NSF Reverse Science Fair

One of the Einstein Fellows, Melissa , was asked by her Division to organize a "Reverse" Science Fair.  She partnered with former Einstein Fellow, Antoinette Pena and her 8th grade students.  Instead of the students doing science projects and having scientists come to judge, the Reverse Science Fair had the scientists do the projects and the students were the judges.  It turned out very well.  Every day for a week, the atrium at NSF was set up with tables and scientists demonstrating and talking about the science they work on at NSF and about 25 different students moved from display to display asking questions and engaging in hands on activities.

It was such a good idea.  It gave the NSF scientists an opportunity to share science that they are passionate about, and it gave the students a chance to learn some very interesting science.

Students learning about fossils and what a paleontologist does.

At this booth, students are learning about hot peppers and what makes them hot.  Then they tested to see if water or milk did a better job of cooling the heat after a taste test.

Several of us Einstein Fellows were also asked to do a science project.  I had a booth that showed some ways that computer scientists are making contribution to science in diverse and interesting ways.  I talked about digitizing 20 years of New York Times in less than 3 months using a type of crowd sourcing,  Google's fleet of computer driven cars that have driven 190,000 on California roads, and using super computers to test materials to make smaller, more powerful batteries that can charge faster and last longer. Then the students and I tested making batteries out of potatoes, lemons, limes, and apples.  

I don't know how much the kids learned, but I learned a lot about making a potato battery  

• potatoes generated more electricity than the lemon, lime, or apple, about 1 volt
• a penny works better than a copper wire because of more surface area
• longer wires create more resistance and reduce the current
• the zinc coating on the nail is not very thick
• you can set up more than one potato in series or parallel to increase the voltage and current
• when you add more potatoes you also add more resistance
• the diameter of the wire makes a difference
• if you do this more than one day, get new materials or clean them with steel wool, because of the corrosion buildup on the metal
• it is not as easy as it looks on YouTube

Christmas 2011

Being an Einstein Fellow for a second Christmas has been an incredible experience, but this year I was anxious to return to Idaho and be with family for a few days.  I flew on Christmas day, all day!!  My taxi came to take me to the airport at 5 am., flew to Phoenix and then to Denver.  The Boise leg of my trip was delayed and this was my view for quite awhile.

Notice that there was no snow in Denver either.  Finally we were off to Boise where I rented a car and made my way to Anna's new house in Nampa.  In all, my trip was more than 15 hours, but it was worth it to be with people I love for a few days.  

Anna's house is very close to Lake Lowell and we walked with the kids and ate peanut butter sandwiches and threw rocks into the water. 

Madilyn wanted to be right with the boys.  It won't be long before she is throwing rocks in the lake too.

I also drove to Twin and spent a couple of days with Jon's family.  They all love baby Jane.  She has done a lot of growing in one month.

I also got to be with my mom and Bob and also Richard.  Idaho was beautiful.  Driving a car was fun.  I rarely drive in DC and it is usually stressful.  All too soon it was time to return to DC.  I love my job here, my boss is wonderful, but in six months it will be finished and I will be looking at what comes next.  Time does go fast.

Random happenings and pics

I was walking down Capitol Hill and took this picture of the Capitol Building in winter.

I was walking to the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars to listen to some of the Einstein Fellows that were on a panel discussing how much it benefits teachers, students, and scientists when they form partnerships and scientists come to the classroom.  

Went to a holiday get together at a friends house and Memphis Gold was there with his guitar.  He is a blues musician and he entertained us with his music, stories, and humor.  

Wanted to see the model train display at the botanic garden, but it was rather disappointing.   Because it is almost Christmas, I took a picture of this plant from which frankincense is made.  I think is comes from the sap.

I drove my car today determined to find the Mormon Temple.  It is a little hard to get to, but I made it.  I spent a couple of hours at the visitor center.  It is a very beautiful building.  Now that I know I can get there, I will return more often.

Weekend in West Virginia

Saturday, Geraldine rented a car and three of us drove to West Virginia to visit with an Leigh, an Einstein fellow from last year, and Bob.  It was nice to be with friends and get out of the city, even though I did not get a lot of sleep (smile).  A dusting of snow made it even more beautiful.

Lots of good food.

Lighting the Hanukah candles.

Bob, Leigh, Me, and Dave.  Geraldine is taking the picture.

They live in a barn that has been remodeled into a home.  It is beautiful inside and wonderfully rustic on the outside.

National Institutes of Health

We visited the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The NIH invests over $31.2 billion annually in medical research for the American people and gets almost all of its financing directly from Congress.  The NIH campus is over 300 acres and is located in Bethesda, Maryland.  The clinical research facilities are often the last hope for those that come.  In the children's hospital is a wall of tiles of children's art.  They express the range of emotions experienced by these young patients as they go through, often years, of treatment in the hopes of finding somethings that will prolong their lives.

We also visited the zebra fish lab where they do genetic research.

And the pathology laboratory.  We got a micro-course on how they isolate cells from a tissue sample with very high tech machinery that uses the "glue" material used in glue guns and high power lasers to cut out cells and attach to disks to view without disturbing the delicate cell structures.

Party, Tubas, Science, and the US Army

Lots of activities this week.  Wednesday was the Holiday Party for my Division at NSF.  It was a lot of fun.  Everyone brought food.  then they played Pictionary until they could figure out to hook up the Lets Dance on the Wii.  The next two hours were spent taking turns "dancing".  Great calorie burner after all the good eating.

Einstein Fellows, Ann Drobnis, Erik Russell, and Me

After the party, my sponsor and I went to the Millennium  Stage at the Kennedy Center to hear the Tuba Christmas Chorus.  It is an annual event where people bring their tubas, rehearse for an hour, and then perform.  there were 350 tubas.  They played familiar carols and we sang along.  It was great fun.

Thursday evening I volunteered to be a judge at a local middle school science fair.  I judged 6th grade projects.  It was a little different because all of the students used a powerpoint presentation to show what they did for their science experiment.  They all did a great job and had pictures, data and graphs  It was a lot of fun and I am going to volunteer for another school's science fair judging in January.

Tonight I attended the U.S. Army Band Holiday Concert in Constitution Hall.  It was really good.  Went with a friend and we stopped for frozen yogurt on the way home.  The walk home was pleasant with a temperature of 50 degrees.

There is always something to do in Washington, DC. Wish you were here to share it with me.

A weekend with Marcus and family in NY

Last Friday I took a day off from work and road the train to see Marcus and Heidi and girls.  I was on the train at 6:30 am and I got to the Albany, NY station about 1:00 pm.  I changed trains at Penn station in NYC.  Most of the trip is along the Hudson River.  These are some pictures I took from the train window.

It has been awhile since I have seen Marc's family.  I had not seen their home since they moved to NY.  We did a lot of hiking.  It is beautiful where they live with lots of lakes and hiking trails close by.  The girls made sure that I a big serving of hugs and lots of laughter.

When we hiked to a waterfall near Lake George, there was this tree trying to grow on solid rock.  It was an example of determination and tenacity. 

On Sunday morning, Marcus and I left the rest of the family to sleep in and we hiked around this wonderful lake that is about five miles from their home.  It took us about an hour and was a great start to the day.  The weather was crisp, but not cold.