Outreach

Science Olympiad

March, 2024

High school students were tasked with utilizing various mirrors (and their own alignment tools) to deflect an incoming laser beam around obstacles in order to strike a target location. This event consisted of 2 parts, the beam deviation challenge, and a written test. While Dr. Wencan Jin was the coordinator, Charlotte Brown, Harry Goyal, Hussam Mustafa, Jack Batson, and Hayden Bennet assisted in running the event.

Destination STEM

October, 2023

Destination STEM is an outreach program for middle school students to engage in interesting science topics such as physics, biology, mathematics, geology, and much more! Some topics include Plasma and Magnetic Fields, Coronavirus in 3D, Microbe Universe, and Lunabotics. Dr. Wencan Jin held a table with Dylan Thomas, Hussam Mustafa, and Chunli Tang who presented the Laser Harp. The harp works by using photodiodes to detect signal change from the lasers. We used a microcontroller to convert the readings to a signal, which was then read by our Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), FL Studios 20. The signal transmission was completed by the midi, allowing us to play notes.

Summer Science Institute

June, 2023

High school students were tasked with understanding phase change properties of materials. They ran an experiment measuring the length of a shape-memory alloy as a function of the temperature of the material. Cooling down and warming up show different results and the students were able to draw a hysteresis curve based on this. After the experiment, students were also allowed to “play” with superconducting magnets cooled with liquid nitrogen. Afterwards, Dr. Jin provided a lab tour of his lab to tie in the topic of phase transitions and his research!

Science Olympiad

April, 2023

High school students were tasked with building a durable mass/force-sensing device that can measure and display the mass of different objects from 30 grams to 1 kilogram as well as the voltage output. The devices were built using microcontrollers, display, LEDs, and a probe. This event consisted of 2 parts, the device testing, and a written test. Dr. Wencan Jin was responsible for this event while Chunli Tang was assisting.

Spring into Science

April, 2023

This event was to reach out to the underrepresented youth at the Opelika Boys and Girls Club. Hussam Mustafa and Dr. Evdokiya Kostadinova assisted the Society of Women in Physics (SWiP) during this event by showing various demos such as plasma ball, spectroscopic glasses, and faraday cage.

Physics Tailgate

October, 2022

The Auburn University Physics Department held their very own tailgate event during a football game day (WAR DAMN EAGLE!). Hussam Mustafa as well as plenty of other volunteers participated in showing physics demos such as ferrofluids, superconducting magnets, conservation of angular momentum and much more to passersby attending the game.

Destination STEM

October, 2022

Destination STEM is an outreach program for middle school students to engage in interesting science topics such as physics, biology, mathematics, geology, and much more! Some topics include Plasma and Magnetic Fields, Coronavirus in 3D, Microbe Universe, and Lunabotics. Dr. Wencan Jin held a table with Matt Galinger, Hussam Mustafa, and Chunli Tang who presented the Laser Harp. The harp works by using photodiodes to detect signal change from the lasers. We used a microcontroller to convert the readings to a signal, which was then read by our Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), FL Studios 20. The signal transmission was completed by the midi, allowing us to play notes.

Science Olympiad

March, 2022

High school students were tasked with building a conductivity device that can measure and display the voltage and concentration of NaCl of different water samples. The devices were built using microcontrollers, display, LEDs, and a probe. This event consisted of 2 parts, the device testing, and a written test. Dr. Wencan Jin was responsible for this event while Chunli Tang and Hussam Mustafa were assisting.

Internship for High School Students

Summer, 2022

Naeim Mahjouri worked under Dr. Wencan Jin as an intern for the summer semester. Naeim was tasked with learning, understanding, diagnosing, and aligning the optical equipment associated with the Pump-Probe Spectroscopy and the RA-SHG experiments.