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Science Outreach

In 2005 and 2006, I was one of three Co-Chairs (and also redesigned the website) for the Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Conference, which is an annual conference at Cornell for over 200 7th, 8th, and 9th grade girls and their parents. In 2007, I went back to working directly with the girls by running a workshop about Atomic Force Microscopes (which I also ran in 2004):

EYH Workshop: Looking at the Nano-World

"Nano" is everywhere these days: not only in computers and iPods, but also in products like makeup, tennis balls, and stain-resistant pants! And with one of the best nanotechnology facilities in the world, researchers at Cornell are studying even more amazing applications. But how can we look at nano-molecules like DNA that are too small to see with even the most powerful optical microscope? Come learn about a special kind of microscope that we use to "look" at this tiny world. We'll see how well you can reconstruct a hidden Lego "molecule" with a model of this microscope, and then we'll use a real one to look at an actual nano-molecule!

I have also led many science outreach activities through the CCMR. For example, I ran a workshop to teach 20 fifth-grade teachers how to teach electromagnetism through hands-on activities. I have also presented microscope activities to teachers and students in several classrooms, including multiple sessions with a class of deaf students. One of my favorite activities is helping students build crystal radios, and I have developed an activity to allow them to see the electromagnetic signal at various places in their radios. I also developed a short javascript-based workshop about quantum mechanics for high school students through the CNS Institute for Physics Teachers.