Image of students preparing podcast courtesy Department of Chemistry
Researchers from the Vignolini and Scherman groups hosted a workshop in July for students from schools in England and Japan.
Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the two groups worked directly on research projects with the students during the three-day workshops.
The Vignolini group project “A Rainbow in a Nanostructure: understanding how cellulose nanocrystals make colours in insect wings and other places,” was led by postdoc Dr Bruno Frka Petesič. The students were introduced to the concept of structural colour – which arises from the interference of light with nanostructures rather than pigments – and then asked to measure the properties of a number of colourful cellulose-based sample via diffraction and microscopy.
Below: Micrograph of a strand of organised cellulose nanocrystals.
In the Scherman group, two PhD students, Rebecca Forster and Alex Groombridge led the workshop “Go for Gold! - Investigating Gold nanoparticles”. After learning about the key concepts behind the importance of gold nanoparticles, such as their plasmonic properties and applications in sensors, the students were set to work synthesising their own particles, whose optical properties were then studied, along with their ionic strength-dependent aggregation.
“We enjoyed working with the students, who were eager to learn about our work,” explained Olimpia Onelli, a PhD Candidate in the Vignolini group. “We hope we were able to give them a sense of what it’s like to work on cutting edge research projects, surrounded by the history of Cambridge and all that it stands for,” she said. “I think some of them were surprised to learn that we also have a lot of fun!”
The UK-Japan Young Scientists programme was established by the Clifton Scientific Trust in 2001 for post-16 school students in Japan and the UK. Its purpose is to enliven their experience of science and its application, while serving as a cultural bridge between the two countries. The students live and work together for a week in mixed teams.
The students are required to give a public presentation about their project at the end of the week, and this year they made a podcast with the help of the Cambridge “Naked Scientist” team. As one of the students sums up at the end of the podcast: “Scientific discoveries are made everyday, but what we discovered was how enjoyable science can be when working with experts.
The Departments of Engineering and Earth Sciences also hosted student workshops as part of the programme.
Dr Bruno Frka-Petesič explains the phenomenon of light diffraction to the students (on his right: the facilitator, Amy Czepliewicz, who was in charge of translating difficult passages for the Japanese students; on his left, Jun Sagawa from Kyoto University of Education attached Secondary High School). Courtesy Junna Yoshida.
Wearing polarisation glasses (like the ones they give you at the cinema) to observe the chiral response of the cellulose films. Front row from left: Junna Yoshida (Kyoto Prefectural Rakuhoku Secondary High School)and Olimpia Onelli; Second row from left: Jun Sagawa (Kyoto University of Education attached Secondary High School), Andrew Fox (Birmingham University School), Bianca Sassow (Wycombe Abbey School), Amy Czepliewicz (facilitator). Courtesy Department of Chemistry.