Inspiring the Next Generation: Tour of the Illinois’ Materials Research Laboratory



At left, Dr. Roddel Remy explains how the dynamical mechanical analysis tool works. (Photo by Heather Coit).

 

May 1, 2024

"I love doing outreach and showing students cool things about the world. The reason why I got into science was because I wanted to understand why cool things happened, and now here I am, getting a PhD."

These words from Autumn Cook, a third-year Ph.D. student in chemistry, encapsulate the essence of an excursion by middle school students from Franklin STEAM Academy in Champaign to the Materials Research Lab (MRL) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Friday, April 9.


The tour builds upon a collaboration between I-MRSEC, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aimed at fostering middle school students' interest in science, engineering, and mathematics through direct engagement with Illinois faculty, graduate, and post-doctoral students. The initiative particularly targets students from marginalized and previously excluded populations who often lose interest in STEM fields after middle school.



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SOLIDarity EXperiences (SOLIDEX) through the Eyes of Children
- Fulbright Alumni Collaboration -


Feb 14, 2024

From left to right SOLIDEX team members: Elena Ungureanu, Luisa-Maria Rosu, Catalina Ulrich Hygum, Madalina Coza.
From left to right SOLIDEX team members: Elena Ungureanu, Luisa-Maria Rosu, Catalina Ulrich Hygum, Madalina Coza.

What do children aged 11-13 in two countries think about solidarity? The SOLIDEX project is a research initiative funded through the Fulbright Romania examining how children in Romania and the United States understand the evolving contexts of solidarity.

Building upon their Fulbright experiences, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Bucharest, respectively, Catalina Ulrich Hygum and Luisa-Maria Rosu, were granted, in May 2023, a Fulbright Alumni Institutional Development Grant with a team including Dr. Leyla Safta-Zecheria from the West University of Timisoara, Dr. Marcela Slusarciuc (also a Fulbright scholar) from the University of Suceava Stefan cel Mare, Dr. Elena Ungureanu, and Madalina Coza, PhD student from the University of Bucharest.

Ulrich Hygum’s work belongs to the Sociology of Education, while Rosu is a Mathematics major and a STEM programs’ evaluator. What brought them and a consortium of four different institutional perspectives together is the way they think about how participative methods of teaching and doing research inform active citizenship. They collaborated on several papers over the last 15 years and co-advised students. They found common interests, proving once more that STEM and Humanities are not parts of a dichotomy but address common issues of our civic responsibilities.


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Inspiring the Next Generation: Tour of the Illinois’ Materials Research Laboratory

May 1, 2024

The tour aimed at fostering middle school students' interest in science, engineering, and mathematics.

SOLIDarity EXperiences (SOLIDEX) through the Eyes of Children

February 14, 2024

What do children aged 11-13 in two countries think about solidarity?

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Students launch ASL STEM Vocabulary App Company

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Tour of Illinois’ Materials Research Lab through I-MRSEC sparks Franklin students’ interest in Materials Science

March 1, 2023

Students from the Champaign middle school had a tour of the Material Research Laboratory (MRL) in early February.

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MatSE Afterschool Academy

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Taylor Tucker Embraces Multidisciplinary Interest

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Exposes Franklin Middle Schoolers to Science, CS

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Jenny Saves a Convertible.

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Joshua Whitely makes an adjustment to the 3D Bioprinter during the demo.

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Elani and Gonzalo shine a UV light on a rose that has absorbed a solution that has made it fluorescent.

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Joshua Whitely makes an adjustment to the 3D Bioprinter during the demo.

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A Shane Mayer-Gawlik image of the Bridger Aurora, part of his Night Skies photography collection exhibited at the Art-Science Festival.

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Joshua Whitely makes an adjustment to the 3D Bioprinter during the demo.

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HML 2021 Virtual Health

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I-MRSEC’s Music Video

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Andrea Perry shows Franklin students how to take apart the magnetic drawing board they received in their kit

Musical Magnetism

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Carmen Paquette street performing.

Love of Science

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An Engineering Exploration participant exhibits the tower they built as part of the engineering challenge related to Civil Engineering

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Kathny Walsh

Kathy Walsh

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ChiS&E student

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I-MRSEC’s Music Video

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