WKU News

Bowling Green, KY — The Center for Gifted Studies at WKU will welcome more than 850 middle and high school students to campus from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, February 16, for the 10th annual IdeaFestival® Bowling Green. A unique mix of speaker sessions and minds-on, hands-on activities, IdeaFestival Bowling Green showcases innovation and provides inspiration for students from 19 school districts across the Commonwealth.

Five innovators and entrepreneurs will share their stories and take questions from students from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Van Meter Hall. This year’s speakers are:

• Dana Biechele-Speziale, a WKU and Gatton Academy graduate who is co-founder and CEO of AtomICs Inc, a molecular data storage and computing startup;
• Megan Jordan, a national award-winning artist and postdoctoral scholar at The Ohio State University, who works at the intersection of art, social justice, and research; 
• Rusty Justice, an Appalachian entrepreneur and founding member of Accelerate Kentucky, a nonprofit focused on supporting Kentucky’s entrepreneurs and innovators;
• Ashley C. Smith, co-founder and CEO of Black Soil KY, a statewide agritourism company with a mission of reconnecting Black Kentuckians to their legacy and heritage in agriculture; and
• Beth Rogers, a Bowling Green resident and manager of data science at Bath & Body Works, who will share her journey from a top marine biology lab to a brain imaging research center to a cave research program to Bath & Body Works, a global leader in personal care and home fragrance.

In the afternoon session, students will have a chance to step into the world of virtual reality, turn their smartphones in microscopes, crawl through a “cave,” create new business products and more from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the third floor of the Downing Student Union.

This year’s activity creators include artist Andee Rudloff, American Printing House for the Blind, the Kentucky Science Center, the Warren County Public Library, the WKU XR Lab, the WKU Department of Biology, the WKU Gordon Ford College of Business, the WKU Department of Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences, AccelerateKY, South Central KY Area Health Education Center, WKU Meteorology, Lost River Cave, WKU graphic design, the Kentucky Engineering Exposure Network through the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the Metals Innovation Initiative, the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, and Connected Nation with #TeensTalkTech.

Created in agreement with IdeaFestival, the mission of IdeaFestival Bowling Green is to inspire the next generation of creators, thinkers, and innovators in our region. The event is hosted by The Center for Gifted Studies, with sponsorship from AT&T and the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky.

Media members are invited to attend; please reach out to The Center for Gifted Studies at (270) 745-6323 or contact festival organizers Tyler Clark (thomas.clark@wku.edu) or Elizabeth Joyce (elizabeth.joyce@wku.edu). More information can be found at wku.edu/gifted/ideafestivalbg.