While the Vanderbilt campus is ramping down during spring break, VINSE outreach program is buzzing with energy!
On March 11, VINSE welcomed 20 students from Harpeth High School to our Blackberry Solar Cell Lab. They made solar cells out of blackberry juice and measured the electrical power they produced. The students also examined the material that they used to make the solar cells with one of VINSE’s scanning electron microscopes. These instruments can magnify objects by as much as 500,000 times, enough to allow the students to see nanoscale features 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair and learn how these tiny features can affect how much sunlight a solar cell can capture.
Huge shoutout to our NanoGuides Laurel Bellocchio, Elizabeth Hays, Haley Dishman and Emily Rouse for their invaluable support today. In the days ahead, we will welcome 72 more students from Greenbrier High School, Liberty Creek High School and Gallatin High Schol. Our NanoGuides Courtney Ragle, Elizabeth Hays, Emily Byrum, Vikash Khokhar, Laurel Bellocchio, Alexandria Carter, Michael McNeill, Ryan Kowalski, Morgan Struthers, Kaitlyn Gallagher and Destiny Harrison are all ready to guide them through the wonders of nanoscale science.
If your school is interested in this hands-on, well-equipped and free(!) learning opportunity, don’t hesitate to contact vinse@vanderbilt.edu for more information!