Photonics and Optics Workshop
Originally Published February 20, 2018
The USC Joint Educational Project and its USC Young Scientist Program (YSP) hosted an after school photonics and optics workshop studio workshop for 50 fourth grade students at the Alexander California Science Center School on October 24th, 2017.
This workshop was funded by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. SPIE is the international society for photonics and optics that was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies through such things as continuing education, career and professional development, and interdisciplinary education exchange.
During this workshop the students worked on a variety of stations. Each station had one of the following activities: Invisibility station: Students learned how objects seem to be invisible when seen through particular lenses, refraction and invisible ink. Solar Powered Bristlebots: At this station students made robots using the bristle portion of a toothbrush that will be powered by vibrating motors running off of solar power. Lasers: at this station students shone lasers through various objects and seeing what happened DIY Spectrograph: At this station students created a spectrograph which is a device that separates light. As a result, students were able to see a rainbow of light. Undergraduate and graduate STEM Majors in USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences provided the instruction at each of the stations.
The guest speakers that attended the workshop included: Darin Gray, Director of Science Outreach; USC Viterbi School of Engineering; Dr. Andrea Armani, who is the SPIE chapter advisor and chapter president Andre Kovach, who is a graduate student. During the workshop her graduate students discussed photonics and optics and had students participate in hands on activities from their SPIE Photonics and Optics Kit.