Materials science at Cornell University is about nanocomposites, thin films on glass and energetic beams deposition. But it is also about students and teachers and families learning the basics of science and technology together.

The educational outreach program at the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) is in high gear. Currently there are six community outreach programs and one for undergraduates involving faculty and local schools in an effort to broaden young students' exposure to science and technology and, hopefully, to have an impact in increasing the future supply of scientists and engineers.

"Really, this is for all of us," says Susan Wirsig, CCMR educational outreach coordinator. "It's a win-win situation because we can all learn from each other. Faculty learn how to express their understanding of scientific concepts at the community level, and kids find they are able to absorb that information."

The latest of the center's six outreach programs recently was awarded $40,000 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a two-year pilot program. Initially it will bring four middle- and high-school science teachers to Cornell for six weeks of intensive laboratory training and curriculum research.

Another CCMR outreach program recently involved 90 students, all in eighth grade, and five teachers from the Newfield Central School District, N.Y., in an introduction to fiber optics. With funds from its annual $4 million NSF block grant for research and outreach, the center organized a two-week introduction to the unique properties of glass as a material and a demonstration of the applications of optical fibers.

During February the students and their teachers made three visits to Cornell for a series of workshops. Groups of 30 learned about the optical properties of stained glass, visited the Electron and Optical Microscopy Lab with facility manager John Hunt, made candy out of spun

glasslike fibers and actually used fiber optics under the tutelage of graduate student David Picciotto. Cornell graduate students Emily Hackett, Samantha Glazier, Jennifer Gaudioso and Tom Barbieri spent two days working with the students.

"This has been a very positive experience," says Wirsig. "What has been unique about this has been working with the same group of students over a number of days. All of the lab sessions reached different students in different ways."

Pressed for just one main reason why CCMR is doing educational outreach, Wirsig says, "I guess I would have to say it's to attract really bright kids to science." But, she added, "It's a positive experience for the community, whether you are 5 or 50."

Other outreach programs offered by CCMR include:

• Microworld: Now in its fourth year, the program introduces teachers of grades four through eight to optical microscopes.
• Families Learning Science Together: The program, in its first year, offers Saturday morning sessions for young children and their parents to learn together about science -- from magnets to tie-dying. On Feb. 20, for example, 12 families joined Christopher Ober, professor of materials science and engineering, for a lesson about polymers.
• Project Science at Ithaca High School: Once a month Cornell graduate students visit the school's Science Club to lead a demonstration of a scientific principle.
• Research Experience for Undergraduates: This 10-week summer program offers research at Cornell for students across the country working with Cornell faculty and graduate students.
• Chemistry Workshop for Teachers: The program offers a daylong workshop in materials chemistry for chemistry teachers from community colleges and high schools.

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