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Science Education and Outreach Events

Discover an MRS Community of Science Education and Outreach Events

Public Outreach Center | Hands-On NANO Coffee Hours | NSDL Materials Digital Library Pathway

The Materials Research Society is playing a major role to bring the education and research communities together at the 2010 MRS Spring Meeting. Join us for exciting hands-on activities, demonstrations, information areas and seminars to engage future materials scientists and engineers.

Public Outreach Center

Join us at the Public Outreach Center at the Spring Meeting in San Francisco and learn what roles MRS is playing in the education outreach communities. Find out how you can participate and be part of the action as we bring the science of materials to the general public.

Tuesday-Thursday April 6 - 8
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Friday April 9
8:00 a.m. -12:00 noon
Moscone West Convention Center, Second Floor Lobby

NISE NETWORK SCIENCE COLLABORATOR
Register at the MRS/NISE Network booth to participate in the NISE Network as a science collaborator. Learn how you can apply your needed expertise to help foster public awareness, engagement and understanding of nanotechnology.

NANODAYS 2011 AND NISE NETWORK
Learn How You Can Celebrate Nanodays 2011
A Nationwide Festival of Nanopublic Outreach Events!

The NISE Network selected March 26-April 3 for NanoDays 2011, a week of community-based educational outreach events to raise public awareness of nanoscale science and engineering in local communities across the U.S.

• Learn about NanoDays 2011
• Find out if your community is planning to participate in NanoDays 2011 and how you can get in on the action
• Find out how your institution can become a partner in the NISE Network. For more information about NanoDays 2011 and the NISE Network go to http://www.nisenet.org

NOVA
Making Stuff

MRS and NOVA, the flagship PBS science documentary series, have teamed to produce a four-part PBS primetime series on materials science entitled Making Stuff. The four-part series, which is expected to air on consecutive Tuesdays in November 2010, will focus on the themes of “Stronger,” “Smarter,” “Smaller,” and “Cleaner.” The series will introduce the fundamental concepts of materials science in a fun and exciting way while teaching the public how scientists can tailor materials to meet new challenges.

Want to learn more about the series and how you can get involved? Stop by the NOVA information booth at the Public Outreach Center in the Moscone West Convention Center during the 2010 MRS Spring Meeting.

Grab some popcorn, pull up a seat and be the first in your neighborhood to catch a glimpse of Making Stuff at the spring meeting!  Viewing times of this special 10 minute “reel”: Tuesday-Thursday April 6 - 8 AM - 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 11:00 PM- 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 4:00 Moscone West Convention Center, 2nd Floor Lobby

For more information about Making Stuff go to www.mrs.org/makingstuff  

STRANGE MATTER

Link up with our award winning Strange Matter Web site and experience interactive materials science experiments to discover why the Washington Times called the site “An awesome immersion in the science of materials…”

See where Strange Matter, the hands-on exhibition about materials science, has toured and see if it is coming to a North American location near you. Find out how you can volunteer and be part of this dynamic highly interactive exhibition.

Strange Matter Europe
Strange Matter in Europe? Interested? Stop by the Strange Matter booth and let us know.

MATERIALS VOICE
Public advocacy

Tell your legislators why support of the physical sciences and science education is necessary – for national security, quality of life, and a strong economy. It is essential that your voice be heard! All US residents are invited to stop by and send letters to their legislators on matters of importance to the materials research community. It takes only 5 minutes to send the draft letters currently available via our Materials Voice Web site:

• Support Sustained Funding Increases for Materials Research for FY 2011 and Beyond
• Support Investment of Revenues from Energy and Climate Change Bill to Fund Critical Energy-Related R&D
• Visa Issues

DIVERSITY
Broadening participation

MRS is pleased to announce the launch of its diversity initiative! We recognize that scientific and engineering communities must strive to become more inclusive, engaging all demographic groups, and that diversity drives innovation, excellence, and new discoveries. Stop by to learn more about the initiative and exchange ideas toward the goal of promoting broader participation in MRS and in materials research.

Tuesday-Thursday, April 6 - 8
9:30-10:30 a.m.  and 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Moscone West, 2nd Floor Lobby (adjacent to NISE Booth - Public Outreach Center)

Join us throughout the week during the coffee breaks as national science centers and MRSECs in partnership with the NISE Network present “stimulating” educational, outreach hands-on activities in materials science and nanotechnology.

Monday, April 5
2:00 p.m. Demonstration | 3:30 p.m. Workshop
Marriott Marquis, 2nd Floor, Foothill G

Come preview the MRS/Materials Digital Library (MatDL) Expert Wiki & Planning Workshop on Translating Materials Research to Education! The roundtable presentation, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and endorsed by the MRS Academic Affairs Committee (AAC), will be given by MatDL partners from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and Kent State University (KSU). The preview demonstration and workshop will focus on starting development of the MRS/MatDL Expert Wiki, spotlighting materials advances to recruit undergraduates and high school students as well as testing Virtual Labs (VLs) in introductory science courses.

2:00-3:15 p.m.
Preview Demonstration

In order to facilitate use, assessment, and ongoing development of the pilot MRS/MatDL Expert Wiki, MatDL partners will lead a public preview demonstration of a new VL under development on Chemical Equilibrium and facilitate a Q&A session. The presentation and implications for undergraduate learning will form the basis for discussion and audience feedback.

3:30-5:00 p.m.
Planning Workshop

After the public demonstration session, a closed working session will provide a focused planning opportunity for MatDL partners, AAC members, invited participants, and others from the demonstration session who would be interested in contributing to the Wiki or testing the VLs.

About the Virtual Lab

In the Chemical Equilibrium Virtual Lab, students explore various implications of weak and strong interatomic forces. The binding of two monomers to form a dimer is first explored as a function of the strength of the binding interaction and temperature. Simulations of systems with both weak and strong forces are then used to examine such issues as hierarchical structure formation (e.g. polymer formation followed by chain folding) and kinetic versus thermodynamic control in self-assembly processes. The design team includes researchers in materials science, chemistry, biophysics, information science, and learning science from MIT, CMU, KSU, and Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC). Similar virtual labs are freely available for use on the NSDL Materials Digital Library Pathway.

More to come, stay tuned to this page!