WiFEL Education and Outreach

Education and Outreach for the WiFEL project will closely follow and expand on the current efforts by the Synchrotron Radiation Center (SRC).

SRC Education and Outreach

As a public institution funded by the National Science Foundation and operated by the University of Wisconsin, education and outreach at the SRC is an integral part of its mission. The goal of SRC's education and outreach group, therefore, is to develop and share educational experiences and information in order to engage the scientific community, science students, science educators, and the general public in the fascinating fields of research utilizing synchrotron light. To this end, SRC endeavors to:

  1. Continue to develop and maintain the synergy between SRC's cutting-edge research program and the education of future researchers
  2. Broaden the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups in science
  3. Communicate the cutting-edge scientific research being conducted at SRC with the general public and the scientific community
  4. Cultivate a scientific awareness in science students and instructors, stressing the experiential, collaborative, ethical, and analytical aspects of scientific research.

SRC's education and outreach programs targets a variety of groups ranging from graduate students to the general public. SRC provides training opportunities for the next generation of scientists including post-doctoral researchers and graduate students. There are programs for students ranging from middle school to undergraduates as well as programs for the general public. Some activities include:

Graduate Student Training — Because most SRC research programs are university- based, many graduate students receive part of their Ph.D. or M.S. training at SRC. SRC considers the training provided during the course of the research at its facility as one of its major contributions to the scientific base of U.S. synchrotron radiation expertise. The scale of the facility and its university culture provide a supportive atmosphere for students. Students can have a broad range of research experiences in instrument development, beamline diagnostics, and accelerator technology.

Undergraduate Opportunities — The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the SRC provides the opportunity for undergraduates from underrepresented groups to experience hands-on research at a modern science research facility. SRC currently has an agreement with Xavier University of Louisiana, a historically black university, to bring one or two students from Xavier to SRC for the summer REU program. SRC also hosts a summer internship for an environmental health and safety student who works with the SRC Safety Officer.

Precollege Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE) — this program brings high school students from Wisconsin Public School Systems to the UW-Msn campus each summer where they participate in art, science, humanities and study skills course. The purpose of the program is to attract underrepresented groups to higher education.  As part of this program, the SRC teaches a 3 week class to rising 11th graders on the science of light which involves hands-on activities and interactions with scientists at the SRC.

Students Performing Experiments Collaboratively Through Remote Access (SPECTRA) — This web based program allows students to control beamline Instrumentation and take data remotely over the internet. Currently the program is used by a local high school and undergraduate classes from UW-Eau Claire, UW-Whitewater and Queen's College in New York, and the students in the PEOPLE program.

Science Teacher Workshop — During the summer of 2007, SRC collaborated with the University of Wisconsin Space Place—the outreach arm of the astronomy department—to offer a two and a half day workshop for high school science teachers from southern Wisconsin. Titled “Learning with Light”, the goal was to enable and encourage the teachers to envision ways of using light as a learning tool in their classrooms.

Expansion of SRC's program through the FEL R&D Program

Proposed expansion with the FEL Research and Development program will allow SRC to increase its education efforts in several areas including graduate training in accelerator science and engineering physics, undergraduate participation in accelerator design and applications and increased high school level participation through a six week internship during the summers in cooperation with the University's PEOPLE program. In addition, SRC will implement a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program that will help bring expanded science knowledge into high school science classrooms, and will explore a collaborative research partnership with Xavier University of Louisiana that could serve as a basis for a Partnership in Research and Education in Material Sciences (PREM) proposal in the future.