Two high school students spent their summer
contributing to high-level research projects at South Dakota Mines thanks to a
special program funded by the US Army.
The Army Education
Outreach Program (AEOP) joins with Mines each summer to host the Research and
Engineering Apprenticeship (REAP) program. REAP provides opportunities for
pre-college students to conduct research for five to eight weeks alongside
faculty and graduate students.
“High school students come to the table with a fresh
mind, and there is value in the perspective they can sometimes bring that
yields simple solutions to complex problems,” says Katrina Donovan, Ph.D., a
lecturer of materials & metallurgical engineering at Mines who led the
university’s REAP program this summer.
Samuel Barnes, a junior at Stevens High School in Rapid
City, worked in the Karen M. Swindler Department of Chemical and Biological
Engineering as a member of Dr. Travis Walker’s research group alongside Dr. Maryam
Amouamouha. Barnes helped develop the high-end manufacturing process of nanofiber
filaments. These filaments make up the water filters inside the AMBER
wastewater treatment system being developed at the university.
“Sam was an important team member who helped solve
problems in manufacturing centrifugal spun nanofibers. He is a resourceful and
innovative student,” says Amouamouha, Ph.D., a graduate student and
entrepreneur at Mines.
Barnes says the experience gave him a taste of the interdisciplinary
cooperation required to advance cutting-edge science and engineering projects.
“I think it really showed me what an overlap there
is between all of the STEM fields,” says Barnes. “In our centrifugal spinning
setup, everything had to work in harmony and this meant that all the individual
systems had to be perfect – the chemicals we were using, the motor and its
electrical system and the code that ran the entire thing. If one thing went
wrong, we would have to troubleshoot everything to figure out what caused the
problem and we had to become experts in many different systems in order for the
project as a whole to come together."
Olivia Grinager, an incoming freshman at Mines,
graduated from Rapid City Christian School. Grinager spent the summer working in
the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering with Donovan and two
undergraduate researchers, Kiran Green and Isabel Nielson. She helped analyze
the chemical formulation and application of glazes on new types of pottery clays
that have undergone various forms of processing.
“She came in on a newly founded National Science
Foundation arts and engineering grant and quickly became a real contributor to
the team,” says Donovan. Grinager’s work will be used to inform further
pedagogy in materials science and ongoing efforts to create new local
pottery clays and glazes at Mines.
Grinager gained experience with scientific equipment
such as an X-Ray Diffractometer and a scanning electron microscope. “My
favorite part was the hands-on experience in the lab and learning to throw clay,”
she says. “I really enjoyed learning about some of the more creative sides of
engineering.”
The research that both Grinager and Barnes took part in is being
prepared for submission to scientific journals for later publication.
“It is a short program and it’s amazing how much
these students grow in just two months,” says Donovan. “Before long, they are
coming up with their own innovative ideas that advance the science itself. It’s wonderful to see them evolve.”
For faculty like Donovan, there is great value in
seeing young people get laboratory experience in their high school and early
college career. These students are the innovators of tomorrow.
“Educationally and experiencedly a program like this
can springboard students to become very useful in a research setting,” says
Donovan.
For Grinager, the summer solidified her future
plans. “This experience reinforced my decision to pursue a degree in STEM,” she
says.
Barnes enjoyed the experience of overcoming multiple
challenges that lead to a successful manufacturing process for the nanofiber
filaments by the end of his experience. “The best part was definitely when we finally managed to get our
centrifugal spinner working,” he says. “We had been working on it for two
months and I was really glad to be around for some of the milestones,
particularly when we used it to make fibers for the first time. It was a really
great feeling to see our hard work come to fruition, especially through
all of our setbacks and struggles, and it made me feel proud of what we had
accomplished. Engineering isn't easy, but that makes a working project feel all
the more rewarding.”