Strategic plan priorities highlighted at State Fair

The School of Dentistry at the 2016 Minnesota State Fair

University President Eric W. Kaler and Mrs. Karen Kaler were among the more than 500 fairgoers who stopped by the School of Dentistry's booth at the Minnesota State Fair on August 26. The exhibit featured activities that promote the school's patient clinics and research expertise, and advance awareness of oral health as an integral component of health and wellbeing. Visitors to the booth took a short quiz to test their knowledge of the school as a first-rate educational and research facility, clinic provider and community partner for advancing health, and School of Dentistry staff members were on-hand to review their answers and respond to questions.

New this year: We brought ART to the fairgrounds. ART is the robotic mouth created by the dental school's Minnesota Dental Research Center for Biomaterials and Biomechanics (MDRCBB) for use when developing and testing dental materials. More recently, ART has been helping school researchers evaluate product formulations for the food industry. MDRCBB faculty/staff were there to educate fairgoers about the school's biomaterials/biomechanics research. Many thanks to the following people who helped staff the booth: Ms Erin Cavanaugh, Ms Sue Elm, Ms Amy Hellier and Ms Cindy Osiowhemu (Clinical Affairs), Dr. Alex Fok and Ms Bonnie VanHell (Biomaterials and Biomechanics), and Mr. Scott Imberg and Ms Melody Lewis (student workers). The school's participation at the fair was coordinated by Ms Claudia Kanter (Communications and Marketing).