Grad Students Aim to Make Nanotech Fun, Accessible for Kids
January 4, 2016 | Cornell UniversityEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio was quoted as saying the reason he always gave 100 percent effort was, “There’s always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best.”
It was that kind of thinking that got Cornell graduate student Hao Shi excited about outreach. He volunteered to take part in an event at the Cornell Center for Materials Research for high school students, at the request of his labmate, and his demonstration of the laser capture microdissection microscope he used turned out to be a revelation, both for the students and for himself.
“It was not much of an effort for me, it’s really just what I do every day,” said Shi, a second-year student in physics. “But afterward, all the students told me that they thought it was really cool; they couldn’t stop talking about it.
“That got me thinking,” he said. “I realized it was routine to me because I know how to do it, but to the high school kids, that’s really cool science.”
Cornell is hoping to bring more “cool science” to young students in the area with the establishment of CNF Ambassadors, a new program being run by the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility. CNF staff members Lynn Rathbun and Beth Rhoades are coordinating the effort, which so far has attracted 12 grad students to engage with area K-12 students.
Seven of the volunteers took part in orientation in mid-December in the Duffield Hall Demo Room; the rest of the participants will get their introduction to the ambassador program in January.
Rathbun said that Cornell graduate students have engaged in outreach in the past, and the new program will give greater structure to the effort and make more efficient use of the volunteer help. Initially, the student ambassadors will engage with children visiting CNF, but eventually they will give demonstrations at area schools.
“We have the resources,” said Rathbun, CNF’s laboratory manager. “We have lots of materials and activities that the students and staff can use, and it’s a way to reach the community and get them involved in a little bit of what goes on here at Cornell and in science in general.”
Page 1 of 2
Suggested Items
Intel Announces New Program for AI PC Software Developers and Hardware Vendors
03/27/2024 | Intel CorporationIntel Corporation announced the creation of two new artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives as part of the AI PC Acceleration Program: the AI PC Developer Program and the addition of independent hardware vendors to the program.
SEMI ESD Alliance 2024 CEO Executive Outlook to Explore the Evolving RISC-V Movement and Semiconductor Design Ecosystem
03/27/2024 | SEMIKey executives from leading semiconductor EDA and IP companies will gather to discuss the latest industry trends, challenges and opportunities Thursday, May 9, in Santa Clara, California at the annual CEO Executive Outlook, hosted by the Electronic System Design Alliance (ESD Alliance), a SEMI Technology Community, and Keysight Technologies. Registration opens soon.
NextFlex Announces $5M Education Fundraising Effort: First Spotlight - Transforming the Landscape for Women in Technology
03/27/2024 | BUSINESS WIRENextFlex Learning Programs, the education-focused arm of the NextFlex® Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute, announces its first spotlight effort, “NextFlex Supports Women in STEM” to increase the number of women in STEM fields, which could accelerate U.S. GDP growth by boosting women’s cumulative earnings by $299B and adding $5.9T to the global stock market within 10 years according to S&P Global.
Indium Corporation, Industry Partners to Showcase Products “Live@APEX”
03/26/2024 | Indium CorporationIndium Corporation®, in cooperation with its industry partners, will feature its proven solder solutions live on the show floor throughout IPC APEX Expo from Apr. 9‒11 in Anaheim, Calif., U.S.
Global Beam Telecom Joins Viasat’s ELEVATE Program to Provide Remote Connectivity and Industrial IoT
03/26/2024 | InmarsatViasat, Inc., a global leader in satellite communications, announced Global Beam Telecom, a global satcom solutions provider, has joined its ELEVATE program.