Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences

EEES Participates in Annual Girl Scout Day

Posted on by Briana Peele
Isaac Johnston (left) and Kathryn Peruski (center) discuss radioactivity in everyday life and demonstrate the influence of shielding and distance on the ability to detect of radiation

Clemson University’s PEER/WISE program hosted their 19th Annual Girl Scout Day this year on April 7th. The theme was “Engineers Make a World of Difference!” and involved about 75 girl scouts (in 4th to 8th grade) rotating through 4 interactive engineering sessions from civil engineering, chemical engineering, environmental engineering, and electrical engineering.  Our department led a session focused on nuclear environmental engineering. This session included discussion of what radiation and radioactivity are, different sources and uses of radiation, and some of the leading women scientists and engineers in the field. The hands-on stations included:

  • Cloud chambers and visualization of particle tracks
  • Nuclear stability, using ping pong balls to represent protons and neutrons
  • Discussion and detection of radioactivity in everyday objects

Dr. Martinez was the faculty representative, and student volunteers were Dawn Montgomery, Megan Hoover, Kathryn Peruski, Isaac Johnston, Connor Parker, Merritt Earle, and Brennan Ferguson.

Merritt Earle (center) and Megan Hoover (right) utilize cloud chambers to visualize particle tracks and discuss different types of particles emitted during radioactive decay
Connor Parker (left) uses ping pong balls to represent protons and neutrons and discusses the ability to hold them as analogous to the strong nuclear force; this group of scouts was the first to recognize the benefit of teamwork!
Dawn Montgomery (right) also leads a nuclear stability station
Posted in Outreach, People