Outreach Programs

Exploring Materials Science and Engineering

Virtual Experiments | School Visits and Demonstrations | Early Elementary School | Middle School and High School | Summer Youth Program WIE | MTU Open House

Virtual Experiments

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Michigan Tech is pleased to present this series of VIRTUAL EXPERIMENTS. The content is optimized for high school students, but anyone can learn the basics of materials science and engineering from them.

These interactive multimedia productions simulate basic materials experiments of the same type used by scientists and engineers. Material properties and structure are probed. A scientific format which presents the experimental conditions, procedure, data, and conclusions is adopted for each virtual experiment. The goal is to illuminate the issues and important areas of concern within the field of materials.

Go to VIRTUAL EXPERIMENTS

School Visits and Demonstrations

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering provides demonstration visits to allow K-12 school students an opportunity to explore the field of materials science and engineering. These visits provide “hands-on” activities in addition to demonstrations of instruments and processes used in the materials field. Students observe objects at magnifications by tens of thousands in the scanning electron microscope, and see molten metal poured into a sand mold in our foundry.

We can tailor the visits depending on available time and age of participants. We have established programs for early elementary as well as middle to high school aged students. Below is a brief description of common activities.

Early Elementary School

This program is designed to introduce students to the concept of science and engineering. The students conduct an experiment to understand the science of why cockleburs stick to you, clothing, and animals. Based on the science of how cockleburs adhere, an understanding of how Velcro was engineered is discussed. Furthermore, the students learn the science of creating ice cream using a technique based on liquid nitrogen and engineer different flavors of ice cream, created with student participation. Please contact Edward Laitila (ealaitil@mtu.edu or 906.369.2041) to schedule a visit.

Cocklebur image by Steve Dewey, Utah State University, courtesy of Forestry Images.

Brain freeze: Students learn science of ice cream, Velcro (Laitila)
Daily Mining Gazette , February 27, 2007

Middle School and High School

This program is designed to introduce high school students to the structure - properties - processing - performance relationships that are the foundation of materials engineering. Each visit is customized to the interests of the visitors and we include as many hands-on projects as the group size allows. Examples of the hands-on activities are 1) creating a specific wire shape using a unique material called shape memory alloy, 2) a slime and silly putty contest, 3) changing the properties of steel by heat treatment, 4) polishing and cleaning the MSE logos cast in the foundry, 5) making rubber balls out of silicone elastomers, and 6) investigating mechanical properties of materials. Students can also choose a demonstration on supermagnets and lasers or visit the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

Topics that are covered in demonstrations for the visitors include a presentation on nanotechnology and carbon nanotubes with a demonstration of a tabletop scanning tunneling microscope (STM). In this activity, students actually see live images of rows of atoms in graphite. They see how to make complex shapes from metal powders using a cold isostatic press (CIP), develop an understanding of how complex shapes are produce by metal casting using a sand mold technique to produced the desired shapes, and witness red hot molten metal being poured into the molds. Students learn the effect on how metals fracture when cooled in liquid nitrogen (Charpy impact test), see how aluminum foil is made (rolling), and how we can change, then restore, flexibility in piano wire (dilatometer) then use a microscope to observe a material and from these observations predict what properties a material will have. A very popular activity is seeing objects magnified many thousands of times in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Please contact Ruth Kramer (ruthie@mtu.edu or 906.487.3375) to schedule a visit.

Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) image by Dr. Vijaya Kumar Kayastha, Michigan Tech.

Cool Chemistry: Students Make Ice Cream with Liquid Nitrogen

Summer Youth Program and Women in Engineering

Summer Youth Programs at MSE 2008

Summer Youth Programs at MSE 2006

Summer Youth Programs at MSE 2005

Summer Youth Programs at MSE 2004

Summer Youth Programs at MSE 2003

MTU Open House

MTU Open House 2007 Media Gallery

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