William Phillips, a Distinguished University Professor of physics and a senior investigator in RQS, showed how extreme low temperatures often used in quantum research can affect everyday objects like balloons or rubber balls.
More than 550 students from Prince George’s County gathered on July 24 at the University of Maryland campus for an engineering design challenge aimed at sparking interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Sponsored by the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation (RQS) and hosted by UMD’s WIE Program and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the event welcomed rising ninth grade students from Charles Herbert Flowers High School, Oxon Hill High School, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, and DuVal High School.
The challenge tasked students with building slingshot-style ball launchers using craft boards and rubber bands from GOAL (Get Outside and Learn) Engineering Kits.
Teams competed to land small balls in landing pads positioned behind various kinds of obstacles, experimenting with launch angles and force to maximize successful shots. The school with the highest overall score would claim the trophy—this year, it went to Eleanor Roosevelt High School.
Hosting the design challenge in Ritchie Coliseum offered an engaging academic setting that allowed the participating teams—and their friends and families—to cheer with enthusiasm, says Erin Sohr, assistant director for education at RQS.
“As the Capital of Quantum, we have many exciting opportunities and pathways available to students in STEM and beyond. It was great to see the level of interest at this event, and I hope we had some future Terps in attendance,” Sohr says.
Numerous students attending expressed their appreciation for the STEM competition.
“I loved participating,” says Fife Ojetola, a student at Roosevelt. “It was challenging, but also a lot of fun. I loved seeing the schools cheer for their competitors and show their spirit.”
Sebastian Stone, a DuVal High School student interested in aerospace and aviation, says he enjoyed how engaging the competition was and the hands-on kits provided for the challenge.
“The GOAL Team is delighted by the continued partnership with RQS to spark interest in STEM, including fields like quantum where the participating students have had limited exposure up to this point,” says Paige E. Smith, director of the WIE Program.
William Phillips, Distinguished University Professor of physics and a senior investigator in RQS, concluded the event with a live demonstration showing how liquid nitrogen affects various objects.
He explained that operating at the quantum level requires extremely low temperatures and showed how materials behave in those conditions: balloons shrank to a fraction of their size, rubber balls shattered, and flowers crumbled much to the amazement of students in the audience.
Phillips, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for his work developing methods to cool and trap atoms using laser light, encouraged the rising ninth graders to be curious about the world around them. There is nothing more wonderfully curious than quantum science, he said, emphasizing the real-world relevance of quantum, saying that it has the capacity to transform medicine, materials science, logistics, and more.
—Story by Mansi Srivastava, UMIACS communications group