Gowanus voyage: Where mechatronics, public art, community members, and environmental science meet [focus on education]

Abstract

The scientific literacy of the public contributes to the acceptance of new scientific concepts, technologies, and methods that may influence society as a whole [1]. Thus, increasing the public's awareness and knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is not only essential for benefiting the economy in the long term [2]-[4] but also for improving society's capacity to make informed political decisions on pressing issues that are often rather convoluted [5]. To this end, mechatronicsbased outreach in informal settings has been shown to be an effective means to acquaint the public with established technical concepts and ongoing research questions [6]-[10]. © 2013 IEEE.