Physicist Mittler helps children see the light of science

Mittler lab and light demo for children

Close to fifty Native children from across Canada came to Western and the surrounding area to get a glimpse of education opportunities and industry.

Dr. Sylvia MittlerOn Friday August 6th, close to 50 Native children from all over Canada and various reservations visited Prof. Silvia Mittler’s research group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy for an introduction to optics and photonics.
The event was part of a weeklong scientific travel and information experience for the group of 12-15 year old youth organized by the National Science Camp of Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).


The event was supported by the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations (CIPI) and the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE). David Doran of CIPI had brought the new “Optics and Photonics hands-on and demonstration suitcase”. He, Jessie Maggard of the London based Business Development Manager of OCE, and three co-workers (Andreas Schönfeld a undergraduate student from the German Academic Exchange, Erden Ertorer a PhD student and Ireneus Iwanowski a PDF) of the Mittler group assisted with the scientific demonstrations, explanations and the hands-on experiences.


After the children had returned from visiting industries in Sarnia, they were welcomed in the Physics & Astronomy First Year Laboratory in the Material Science Addition. They were shown a power point presentation called “What is Light: It is an Electro-Magnetic Wave and a Photon” by Prof. Mittler. The youth were then shown some experimental demonstrations supporting the theoretical explanations.

 
The group was then split into two parts. One group remained in the First Year lab and had hands on experiences with 5 different experiments while the other group enjoyed a tour of Prof. Mittler’s Laboratory for Photonics of Surfaces and Interfaces. Both the optics lab and a sample preparation-chemistry lab were shown and a quick insight in modern interdisciplinary optics and photonics research given. The highlight of the lab tour was having the children try to work with a glove box.

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