Nov 01, 2016 10:16 AM EDT By Chris Brandt, UniversityHerald Reporter

Genetic engineering has become a core of the society affecting billions of people every day. However, students get exposed to it in a university or in advanced projects which show that even before they get into it, they already made a choice. On the other hand, if kids are exposed to it early on, their interest in engineering and science will expand more. Experts and STEM innovators realize this factor which led them to develop different programs to pique that interest among children.

Two of these programs are Amino Labs and Bio Builder. Amino makes genetic engineering accessible to almost everyone in the world including students and teachers. Bio Builder, on the other hand, exposes children to the world of engineering by allowing them to solve real engineering problems. These programs are on a mission to make science and engineering a very interesting prospect for students so that they will be interested in pursuing it even further.

In order to do this, they launched the 100,000 k bioengineering challenge to encourage and inspire 100,000 kids to engage in virtual and actual bioengineering projects in 100 days. At present, there are 3200 students from 47 countries who have signed up with the help of their teachers and mentors. They have given 800 virtual bioengineering certificates to those who have successfully finished the program. The top five participating countries are from the US, Mexico, India, UK, and Germany.

Another program that makes kids more interested in STEM is Zaniac, which teaches kids math and coding through play. It offers different courses that familiarizes kids with the fundamental principles of computer programming, physics, and biology. They also have two science programs which encourage kids about space exploration, orbital mechanics, and aerospace engineering.

Aside from these programs, the government and other private sectors are also investing to bring back the interest in STEM courses. In 2015, President Obama pledged $240 million in STEM education.

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