As part of an effort to increase the proportion of underrepresented students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has developed a new experiential learning program designed to give students an introduction to the physical sciences and some initial real-world lab experience.
“There is an urgent national need to equip students from minority backgrounds with opportunities to develop as STEM professionals,” said Argonne Institutional Partnerships Director Meridith Bruozas.
In this new course, Argonne has created a program to introduce students to the physical sciences using molecular gastronomy for context-based learning. The four-week program exposed 14 undergraduate freshmen students to key fundamentals of materials science and synthetic chemistry through brief classroom lectures and hands-on experiments.
Bruozas’ institutional partnerships team, including Lindsay Buettner, administered the course. Researchers from the lab’s physical sciences and engineering (PSE) organization, led by Deputy Associate Laboratory Director for PSE Millie Firestone, helped design the scientific program.
The students worked in a real laboratory setting, applying what they learned in lectures to create a tasting menu using foams, emulsions and gels. The program, funded by DOE’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), taught students a basic science curriculum that built their STEM skills and gave them the opportunity to work together.
“I’ve gained so many more lab skills as a result of this program,” said Meda Rudokas, a student at the College of DuPage. “Getting experience working in a real lab is great preparation for a career in STEM; these experiments are made simple for students but they’re still a good exposure to fundamental scientific principles.”
University of Michigan student Shuaib Ayantayo said that the focus on molecular gastronomy was particularly intriguing from his perspective as a pre-med student. “The program has given me the ability to apply some things I’ve learned in school using tools that I really wouldn’t be able to find pretty much anywhere else. Working with food gives me a better understanding of chemistry that I can take with me when I go back to school.”
In the course, students were introduced to the scientific method and chemistry, physics and materials science through lectures, demonstrations and laboratory exercises. The course consisted of four weeks of lessons each covering a different molecular gastronomy technique: spherification, gelification, “note-by-note” (a process using pure compounds), and foams and emulsions.
“By putting the key principles of physics and chemistry in a food-based environment, we’re creating the ideal context for teaching some important concepts and skills in a relatable, stimulating and safe way,” said Firestone. “We wanted the learning to be highly experiential.”
Through the course, students learned to encase liquids in semi-solid membranes, entangle polymer chains by adding water, construct food using pure compounds, and mix or stabilize a gas into a liquid or solid.
The program was funded by a grant from DOE’s Office of Science, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), under the Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) initiative. This WDTS RENEW pathway summer school is designed for undergraduate students from groups historically underrepresented and marginalized in science fields.
“A lot of the things that chemists do regularly as part of their everyday jobs are very similar to molecular gastronomy processes and techniques,” Firestone said. “We really wanted to fuel the students’ sense of possibilities of becoming a synthetic physical scientist.”
Firestone noted that students who continue to develop their synthesis skills would help strengthen America’s STEM pathways. “We are always on the lookout for people who want to be makers to complement our strength in characterization,” she said.
The course represents just one of many ways in which Argonne is trying to strengthen STEM pathways and interest for minority students. “We have many touchpoints with these students along their journey to becoming STEM professionals — a course like this one helps to meet students where they are early in their path and helps build their curiosity and skills,” Bruozas said.
