Tong Gao, Elise Rosky, Oindabi Mukherjee, Sushree Dash, Rita Wilson, James Turkovich, Shreya Joshi, Gabriel Ahrendt, Miraj Kayastha
Elise and Miraj test the limits of static friction.
Michigan Tech Women in Physics is reaching out to the next generation of scientists, and inspiring more women to pursue physics as a career!
Women in Physics recently organized activities for Daniel Kelpela’s junior and senior physics classes at Gwinn High School. Along with presentations on their research, they provided hands-on activities teaching physics principles – from friction and angular momentum to optics and magnetism.
Nearly 100 students were able to hear what it’s really like to do research on a broad range of topics, including geophysics, atmospheric science, astrophysics, and materials science. They also had opportunities to ask questions about pursuing science themselves after high school. We hope to see some of them again soon at Michigan Tech!
Physics undergrads Rita and James helped organize demos that were tailored to the present studies of the high school students. The students enjoyed the hands-on experience from these demos.
Oindabi Mukherjee discussed the search for dark matter in the cosmos and presented a video from the Astronomy Picture of the Day. Tong Gao got the students excited about the prospect of solving the danger of exploding Li-ion batteries- and maybe winning a Nobel Prize in the process! Elise Rosky showed that science can be an adventure, telling about her research trip to Colorado to take data on a flying laboratory while studying ice nucleation in the atmosphere.
Women in Physics plan to continue visiting high school students in the future, to inspire young scientists and be role models for budding female science enthusiasts.
Some of our favorite reviews:
– It was really fun and awesome!
– It was awesome, not only did we get to see people’s passion, but also watch them and see how much they enjoy their careers. Thanks for the chance to experience this.
– Very swell.
