Service & Outreach
Service Committees
IFES
MSA
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Metallurgical Transactions:
TMS
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Outreach
Nano-Science and Engineering High School Research Internship
Since 2004, Professors Thompson and Nikles (Chemistry) launched an out-reach program to engage regional high school students into science and engineering careers. This program has grown from two faculty mentors to nearly ten with as many students in the program. The 8-week internship has students working on active research programs at UA with undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral researchers. At the conclusion of the program, a poster symposium is hosted where the students tell faculty, teachers and parents about their research. Student of the program have competed and won at regional and state science fairs and state- and national-level scholarship programs (such as the Siemens-Westinghouse and the Intel Science Talent Search). Though the aim of the program was not these competitions, it demonstrates the impact and quality of the research being performed by these next-generation scientists and engineers.
Since 2004, Professors Thompson and Nikles (Chemistry) launched an out-reach program to engage regional high school students into science and engineering careers. This program has grown from two faculty mentors to nearly ten with as many students in the program. The 8-week internship has students working on active research programs at UA with undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral researchers. At the conclusion of the program, a poster symposium is hosted where the students tell faculty, teachers and parents about their research. Student of the program have competed and won at regional and state science fairs and state- and national-level scholarship programs (such as the Siemens-Westinghouse and the Intel Science Talent Search). Though the aim of the program was not these competitions, it demonstrates the impact and quality of the research being performed by these next-generation scientists and engineers.
The concept of the program developed from Professor Thompson’s experience, as a high school student in Arkansas, spending his summers at a Henderson State University working with Professors Donald Avery and Bryan Palmer making YBCO superconductors. This research experience provided a profound impact in shaping his career choice. The program aims at providing similar experiences and positive reinforcements in exciting careers in research.
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ASM Materials Camp
Since 2012, Professor Thompson has teamed with his colleague, Professor Martin Bakker, in hosting an ASM Materials Camp. This one-week develops course lectures and low cost demos for middle and high school teachers to engage and encourage more students into STEM. Though the camp is primarily instructed by Master Teachers – high school teachers that use these items in their classes – Prof. Thompson provides a few lectures to complement master teacher curriculum. He is also involved prior to the camp in recruiting the next year’s attendees. This includes him going to school systems throughout Alabama to meet with teachers as well as putting on recruitment demos. UA’s ASM camp has leveraged itself with the NSF sponsored NOYCE program (http://uanoyce.ua.edu/ua-noyce-internship.html) which brings junior college students majoring in STEM teaching fields to UA to enhance their education. These student-teachers participate alongside seasoned teachers bringing an added enthusiasm to each participant. More information about the camp can be found at http://asmmaterialscamp.ua.edu |
Outreach Instruction
Professor Thompson has been a guest lecture (2004-2007) on phase transformation behavior in materials as part of the NSF-funded “Introducing Historically Black Colleges and Universities Faculty to Materials Science and Engineering” summer workshop program coordinated by Professors Acoff and Weaver (UA MTE faculty). Recently, Professor Thompson has worked with a former participate, Professor Sundar Naga (West Virginia State University), who has come back in the summer to work on active research programs with UA faculty.
Professor Thompson has been the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Summer instructor for the Engineering Math Advance Placement (EMAP) Instructor (2004-2007). EMAP allows incoming freshman engineer major to take pre-calculus. Engineering faculty members across the college provide hands-on labs where students take the math learned in class and apply it to their respective disciplines. |