Joules Body summer work:
The Joules fellowship is a program that helps STEM teachers to understand the engineering process so that they incorporate the principles or practice of engineering into their classroom. During my time in the Jankovic group I learned about Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells and other sources of renewable energy. I will use a clean energy kit purchased by this program, to give students hands-on experience generating clean energy using solar, hydrogen and wind power.
I am particularly interested in microbial fuel cells, which are made out of mud, because everyone has access to some soil. I will have my after-school program design and optimize microbial fuel cells.
I also had the opportunity to observe the use of scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes to understand the relationship between the microscopic structure and the properties of a fuel cell. The level of magnification achieved in these instruments is awesome. We were able to see micron and submicron structures. I am working on and experiment using a Scanning Electron Microscopy simulation to teach students about the magnitude of numbers and reinforce scientific notation concepts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezib-w2GqsM&feature=youtu.be