Photonics Center Reaches Out to Lowell Students

Students from Lowell High School participate in the Photonics Center’s Physics Activity Day in March. Tabitha Karanja, center, and Chanra Chhean, right, race to fill their water bottle as UML post-doctoral researcher Shiva Vangala times them.

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As part of its science outreach effort in the Lowell area, the Photonics Center is bringing local students to the UML campus to engage in workshops, hands-on lab experiences and lectures by scientists who are leaders in their respective fields.

“It is of vital importance that we educate the next generation of scientists and researchers to be able to perform at the cutting edge of technology,” says Daniel Wasserman, assistant professor of physics and the Center’s associate director. “As important, we must also ensure that we look for the best and brightest of this next generation in as many places as possible. Our net should be wide enough that we capture every one with the capacity, drive and enthusiasm to be leaders in tomorrow’s science community. We will focus especially on reaching out to those students who are not from privileged backgrounds, in addition, of course, to women and underrepresented minorities.”

In March, 18 students from Lowell High School’s AP Physics Class participated in the Center’s first Physics Activity Day. In one of the activities, the students engaged in a friendly team competition to see how fast they could fill up a one-liter plastic bottle with water and then empty it.

“It’s a simple challenge,” notes Wasserman, “but one that encouraged the students to think like experimental scientists.” The winning team had the privilege of choosing the flavor of the liquid-nitrogen ice cream served that day. (It chose vanilla.)

In addition to contests, the students were also given a tour of the Center’s facilities. They saw firsthand how the Center develops next-generation optoelectronic devices – lasers, detectors, modulators, filters and more – for security, life science, environmental and communications applications for industry and governmental collaborators.

In an effort to encourage other high schools to visit the Photonics Center for similar activity days, Wasserman will present a seminar, “Hands-on Physics for High School Students,” during the April 10th meeting of the Lowell Regional Physics Alliance. The seminar will focus on the Center’s outreach activities.

For more information, visit Wasserman's website.