The graduate students of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have just completed their first DMSE Science Outreach Month.  During this pilot program the graduate students of DMSE preformed material science demonstrations for over 220 children in the third, fourth, and fifth grades.

DMSE grad students traveled to four different schools in three cities to present on a variety of topics ranging from fuel cell cars to the science of ice cream.  The DMSE Science Outreach Month was organized and sponsored by the Graduate Materials Council in an effort to create materials scientists of the future.  The presentations and demonstrations dealt with many complex concepts including crystal structure and the conservation of energy.  As Jon Singer, one of the many volunteers from across the DMSE graduate community, put it, “this was a really valuable experience in dealing with the challenges involved in bringing the material down to the elementary school level.  I think we are fortunate that MSE is so rooted in fundamentals and the basic properties of materials; it facilitates outreach to people of all levels, thus presenting some great opportunities to excite a new generation of scientists.”