the purpose of receiving insight on how to make our project the most effective for the Vieques communities. We received feedback from citizens, engineers, professors and students that could contribute to our project design. From these discussions we identified the contaminants that would be the scope of our project and also what areas in Vieques should be our main target. We also received insight on how our hardware should be designed and what factors should be considered in this process via a hardware design competition. Government agencies were consulted about what would entail implementing our project in Vieques and what would be the steps to be taken to access the target areas in Vieques. Since it is a situation that affects many, iGEM RUM-UPRM is aware of the importance of taking into consideration all viewpoints.