The immersive event gave female-identifying students from across the West Coast a rare chance to gain hands-on experience working alongside bioengineers, surgeons and medical students
On a Saturday morning in March, the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact opened its doors to high school students with an interest in engineering and orthopedic surgery. The outreach event set the stage for the uncommon sight of students sawing and drilling artificial surgical bones and debating the best placement for orthopedic implants — all under the guidance of surgeons and engineers.
A collaboration between the Knight Campus, the Slocum Research and Education Foundation, and the Perry Initiative, the event gave 30 students the opportunity to work through learning modules provided by the Perry Initiative and hands-on activities led by a broad cross-section of professionals, including orthopedic surgeons, non-operative specialists, cast technicians, physician assistants, medical students, bioengineering faculty, and PhD students and undergraduates from the Knight Campus.
“This exceptional turnout gave participating high school students the opportunity to build technical skills from multiple perspectives and explore a wide range of career paths,” said Kate Spitzley, director of the Slocum Research and Education Foundation. “We remain committed to providing free, accessible programs like this and to expanding opportunities for students in our community through difficult times in STEM.”
During one session, students performed mock repairs of the ACL and PCL knee ligaments on artificial bones. They started out the day by breaking their artificial bones and in later sessions throughout the day learned how to fix them using multiple strategies. They repaired the ligaments holding them together, and suture the skin to close the artificial wounds.
"They got the orthopedic surgeon experience from start to finish," Spitzley said.
The event is in line with the Slocum Foundation’s mission of supporting community-based research, education and collaboration and the Perry Initiative’s aim to provide hands-on outreach programs to inspire female-identifying students to pursue careers in engineering and orthopedic surgery. The medical device company Acumed provided financial support and medical students from Western University of Health Sciences volunteered their time to support the day’s activities.
Knight Campus assistant professor of bioengineering Gabriella Lindberg helped lead the day and came away energized by what she witnessed firsthand.
"It was incredible to watch students confidently using power tools and critically thinking about structural performance and placement of both implants and transplanted tissue from a patient's perspective," Lindberg said. "My favorite part was seeing the teamwork that took place between students as they planned the surgical repairs." Participants traveled from across the West Coast, representing high schools in California, Oregon, British Columbia and beyond. — a detail Lindberg says spoke to a real gap in opportunities for this age group.
"It's a testament to how few events like this there are for high school students to meet orthopedic surgeons, medical students, and bioengineers all in one space," she said.
The event also sparked interest closer to home. In the days that followed, several attendees reached out to learn more about the University of Oregon's Bioengineering minor and undergraduate research opportunities at the Knight Campus.
For the Knight Campus, the collaboration reflects a broader commitment to connect with regional partners like the Slocum Research and Education Foundation and Slocum Orthopedics to extend the campus's impact beyond research and into the community.
Spitzley said the foundation hopes to build on the momentum created by the event
“It was a meaningful way to connect with our community,” Spitzley said. “We are deeply grateful to all of our collaborators for making it possible.”
— March 14, 2026