Fermilab welcomed a diverse group of high school students to its Science Accelerating Girls Engagement Camp. This is a five-day summer science experience designed to inspire students to pursue careers in STEM fields.
Students experienced science projects led by Fermilab experts, tours of Fermilab’s campus and laboratory space, and daily career discussions with Fermilab staff. At the end of the week, each student gave a presentation to their peers and instructor about what they had learned.
“I loved seeing all the careers here,” one student said during the presentation. “I never knew there were so many styles of work. There is so much pressure on us to carve out our future. I’m glad to hear you have a lot of time.”
SAGE students had the opportunity to build and program robots and gain insight into how mechanical engineers and software developers maintain Fermilab’s critical equipment. The two-day effort was led by Finley Novak, a controls engineer in Fermilab’s Accelerator Division.
Teams of students work with volunteers to design and build a robot that can navigate a challenging course. Photo: Dan Svoboda, Fermilab
“I love gaining new knowledge,” said one student. “One of the things I learned about myself is that I really enjoy coding. If I hadn’t come here, I would never have gotten into Python or quantum computing, and I wouldn’t have made some great new friends. ”
Students toured Fermilab’s silicon detector facility, known as SiDet. The facility is home to high-energy physics experiments that produce charged particles, including the Compact Muon Solenoid, an experiment that includes a 14,000-ton detector designed to record high-energy proton collisions at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. It houses a detector that measures position.
“Students applied the concepts they learned during the week to better understand what we do at SiDet,” said researcher Irene Zoi.
Zoe and her colleague Doug Berry provided the SiDet tour. Berry is an associate scientist on the CMS experiment. The tour shared how the device detects charged particles and collects large amounts of data from particle collisions, and how researchers analyze this information.
In the Lederman Science Center’s MakerSpace, students learned how high-energy particles like cosmic rays are detected. When particles collide with the fine mist in the cloud chamber, they produce a faint signature that has historically helped researchers understand the properties of the particles. Scientist Gray Putnam, a Lederman Fellow and regular contributor to Fermilab’s educational support, led the students in a do-it-yourself cloud chamber activity. With Putnam’s guidance, the students created a mini cloud chamber using a petri dish, dry ice, and rubbing alcohol.
At Fermilab’s Center for Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems, campers get an up-close look at the Quantum Garage, an experimental space that houses large dilution refrigerators that can reach cryogenic temperatures just above absolute zero. did. The refrigerator hosts a test platform to perform research that advances quantum computing capabilities.
“Quantum computing is a topic I have always wanted to learn more about,” said one student. “Although I only understood half of the tour, I was able to learn more about a topic that always interests me.”
Each day during camp, career discussions were held during lunch with a different Fermilab expert to help students understand how to pursue different STEM careers.
Students will learn basic coding skills to program small robots to accomplish tasks. Photo: Dan Svoboda, Fermilab
Caitlyn Buongiorno, Social Media Manager at Fermilab. Roshanda Spillers, Accelerator and Computing Technician. Jemila Adetunji, Head of Quality Assurance. Minerva Betancourt, particle physicist. and Laboratory Director Leah Marminga all discussed their roles and how they support Fermilab’s scientific mission.
Mari Oates, Fermilab’s education digital learning and MakerSpace manager, and Jennifer Raaf, senior scientist for the upcoming DUNE experiment, designed and led the 2024 SAGE camp.
“One of our goals is for students to feel like they have a gateway into the world of STEM,” Oates said. “SAGE helps develop the next generation of STEM employees.”
SAGE Camp is one of Fermilab’s many education and public engagement initiatives. As with other initiatives, the camp leverages the institute’s expertise in cutting-edge research.
“One of the great things about SAGE camp is that students can build on what they have learned here,” Putnam said. “They can take this information and go out into the world and do something with it.”
Information about SAGE camps and other education programs can be found on Fermilab’s Education and Public Engagement website, education.fnal.gov.
The SAGE program is supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Office of High Energy Physics within the DOE Office of Science, and many volunteers from DOE National Laboratories.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and works to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.
