Several high school students got a glimpse of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (NPRE) disciplines last week through Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) activities on campus.
The International WYSE program, headquartered at the University of Illinois, has for many years offered summer camps for high school students to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Each year WYSE hosts around 80 juniors and seniors in Exploring Your Options camps, and about 25 sophomores in the Discover Engineering program. The high schoolers interact with Engineering students and faculty, visit research labs, learn about research opportunities within the College, and work in teams to complete hands-on engineering projects.
Organizing NPRE’s WYSE opportunities, NPRE students kicked off with an engaging “Dispelling the Myths” presentation intended to set the record straight on misinformation surrounding nuclear power.
NPRE student Michael Cheng presented a talk explaining radiation, how it relates to half-life, and the types of ionizing radiation that comes from radioactive decay. He also talked about various shielding needed to protect humans from radiation and radiation dose, and discussed how a Geiger counter is used to detect radiation.
These concepts were further illustrated through 3-D, interactive models in the Virtual Education and Research Laboratory (VERL). After explaining the lab’s operations, organizers encouraged the high school students to undertake a chem-lab model. Following directions on a plasma screen, the high school students watched a safety video, located safety items such as fire alarms, fire extinguishers, and eye wash stations, and correctly identified within the virtual scene students who were incorrectly dressed for the lab.
“We followed that with letting the students complete a warehouse radiation simulation, where they had to identify all three sources of radiation leaks in a warehouse full of crates and barrels,” said organizer Nabeel Rizwan. “Then we showed them the half-life and shielding lab simulations we have created on one of the big HD TVs in the lab. We finished off by showing the students the VISBOX (a 3D, immersive, virtual reality display system). We allowed them to move around a Visbox demo and a model of the VERL lab using (3D) glasses and the controller that are both tracked with cameras.”
WYSE visitors were shown experiments explaining the electrical and magnetic principles that influence plasmas when they visited the Center for Plasma Material Interactions. Organizers also demonstrated a plasma railgun they had built, and engaged the high school students in a “friendly” soda can-crushing competition. Dividing into teams, the students wound a coil around a can. An electrical current was then passed through the coil, and the can that was the most crushed was the winner.