A Teacher’s Experience at Edmund Optics

Claire, far right, with her O-RETINAS RET cohort at the closing poster session.

Edmund Optics (EO), Inc. is where my industry experience took place. In 1942, EO started as a supplier of optics and science items for hobby and educational purposes. As EO celebrates its 75^th anniversary, they have become a leading manufacturer and supplier of lens and optics equipment worldwide. The site visits to the Edmund Optics Tucson office included shadowing the employees of the following departments: research & development, design, and customer service.

Edmund Optics Tucson office included shadowing the employees of the following departments: research & development, design, and customer service.

I started in the research and development (R & D) department. The task on this day was to find the right combination of pressure, direction of movement, and composition of slurry to create a suitable cylindrical lens. This involved measuring a 3-dimensional surface of the blank (lens), using a light meter to take a picture of the surface of the lens, and polishing the lens by adjusting the factors involved (time, composition of the polishing slurry, the polishing pad, the pressure applied to the blank (lens) and the configuration of the movement of the polishing pad). The measurement and picture of the blank were done by machines. However, the polishing of the blank (lens) required an understanding of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and experience in the use of the materials used.

Claire presents her project to her Edmund Optics hosts.

My second visit was to the design department. When a customer needs a specialized optics system, they talk to the design department. The process begins with the optics design engineer communicating with the customer. The design engineer then creates a design of the optics system that meets the requirements of the customer. Once an optimal choice of components has been made, the design engineer creates a blueprint of the optics system and sends it to the mechanical engineer. The job of the mechanical engineer is to analyze the optics system blueprint and make decisions on whether the design is physically possible to build. Then the mechanical engineer will consider the materials and the fabrication process and, if necessary, will make modifications to the design. If the specifications are too tight or limiting, then the mechanical engineer will send the blueprint back to the design engineer with recommendations for improvement. Once a blueprint has been finalized, it is sent to the manufacturing location in Barrington, New Jersey.

In the lab at the University of Arizona.

My third visit was to the customer support department. There are two types of employee positions in this department, customer support and product support. Most of the customer support employees have engineering degrees. A customer support employee must be familiar with the optics in the EO catalog. To learn about optics components newly-hired employees go through five weeks of training. This training includes phone etiquette, product identification in the EO catalog, and a personality evaluation. Once training is complete the customer support employee is ready to process online and phone orders. What happens when a customer calls to order an optics component but doesn’t know whether it is the right one? Then the job goes to the product support employee. These are the employees who help the customer make a product choice based on their needs. They are trained to determine whether EO has the correct part or if the part needs to be a custom made.

As I reflect on my site visits with Edmund Optics, Inc., I realize their success in the lens and optics equipment business is because they have a knowledgeable workforce. Almost every employee at EO, even the customer support employee, has an engineering degree. The employees at EO know optics. The field of optics is presently experiencing rapid growth and for EO to keep up with the demand for precision lens and optics components, they need to have well-trained and knowledgeable employees. The knowledge EO employees bring to their jobs is invaluable.

My students…must also be equipped with a toolbox filled with 21^st century skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, innovation, communication, problem-solving, analysis, and research skills. It’s my job to get them there.

How have these visits impacted me professionally? The implications for me as a science teacher are I need to stay abreast of the latest educational trends, I need to have a sound knowledge of the subject matter I teach, and I need to continually update my catalog of instructional strategies. If my students are going to be ready for a career that requires them to be technologically savvy, not only must they be aware of the latest trends in their chosen field, they must also be equipped with a toolbox filled with 21^st century skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, innovation, communication, problem-solving, analysis, and research skills. It’s my job to get them there.

The final project

How will I convey the importance of this message to my students? I need to communicate to my students the importance of knowing their subject matter and of developing the skills and learning strategies that will make them great employees. I can help my students know their subject matter by including instructional strategies that include components of inquiry and discovery. I can help my students further their knowledge base by including assignments that include information gathering with the use of technology. I can include lessons that combine the engineering design process with opportunities for students to report/present their findings. As I provide these types of learning opportunities for my students, I will remind them that the skills they are practicing in our classroom are the very skills they are going to need in STEM careers.

Learn more about applying to the O-RETINAS RET Program!

Learn more about Edmund Optics.

Claire McKenzie
7-12th grade teacher at
Los Alamitos Middle School

My name is Claire McKenzie. I graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1988 with a Bachelor’s degree in math education and completed the teacher certification program by 1991. My teaching career began at Manzano High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For the next 7 years, I taught middle and high school mathematics in northwestern New Mexico. I took a leave of absence to raise and homeschool my children.  Returning to teaching in 2012, I accepted a position to teach developmental math at New Mexico State University in Grants, New Mexico for three years. Once I became endorsed to teach secondary science, I accepted my current teaching assignment as the STEM physics teacher at Los Alamitos Middle School in Grants, New Mexico.

Trudy’s RET Experience at UCSD

I am a life science teacher, and recently, our district adopted the new NGSS standards. This research project and lesson fit in well with the standards and with the spirit of the new standards.

In my project, I improved on a technique I saw on youtube to build a cell phone spectrophotometer to view plant pigments. As part of my project, I dug into how a spectrophotometer works, I learned more about photosynthesis, and I learned a lot about light. To design a better cell phone spectrophotometer, I did experiments as outlined below.

Experiments were conducted in Peter Ilinyhk’s lab. A web page^[1] and YouTube video^[2] were found on how to make a spectrophotometer out of a cell phone very simply. I experimented with the idea to determine how to build one that would give the students the best results. To determine which procedure was best, I used data generated with different types of cell apps and designs for the box to create standard curves using Beer’s law to estimate known concentrations of solutions. Several tests were done as shown below, with the best results achieved using method #3.

1. 6/29/17 Methods and Trial 1
   1. Reproduce standard curve using the exact procedure as in the video (see footnotes) using green paper and red food coloring. Graphed raw data and absorbance.
   2. Calculations were performed in Excel as follows: G value was collected directly from cell phone using paper or light as close to complementary as possible. Complementary colors have the highest peaks of absorbance. This could not be controlled with the paper experiments, but later, using the online wavelength to color relationship app, the best color can be transmitted directly through the computer screen. Absorbance was calculated by  A_y = -log₁₀(I/I_o) where A_y is the absorbance of light with wavelength y and I/I_o is the transmittance of the test material^[3]. I_o is the intensity of the light being passed through a blank (solvent used), and I is the intensity of the light passing through the sample.
      For example, with the red solution, the green value of the blank was used as I₀, which would be high for the blank, while the I was the green value of the red test solution, which would transmit less of the green light because it was absorbed by the red liquid.
   3. Using Beer’s law, and known concentrations of the red liquid, a standard curve could be drawn and then used to determine the accuracy of the spectrophotometer.
   4. All data were collected and analyzed in this Excel spreadsheet. You must open this in Excel, does not read file correctly online! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_c27o3SYJ3NeTd4al9qT2xYMUE/view?usp=sharing
   5. I chose the ColorMeter Free version over about 9 other spec and colorimeter apps. This one is really easy to use. Use one of the RGB meter apps on the cell phone to get readings. Use paper to reflect light closest to complementary color of solution for peak absorbance.
   6. I then cross-checked the results using the Vernier SpectroVis spectrophotometer. I looked for a peak of absorbance and chose that value as the wavelength to focus on. It was in the green spectrum.

Some issues I had with setting up the spectrophotometer: inside of the box needs to be covered in black paper, it works better that way. I simply lined the box with black construction paper.

Green paper with red dye solution gave results pretty similar to the results I got with the store bought spec.

I made the following concentrations of solutions:

1. 1000 ppm = 2 drops food coloring/100 ml of deionized water
2. 500 ppm = serial dilutions were made using the stock solution above
3. 250 ppm
4. 125 ppm
5. 62.5 ppm
6. 333 ppm
7. 0 ppm using deionized water

Got a huge % error, but it was consistent in both store and home spec. I think I measured the solutions incorrectly.

3.      17. Method 2: Using a Filter and More Testing with Colored Paper

• Did same experiments 2 drops per 100 ml with the same serial dilutions of 50% each time. Remade the solutions. Unknown is 333 Continue to get huge % error in both store and home. Perhaps another problem with measuring the solutions? I also only did one trial, so could have just been a sample size issue.  There also seems to be a problem with the reflected light using the paper.
• I placed transparent colored film over the outside of the boxes and used direct light to measure absorbance of red liquid using a green filter. I could not get good results with the filters. Data accuracy was poor, especially at low concentrations. Phone color meter was saturated with light. When using reflected light, there did not seem to be enough light passing through the filter to get an accurate reading.

4.       7/10/17. Method 3: Using White Paper to Reflect Red Light

• Experiment with using red light on white paper with green liquid to simulate chlorophyll. Here is set up. Also used the spectrophotometer.
• Method appears to work well. This was the best estimate yet and is very close to what I measured as 333 ppm. This spec measured 327 ppm! This time I took three measurements and averaged them to get my R value and used the average to calculate the absorbance. Huge improvement over the other way with paper, since the paper didn’t really look like red or green. Both store and home specs worked equally well. There is some concern that the error is too low, but nevertheless, for my purposes, I think this is the best method. I was very careful mixing solutions and this time took the average of the R values over three trials using the green solution. I like the method much better of using the red light on white paper. Seems to work very well. Store bought spec got similar results. I took three measurements of absorbance at around wavelenth 500 nm. As usual, I chose this wavelength because there was a peak of absorbance around this value with the green food coloring solutions.

Conclusion

My improved cell phone spectrophotometer design gave good results, and the students can use this app and technique to do other types of experiments. I am very excited to have the students use their cellphones to do science, both in the classroom, and outside of it!

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^[1] “Use Your Smartphone as an “Absorption Spectrophotometer ….” 30 Mar. 2016, https://www.chemedx.org/blog/use-your-smartphone-absorption-spectrophotometer. Accessed 25 Jul. 2017.

^[2] “Smartphone “Spectrophotometer” – YouTube.” 30 Mar. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzYhyXYcs0M. Accessed 25 Jul. 2017.

^[3] “How to Calculate Absorbance | Sciencing.” 24 Apr. 2017, http://sciencing.com/calculate-absorbance-2650.html. Accessed 28 Jul. 2017.

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Trudy Pachon teaches AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, Biotechnology, Biology, and Advanced Biology at Mount Everest Academy in SDUSD. She received her B.S. from UCSD in Biology (Evolution, Behavior, and Ecology), a M.S. from UCR in Entomology, and her Master’s in Educational Technology from Boise State University.

 

 

O-RETiNAS 2017 Program

In its second year of grant funding (7th year for CIAN’s Native American focused Research Experience for Teachers programs) CIAN hosted eight educators of Native American students. These teachers participated in an 8-week summer program at the University of Arizona. This included multiple relevant workshops, a course in the College of Education through the Teachers in Industry program, an intensive research laboratory experience, and a unique industry experience at CIAN’s partner companies (Edmund Optics, Lam Optics, and the UA Tech Park).

 

Teacher	School Taught at	Subject & Grade Taught	Mentor	Project
Marjorie Beno	Pinon Middle School	7th grade science	Alan Kost	Laboratory Robotics Distance Learning Education
Roger CrazyWolf	Thoreau HS	9-12th science and health	Jesse Little	Supersonic Pressure Profiles
Rowena Ranoco	Newcomb High School	10-12th chemistry, anatomy & physiology, integrated science	Sasaan Showghi	DIY Droplet Lenses from Three Commercial Polymers
Claire McKenzie	Los Alamitos Middle School	7-12th, & Developmental Com. College mathematics and physics	Bob Norwood	Which Lens do I Use? The Characterization of Acylindrical Array Lenses
Dan Moreno	Gresham School	9-12th chemistry and biology	Jeff Pyun	Nanomaterial Synthesis for Magneto-Optical Sensing Applications
Rolanda Francis	Wingate High School	9-12th chemistry, physics, environmental sciences, intervention math & reading	Dan Kilper	Fiber Optic Temperature Monitoring for Water
Olivia Lansing	East Valley Academy	9-12th biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, environmental science	Euan McLeod	Characterization of Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles with Gel Electrophoresis
Cynthia Demone	Sherman Indian High School	10-12th biology and chemistry	Alan Kost	Laboratory Robotics Distance Learning Education

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CIAN would like to especially thank the many faculty and graduate student mentors who made this summer such a success. Additionally, CIAN gives special thanks to the industry partners hosting teachers throughout this summer.

Edmund Optics

Lam Optics

UA Tech Park

If you are interested in learning more about the O-RETiNAS RET program or applying, please visit our website.

Additionally, if you are interested in hosting teachers as an industry partner or helping in other ways as an industry partner, please contact us.

Summer 2016 RET Program Results

CIAN selected six teachers from schools across the country to participate in CIAN’s Research Experience for Teachers program. The selected teachers participated in laboratories at University of California San Diego, Columbia University, and Tuskegee University. Each teacher pursued a research project which he or she applied to the classroom and developed unique and innovative lesson plans.

Interested in learning more about the CIAN RET program or applying? Visit us here.

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UCSD

Brenda Minjares

Project: Teaching Digital Transmission of Information and Light Properties in High School Physics
School: Escondido High School
Grade & Subject: 9-12th; Physics, AP Physics, College/Career Readiness

Lesli Horowitz

Project: The Invisible World (Microscopy)
School: Kearny School of International Business
Grade & Subject: 8-12th; Biology & Computerized Graphic Design

James “JC” Morris

Project: Investigating Seawater pH Using Light Absorbance-based Photometry
School: Mark Twain High School
Grade & Subject: 9-12th; Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics

Mentors: Dr. Yeshaiahu Fainman, Dominga Sanchez

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Columbia

Sarah Wigodsky

Project: Investigating the Mach Zehnder Interferometer
School: Solomon Schechter School of Westchester
Grade & Subject: 11th & 12th; Physics & Electronics

Mentors: Dr. Keren Bergman, Christine Chen

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Norfolk State University

Samuel Danquah

Project: Design and Fabrication of Planar MSM/VCSEL/MSM Triplexer
School: Norview High School
Grade & Subject: 9-12th; Technology of Robotics Design & Materials & Processes Technology

Rachel Watson

Project: Design and Fabrication of Dual MSM Photodetectors for Multi-Spectral Applications
School: Oceanair Elementary School
Grade & Subject: 2nd; Mathematics, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Writing

Mentor: Dr. Demetris Geddis

Inaugural O-RETinas Summer Program Success

CIAN is excited to announce completion of the first summer of the Optics Research Experience for Teachers in Native American Schools (O-RETinas) Research Experience for Teachers (RET) summer program.

This innovative program program hosted four teachers during the 2016 summer in a variety of research labs in optics, engineering, and chemistry as well as invited them to participate in an industry practicum. The teachers not only performed a guided research project in an innovative research laboratory but they also learned about industry applications, took a course at the University of Arizona, and participated in a number of culturally related workshops.

CIAN will continue the O-RETinas program in Summer 2017. Visit the website to learn more about how to apply!

CIAN is seeking additional industry mentors for the future O-RETinas programs. If you believe your company would be interested in hosting a teacher, please contact us!

Participant	Mentor & Internship	School & Grades Taught	Project
Nate Raynor	Dr. Qing Hao 4D Technology	Mescalero Apache School, 9th-12th grades	Hot Pressing
Rhonda LaFrance	Dr. Xiushan Zhu & Dr. Leonid Kotov 4D Technologies	Ahkwesahsne Mohawk School, 6th-8th grades	Neodymium Doped Fiber Amplifier at 935nm
Dan Moreno	Dr. Jeffrey Pyun & Laura Anderson NP Photonics	Menominee Indian School District, 9th & 11th grades	Melt Processing Advances with Sulfur Copolymers For Industrial Optical Applications
Geary Crofford	Dr. Robert Norwood & Christine Alvarez NP Photonics	Woodall Middle School (Cherokee Nation), 6th-8th grades	STEAM Research Projects: Diatoms, Optics, and Photonics

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CIAN Summer Program Success Breakdown

Over the course of the summer CIAN universities hosted 65 students and teachers across eight CIAN universities. These are some of their stories…

Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Programs

Research Experience for Teachers programs are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are six-weeks long, and incorporate both a laboratory research component and classroom component. By the end of the six-weeks, the educators participating have produced a research poster about their project as well as a lesson plan which will be implemented in the new school year applying the science and technology they have learned.

Learn more about the RET program & how to apply.

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona hosted eight educators from Native American reservations across the USA. This summer, educators came from the following institutes, Fond du Lac Ojibwe School, Blackfeet Community College, Browning High School, Navajo Technical University, Santa Rosa Day School, San Simon Day School, Menominee Indian High School, and Winslow High School. Together, the selected teachers impact six tribes including the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Nation, Blackfeet Nation, Navajo Nation, Tohono O’odham Nation, Menominee Nation, and the Hopi Nation. Participants not only spent time performing research within their laboratories, but also participated in classes taking place at the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) as well as completing a workshop on Native American Education with Dr. Greg Cajete, expert in the field. One participant shared his upcoming plans after the program,

My intentions for the upcoming school year are to incorporate some of the experiments that I was fortunate to witness with my students.  We will demonstrate the sun’s energy to produce electricity, cook food, produce hydrogen and improve our environment at the same time…this was a good way to spend six weeks and I would do it again in a heartbeat. ~ Julius Salinas (Fond du Lac Ojibwe School)

UA ROKET Participants (L to R): Natalie Davis, Vincent Hood, Martha Rogers, Daniel Moreno, Leo Bird, H. Scott Halliday, Marla Lopez, Julius Salinas

If you are interested in learning more about the RET program for educators of Native American students please contact us.

Columbia

Nancy Yi and Dr. Dessislava Nikolova measuring the transmission characteristic of a silicon photonic modulator

Columbia hosted Nancy Yi, who is a physics teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School. While at Columbia University Nancy participated in the Lightwave research lab of Prof. Keren Bergman.  She was mentored by Dr. Dessislava Nikolova on a project that aims to develop a silicon photonic system for secure communications using the quantum properties of laser light. Silicon photonic devices have very small dimensions and moreover they can be manufactured with the same technology used for computer chips. As a first step in the project, Nancy and Dr. Nikolova characterized the voltage dependence of the transmission characteristics of all modulators on the investigated chip.

UCSD

Jennifer Quach from Gompers Preparatory Academy spent the summer in Dr. Yeshaiahu Fainman’s laboratory. Her project titled, “Investigating Light and Their Chemical Properties” aims, “to understand light and its properties by explaining the similarities and differences between element spectroscopy and how that connects to their understanding of the atomic energy levels and photons emitted from excited state to ground state.” Using goals of the Next Generation Science Standards Jennifer hopes to see students forming a stronger foundation of the periodic table and its characteristics.

NSU

Bill Evans teaches Algebra II and Physics at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, Virginia. This summer he investigated “Prism-Coupled Waveguides” with Dr. Demetris Geddis and Lawrence O’Neal at Norfolk State University. Branching off of his summer project Bill will apply the new knowledge to have his students create a circuit using Snap Circuits Kits and then apply knowledge from their understanding of the quadratic equation.

This experience has re-energized me as a teacher, made me much more aware of the quality of work that students need to be capable of performing in an engineering program, and has connected me to a wealth of human resources to mentor, coach, and tutor my students…This has been so powerful! My students will not believe “What I did on my summer vacation.” ~ Bill Evans (Booker T. Washington High School)

Tuskegee

Marie Lemon teaches 6th grade at Greenville Early College in Greenville, SC. This summer she spent 6-weeks in the lab of Dr. Naga Korivi and Dr. Li Jiang.

My goal is to infuse aspects of the lab’s research in my projects planned for this school year.  This lab has been full of invigorating activities and I have been absorbing ideas from the professors and engineering lab students.  One might conclude that 6th grade is too young to benefit from such an experience.  To the contrary… ~ Marie Lemon (Greenville Early College)

Marie’s project focused on Smart House Technology incorporating Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and alternative sources of energy (fruit juice, saltwater, and solar panels) to wire the house. The concept of using photons in LEDs to send signals in devices, make connections, and do work in the process introduces and teaches circuits and electricity to 6th grade students. Through this work, students will continue to build on 21st Century skills; such as, collaboration, communication, and digital literacy necessary for college readiness.

Read more about her experiences and on her blog.

CalTech

Two teachers participated in the CalTech Research Experience for Teachers program. Joe Hartley from Larchmont Charter School and John Smallenburg from John Muir High School spent six weeks in the laboratory pursuing state-of-the-art research projects with faculty mentors.

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Programs

Research Experiences for Undergraduates Programs are funded by NSF, ten-weeks long, and students participate on a research project as well as in professional development opportunities to prepare them for graduate school.

Learn more about the Integrated Optics for Undergraduate Native Americans REU program & how to apply.

Learn more about the Integrated Optics for Undergraduates program & how to apply.

University of Arizona

L to R (top): Robert Castellanos, Galveston Begaye, Lisa Willis, Brandon Jesus (bottom): Conrad Begay, Desiree Saraficio, Christian Bartholomew, Vernon Kaye

Through the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate program CIAN at the University of Arizona hosted eight Native American Undergraduate students. Students hailed from four different tribes including the Colorado River Tribes, the Navajo Nation, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. Projects included developing a smartphone-based ocular imaging system, investigating lead and arsenic exposure risks to a community through analysis of airborne particles on children’s playground equipment, and polarized Raman microscopy of aligned carbon nanotubes; among many other exciting projects. The students also participated in the Graduate College’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium (UROC) Program to develop skills that will be essential for applying to, being accepted into, and succeeding in graduate school.

Learn more about the Integrated Optics for Undergraduate Native Americans REU program & how to apply.

Read about past students’ experiences; Solianna, Scott, & Robert.

UCSD

UCSD hosted two undergraduate students this summer in Dr. Yeshaiahu Fainman’s laboratory. Caylin VanHook attends Louisiana Tech University where she studies electrical engineering and physics. This summer her project was “Numerical Techniques in Near-field Optics and Materials.” Andrei Isichenko attends Cornell University and studies engineering and physics. His project was “Capacitvely-induced free-carrier effects in nanoscale silicon waveguides for electro-optic modulation.” Caylin and Andrei also participated in the UCSD STARS program which enabled them to attend a GRE preparation course, attend graduate school preparation workshops, present their research at the UCSD Summer Research Conference, and learn from other opportunities throughout the summer.

CalTech

Two students participated in the CalTech REU program. Aadith Moorthy researched “Vacuum Technology for Applications in Optoelectronics and Novel Environments.” Aadith studied miniaturized vacuum triodes and vacuum-based photodetectors, both of which utilize field emission of electrons. As a result of the project Aadith stated in his abstract,

This photodetector will help forward CIAN’s mission of creating transformative optical technologies by allowing for high speed conversion of an optical signal to an electronic one. Overall, the results substantiate the promise of field emission in vacuum technologies for novel applications and environments.

Daniil Lukin studied “Design and Fabrication of Low-Voltage Turn on Vacuum Triodes.” For his project he worked with four-terminal planar vacuum triodes with emitter-collector gaps under 10nm, fabricated out of tungsten on sapphire. This technology is expected to operate at high temperatures and high frequencies which will be useful for integration with on-chip photonics.

Columbia

Lillian Chik presents her project at the Columbia REU Symposium.

Lillian Mun Shin Chik was mentored by Ph.D. student Christine Chen on implementing dynamic control of a Silicon photonic switch fabric through a computer interface, to improve system robustness with power resource allocation. Chik says, “For this project, I learned in detail about optical communications for high-speed networking, focusing primarily on the photonic packet switching architectures.” Jacob performed system optimization on the programmable wavelength locking firmware and software for the lab’s high performance silicon photonic link and switch systems. Jacob’s first deliverable was a modification to FPGA based signal processing of wavelength locking feedback signals – he replaced an unstable moving average filter with a more stable (fewer transients) median filter. Additionally, Jacob explored further automation of the system and began development of a lock-and-memorize protocol. Lillian and Jacob attended graduate school and professional seminars as part of the REU program, which culminated in a presentation to Columbia NSF-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) peers and researchers.

Young Scholar High School Research Programs

The CIAN Young Scholar High School Research Program occurs over the course of the summer (although students are also encourage to apply for the school year). Students have a unique opportunity to enter a top-tier research laboratory and encounter the research process first-hand. Placed with a mentor, the student pursues a designated project and develops a research poster to present his or her progress.

Learn more about the Young Scholar High School Research Program & how to apply.

Tuskegee

At Tuskegee University, four students in grades 10 to 12 from Booker T. Washington High School participated in the CIAN sponsored summer REH outreach program (Young Scholars Program) from June 8 to July 3, 2015. They conducted research on two projects at the Microelectronics Laboratory at Tuskegee University under the guidance of CIAN faculty Dr. Li Jiang, Dr. Naga Korivi and CIAN master’s and undergraduate students. Two reports and two posters were produced as a result of the research activities.

The projects are, “Optical waveguides from 3D printed templates” under the supervision of undergraduate research assistant Alexis Pruitt and “Optical lens from 3D printed templates” under the supervision of undergraduate research assistant Steven Gaillard. The high school students received lab training from research associate Lamont Henderson and their project supervisors as well as many other training and educational opportunities provided by the program.

Columbia

Columbia hosted one Young Scholar High School Researcher student from Union County Academy of Information Technology. He spent the summer learning about the research process and participating in a research project in Dr. Gil Zussman’s laboratory under the mentorship of graduate and undergraduate students. His project focused on improving the design of a web-based tool for the dynamic presentation of simulation results. The project resulted in a demo that showcases routing in node and the hope is that in the future, there will b other discoveries made to connect the angular front-end to the node back-end of the website.

CalTech

CalTech’s Young Scholar’s program is newly implemented in the laboratory of Dr. Axel Scherer and branches off of success had with the CalTech Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program. Previous RET teacher, Keith Russell, brought his experience in the lab, Summer 2013, straight to his students in the classroom as well as carrying out regular visits with his students to the CalTech laboratories. This summer, two students of John Muir High School were selected to participate in the five-week program. Three weeks were spent doing labs now used in an undergraduate semiconductor fabrication course to give the students experience with nano-fabrication. For the last two weeks the students carried out their own research project.

As a final note, CIAN would like to thank the many faculty, staff, and students that make these programs possible. Without their dedication and drive these programs would not have such a significant impact across so many students and educators around the country. Thank you.

Where Did They Come From?

This summer’s participants came from all over the USA!

Yellow = CIAN Universities
Purple = REU Program
Orange = RET Program
Red = Young Scholar Program

My RET Experience @ Tuskegee

Why a summer at Tuskegee?

I am a 6th grade middle school science teacher from Greenville, South Carolina, at Greenville Early College, “Home of the Eagles”.  I wanted to be here at Tuskegee University; to observe and learn from Dr. Korivi and Dr. Jiang’s Microelectronics’ lab, in hopes of engaging my students this year.  My goal is to infuse aspects of the lab’s research in my projects planned for this school year.  What an experience thus far!

This lab has been full of invigorating activities and I have been absorbing ideas from the professors and engineering lab students.  One might conclude that 6th grade is too young to benefit from such an experience.  To the contrary…

Designing wave guides to control an optical path, which will result in my students’ use of diodes for their projects this year.

New materials for capacitors, where my students can look to the future for outerwear to charge their cellphones and iPods.

2013 Research Experience for Teachers Program Report

2013 Post-RET Survey Report

Following CIAN’s 2013 ROKET (Research in Optics for K-14 Educators and Teachers) program, participants were asked to complete a survey administered via surveymonkey.com. Eleven out of 15 responded to the survey, which aimed at measuring differences between pre and post-program levels of confidence in specific teaching skills, as well as any change in attitudes regarding their roles as teachers.