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The Smart Microsystems Laboratory (SML) actively pursues opportunities for reaching out to K-12 students, parents, and teachers. The appealing, hands-on nature of the many projects in SML offers unique advantages in attracting young students' attention and inspiring their curiosity. Some of our educational and outreach effort has been reported in two papers as well as been featured in media:
X. Tan et al., "A Hands-on Paradigm for EAP Education: Undergraduates, Pre-College Students, and Beyond", SPIE EAPAD'07
X. Tan et al., "An Autonomous Robotic Fish for Mobile Sensing," IROS'06
The State News article (07-17-2007) featuring SML's effort in reaching out to pre-college students and teachers
Highlights of our involvement of outreach activities:
3. Grandparents University Program
4. CNSF Exhibition on Capitol Hill
SML partners closely with the Recruitment and K-12 Outreach Office of the College of Engineering in its various pre-college programs. SML is one of the eight labs featured on the College of Engineering Future Engineers website for attracting prospective students, where one can take a 360° virtual tour of the lab. As one of the designated Engineering Tour Stops, SML receives about 80 visitors every month including prospective students and their parents.
Every summer Dr. Tan and his students give accessible lectures and hold hands-on, interactive demos on smart materials, artificial muscles, and biomimetic robots for participants of a number of K-12 programs, such as the Detroit-Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP), the High School Engineering Institute Program, the Women in Engineering Program, and the Wireless Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS) for Teens Program.
We have developed a robotic fish educational kit, which includes step-by-step instructions on how to build the robot, including assembling the circuit board, packaging, microcontroller programming, and testing for waterproofing and functions. In addition, the kit comes with a curriculum covering the fundamentals of electroactive polymers, robotics, circuits, physics, and control.
The robotic fish educational kit developed in SML.
Shown in pictures above: left - Students in Summer'06 WIMS for Teens Program listening to Dr. Tan's lecture; right - Stephan explaining the artificial muscle-based sociable robot to students of the Summer'06 Women in Engineering Program.
In
the video 
below, a student of the WIMS for Teens Program interacts with the sociable
robot.
A young boy fascinated by the sociable robot in SML on SET Day'07.
Chippewa Career Day is an annual event at the Chippewa Middle School in Okemos, MI, where representatives from different professions speak to the eighth graders about career choices. Dr. Tan represented the College of Engineering in 2006 and 2007. On March 6, 2007, he was joined by his graduate student Stephan Shatara and MSU/ECE alumnus Anthony Recca in this event. About 60 students got to hear about engineering, and the life of engineering students, professors, and engineers.
Shown in picture above: Anthony answering questions from the students regarding engineering as a career choice.
In
the video
below, the students watched with interest the demo of artificial muscle-driven
robotic fish developed by SML.
Grandparents University Program
MSU Grandparents University is a program for grandparents and grandchildren (ages 8-12) to come together for a 3-day educational experience while spending time together on the MSU campus. Since 2007, SML has been involved in this annual event. Dr. Tan and his students offer a session Smart Materials and Artificial Muscles to curious children and their grandparents.
Students of the 2007 Grandparents University Program playing with the robotic fish.
CNSF Exhibition on Capitol Hill
We have also reached out to members of Congress. Dr. Tan and his Ph.D. student, Dawn Hedgepeth, attended the 14th Annual Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) Exhibition and Reception on Capitol Hill on the evening of June 25, 2008. CNSF is an alliance of over 100 institutions and professional societies that supports the goal of increasing the national investment in the National Science Foundation's research and education programs. The annual Capitol Hill exhibition event features research and education projects supported by NSF, and impresses lawmakers with the impact of NSF-funded programs.
We
represented MSU and presented a poster "Electroactive Polymers as Artificial Muscles and
Sensors: Investigation from a Systems Perspective," that described our NSF CAREER project and its potential societal, educational, and outreach
impacts. We also held live demos of artificial muscle-enabled robotic fish, which made our conversations much easier with congressmen and their
staffers.
Shown in pictures above: left - Dr. Tan describing the NSF project to Congressman Vernon Ehlers (R-MI); right - Dawn interacting with a visitor.