AFCEC laboratory provides STEM experience for future scientists

  • Published
  • By Amy Ausley
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Summer means long days at the beach for most Florida high school students, but several soon-to-be seniors recently got the chance to work alongside researchers at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center.

Four students as well as two teachers from Port St. Joe High School in Port St. Joe, Fla., took part in the Florida STEM Scholars Summer Challenge to get some hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering and math. The group was split into two teams and spent two weeks researching different projects in the lab at the Requirements and Acquisition Division of AFCEC's Readiness Directorate at Tyndall.

The first project, anaerobic waste-to-syngas conversion, involved the study, design and operation of an anaerobic digester that runs on waste food or "leftovers." Students Bailey Amison and Keith Wadleigh took on the task of building a system that filters out unwanted gases and produces a high-quality biogas that can be used as a renewable energy source.

The best part was being able to work side-by-side with scientists and researchers and test their ideas in a real-world lab setting said Amison.

"We were treated like equals. No one shot down our ideas," said Amison. "Even though we're going into the 12th grade and don't have PhDs, they just steered us in the right direction without being condescending."

The boys named their digester "MAD WALT" which stands for "mobile anaerobic digester with air-locking technology." They enjoyed feeding the digester various food sources to see what worked and what didn't. They even used a scanning electron microscope to see their digester working at a microscopic level.

"The scale we're working in is like nothing we've ever seen," said Amison. "The technology that the Air Force has is obviously a lot better than what a public school has. It's just amazing that we get to use things that we read about in books."

The other team of students, Cordale Green and Dallas Bird, worked on antimicrobial coatings for military uniforms. Experiments included treating cotton uniform fabric with various coating materials and testing how well each material enhanced the protective properties of the fabric.

Working on something that might someday be used to help Airmen in the field was a great experience, said Bird.

"I thought the coolest thing was when we tested for the oleophobia and hydrophobia," said Bird. "It was like the oil and the water would just form a ball on top of the fabric, whereas when we tested it on the untreated fabric it immediately sank in. It would be perfect for Air Force mechanics."

While the students had a lot of fun working in their areas of interest, Pam Watford, a math teacher at PSJ High School said seeing her students get to work in a real lab with actual scientists and researchers is a special experience.

"Coming from a rural area, this experience is priceless," said Watford. "We have a few small microscopes and a few chemicals the students can test. Working with the military on such a high technological level and using this high-tech equipment is so much more than what we are used to since we are in a small county with limited funds."

Supporting the STEM program by providing a hands-on internship in "real" science is important for AFCEC as a method of community outreach said Dr. Joe Wander, one of the division's senior scientists.

"The way you should teach science is discovery," said Wander. "If you're running something and you see it, it's anchored. There's a change of expression, the 'I got it' expression and that's what you're working toward. I saw it lots of times the past two weeks."

The Florida STEM Scholars Summer Challenge at AFCEC is supported through funds from the Florida Panhandle Area Education Consortium. For more information go to http://paec.org.