Bulletin of the American Physical Society
64th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics
Volume 67, Number 15
Monday–Friday, October 17–21, 2022; Spokane, Washington
Session NM10: Mini-Conference: Workforce Development Through Research-Based, Plasma-Focused Science Education and Public Engagement IILive Streamed
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Chair: Shannon Greco, PPPL; Evdokiya (Eva) Kostadinova, Auburn University Room: 206 CD |
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 9:30AM - 9:39AM |
NM10.00001: Introduction and Welcome
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Wednesday, October 19, 2022 9:39AM - 9:57AM |
NM10.00002: Development of a Research-Based Outreach Plan for the ZEUS Laser Facility Elizabeth Oxford In alignment with recommendations from the National Academy of Science study on high intensity lasers [NAS, 2018], NSF has recently invested in three extreme light mid-scale research facilities, including the Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort Pulse Laser System (ZEUS) at the University of Michigan. Critical to the success of these facilities is the ability to integrate their research into their outreach efforts. They must develop outreach programs that raise awareness, effectively communicate to a variety of audiences, and promote meaningful understanding of the significant impacts of extreme light research to society. In this presentation we will describe plans for outreach at the ZEUS facility, providing examples of activities, milestones, and evaluation methods. We will also describe how this plan was developed and the resources utilized. For the second half of the presentation, we will discuss ways to integrate new members into the plasma-focused outreach community and effective methods for sharing best practices. Several examples will be presented, including a virtual toolkit, which would provide members with examples of successful programs, assessments and corresponding data, a directory of members and their areas of expertise, webinars, and other resources. |
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 9:57AM - 10:15AM |
NM10.00003: The Importance of Dedicated Scientific Outreach Elizabeth Starling, Kathreen E Thome, Colin Chrystal, Richard L Lee, Gregory Sinclair, Cami S Collins Scientific outreach plays a critical role in workforce development within STEM disciplines as a multifaceted and flexible method of encouraging interest in a subject and corresponding organization or facility. Through public events such as science festivals, a facility can cement its place within the community and gain public awareness from an early age. Through focused workshops and conferences, that awareness can be made to blossom into career ambitions in adolescents and young adults, which can be further encouraged through publicly-accessible web materials, facility tours, and other actions designed to provide information and opportunity to interested parties. Yet despite these positive effects, scientific outreach is often left in the hands of volunteers, relying on individual passion and personal time. In recognition of its importance to the growth of the field of plasma and nuclear fusion sciences, the DIII-D National Fusion Facility has recently designated a full-time scientific outreach coordinator position. In this talk, we will discuss how this is increasing the quality and quantity of outreach efforts, thereby enabling key initiatives and benefiting both workforce development and the public. |
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 10:15AM - 10:33AM |
NM10.00004: Plasma Research within the Small College Plasma Consortium (SCPC) David A Schaffner Establishing research programs at smaller schools offers the plasma community a chance to increase exposure of plasma science throughout the country, particularly to a diverse undergraduate population. This presentation describes a personal experience in joining and starting an experimental plasma research program at a primarily-undergraduate institution. The talk also provides an overview of the Small College Plasma Consortium (SCPC), an organization whose aims are to create a community for existing and future plasma researchers at small schools, in addition to providing a platform for shared resources and collaboration amongst small schools and with larger academic institutions. It concludes with a handful of recommendations for what the plasma community and funding agencies can do to support the growth and development of these unique research programs. |
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 10:33AM - 10:51AM |
NM10.00005: The Importance of Workforce Development in EPSCoR Grants and Strategies for Plasma-Focused Education and Public Engagement in Alabama. Laura Provenzani A 2021 study from the National Science Board finds that the performance of U.S. elementary and secondary students in STEM education continues to lag that of students from other countries. The FTPP grant and the previous CPU2AL grant, funded by the NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), have put much effort into trying to contribute to the solution of this problem. In our experience, we found out that several critical areas contribute to the success of this effort. Strategies adopted and actions taken will be evaluated and discussed. New research and advancement challenge the workforce and outreach development. The management of the organizational activities must be assigned to specialized personnel. The turnover rate of the supporting staff can negatively affect the specialization level and the team's effectiveness. Moreover, building an extended network of external contacts with Agencies or other Universities is an essential element to success. Universities are not all the same; they vary by size, cultural variation, and student population. In addition, the local environment must also be considered to obtain and maintain cooperation with industries, museums, and non-profit organizations. These activities must be meticulously planned, organized, and monitored in a practical project management framework. One of the main goals is to build additional capacity by creating new educational and outreach programs for college and K-12 students. Consequently, increasing public awareness and plasma-focused education in a State like Alabama is difficult. This situation requires action directed towards elementary and secondary students as soon as possible, considering how they vary by size, cultural background, and underrepresented minorities. We learned that "marketing" campaigns must be focused and specifically built toward a variegated target. Response rates can differ depending on the channel and methodology used to increase student engagement. |
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 10:51AM - 11:09AM |
NM10.00006: Workforce development and training efforts at facilities of the LaserNetUS network Chandra Breanne Curry, Felicie Albert, Robert C Cauble, Mike Chini, Todd Ditmire, Gilliss Dyer, Cameron R Geddes, Francois Legare, Jorge J Rocca, Douglass W Schumacher, Donald P Umstadter, Mingsheng Wei LaserNetUS, a network of 10 high-power laser facilities across America, and operating effectively as a user facility, has been established by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2018. The vision of LaserNetUS is to advance the frontiers of ultra‐intense laser‐science as well as their multi- and interdisciplinary applications in various sectors including high energy density, materials and biomedical science. The mission of LaserNetUS is to re‐establish US scientific competitiveness in high-energy-density and high-field optical science by advancing the frontiers of laser‐science research, providing students and scientists with broad access to unique facilities and enabling technologies, and by fostering collaboration among researchers and networks from around the world. Now in its 4th experimental cycle, LaserNetUS has welcomed more than 400 single users, with a quarter of them being students. This talk will review efforts undertaken by the network to promote collaborations and workforce development in the field of plasma, high energy density, and laser science. |
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 11:09AM - 11:27AM |
NM10.00007: JNIPER: Joint Network of Informal Physics Education and Research Claudia E Fracchiolla, Alexandra Lau, Jessica R Hoehn, Kathleen Hinko, Noah D Finkelstein, Michael Bennett
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Wednesday, October 19, 2022 11:27AM - 11:45AM |
NM10.00008: Personas for supporting a network for engagement in informal physics education Shams El-Adawy, Eleanor C Sayre, Alexandra Lau, Claudia E Fracchiolla The pathways and engagement of physicists in informal physics education are varied, which makes their professional development needs not well understood. As part of ongoing efforts to build and support community in the informal physics space, we conducted interviews with physics practitioners and researchers with a range of different experiences. Through thematic analysis, we use personas, a user-centered design tool that stems from the interface design context, to articulate the needs and pain points of professional physicists. We present our set of four personas: the physicist who engages in informal physics for self-reflection, the physicist who wants to spark interest in physics, the physicist who wants to provide diverse role models to younger students and inspire them to pursue a STEM career, and the physicist who wants to improve the relationship between scientists and the public. This work can help inform tailored professional development resources for building an inclusive network of practitioners in informal science education and public engagement. |
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 11:45AM - 12:30PM |
NM10.00009: Workforce Development Through Research-Based, Plasma-Focused Science Education and Public Engagement: Needs Assessment and Brainstorming Session Shannon Greco, Eva G Kostadinova In a step towards forming a network to support public engagement and informal science education efforts in plasma physics, we have gathered a diverse group of speakers including physics education researchers, science communicators, K-12 educators, and colleagues to establish model practices for and by the plasma community and experts in related fields. In this session, participants will share their lessons learned and needs for support with each other to lay the groundwork for a truly collaborative and cohesive network. Participants are invited to explore what resources a network for Plasma Public Engagement, Informal Science Education and Workforce Development might offer to its members. Potential resources might include: listings of opportunities for public engagement and collaborators, training sessions, curated resources reviewed by members, research supporting effective engagement, etc. The ideas considered in this discussion session will be summarized and made available to the DPP community. |
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