As part of the national ‘Space Day’ events held each year in May, the PI was invited back to her hometown in Brewer, Maine to participate as a ‘speaker.’ She spent a half-day at the Brewer Middle School, a half-day at the Brewer High School, and a half-day at the United Technologies Center in Bangor, Maine. A total of more than 300 students participated in the 45-minute sessions. In addition to demonstrations, the students had direct interaction via some short hands-on experiments. The paragraph below was sent to the schools to advertise the sessions.

The modern space age would not have been possible without advances in engineered materials. The field of Materials Science & Engineering has contributed countless technological achievements for every-day life, from high-strength, lightweight metal alloys used in airplanes and rockets to semiconductor devices and lithium-ion batteries used in cell phones. Superconductors, materials that have zero electrical resistance and display a ‘cool’ magnetic levitation effect, have found applications in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for medical diagnosis and magnetic-levitation (maglev) trains that can travel at speeds above 300 mph. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is investigating how superconductors can be used for space; the exciting possibilities include frictionless bearings for the gyros that keep satellites oriented and ultra-efficient power generation that could be used in space transportation and base stations. In this session students will experiment with the amazing properties (magnetic levitation and/or zero resistance phenomena) of superconductors after submersing them in liquid nitrogen. The dramatic effects of temperature will be monitored and discussed in terms of implementation for real-world applications. Other materials used for space will also be discussed if time allows.