Outreach

Wasserman Group Outreach

My group has been very involved in science outreach activities in and around both Urbana-Champaign and Lowell, MA during my time at UIUC and UMass Lowell respectively, and we plan on bringing this same enthusiasm for STEM-based outreach to Austin upon our arrival.

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. 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. To this end, we will be going to local schools, and more importantly, bringing local students to our labs, to engage in workshops, hands-on lab experiences, and lectures by leaders in their respective scientific fields. We will focus especially on reaching out to those students who are not from privileged backgrounds, in addition to those groups underrepresented in the hard sciences.

University of Texas Outreach Activities

Spring 2023 Austin Young Scientists

Led by UT Mid-IR students Yadviga Tischenko and Felix Estevez, we spent the morning of March 4th working with the Austin Young Scientists program to make our own batteries from tinfoil, pennies, and vinegar. They were even able to get some LEDs to light up!

Fall 2021 Austin Young Scientists

On Saturday December 4th we had the opportunity to work with the Austin Young Scientists for a half-day engineering activity fun day. The Young Scientists got to build their own hard drives and store information to be decoded by teammates!

Spring 2020 UT Girl Day

On Saturday February 22nd, 8,000 future scientists and engineers descended on the UT campus for the annual UT Girl Day. Mid-IR Photonics Students volunteered to make this a special day for our visiting guests!

Fall 2019 Engineering Activity Day at Kealing Middle School

On Saturday November 2nd the Mid-IR Photonics Group organized and ran an engineering activity day at Kealing Middle School for the Young Scientists program. Students built their own pinto bean heard drives and successfully wrote and read data into the device memory! It was a lot of fun, and the Photonics Group graduate students did a wonderful job of mentoring and helping the students!! Thanks to the UT MRSEC for pizza, prizes, and help organizing!!

Spring 2019 Engineering Activity Day at Kealing Middle School

On Saturday April 13th the Mid-IR Photonics Group organized and ran an engineering activity day at Kealing Middle School. Students built and operated their own optical communication systems and sent messages across the room using their code. It was a lot of fun, and the Photonics Group graduate students did a wonderful job of mentoring and helping the students!! Thanks to the UT MRSEC for pizza and help organizing!!

2019 UT Girl Day

On Saturday February 23rd, the Mid-IR Photonics Group joined the UT Girl Day event with our “Painting with Heat” hands-on module. We had a blast getting to make a thermal mess with the hundreds of students who visited us!!

Professor Wasserman and the team show visitors how to paint with heat!

2018 UT Girl Day

Leland oversees thermal painting!

2016 Science Thursdays!

10/20/2016: Wasserman group member Leland Nordin explains interference, and its role in the coloration of butterfly wings, to K12 students at the Bullock Museum’s Science Thursday event!