Our friends from PRISMS (Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science) came for a daylong visit to learn more about MXenes, Materials Science and Engineering (Drexel Materials Drexel Engineering) and Drexel University.
These young scholars met DNI director Yury Gogotsi who introduced them to the University and our lab. After a brief lesson on the history of MXenes along with research at the University level, Yury gave them two pieces of advice. First, “If you try and fail, do not be disappointed. Never give up. You try again and again, and after many layers, you can succeed”. And most importantly, “Find something you really love. Find something that will get you excited. If you find something you love, something you spend your free time doing, you will be two things – a successful person and a very happy person.”
Rob Lord, John Wang, Lingyi Bi, and Stefano Ippolito gave presentations on the synthesis of MXene as well as the applications of MXenes in electrochemistry, textiles, and MXelectronics. Undergraduate lab assistants Marley Downes and Prastuti Upadhyay moderated Q&As.
After lunch, these high school students were given tours of our lab by Marley, a lesson in Raman by Katya Shevchuk, and a tour of our MCC facilities by Chris Shuck. To wrap up the afternoon, our team performed demos of MXenes: a live introduction to the material itself by Mike Shekhirev, MXene calligraphy by Teng Zhang and Eliot Precetti, aerogels by Prastuti, and thin films by Jamal AlHourani.
We hope our visitors from PRISMS left feeling inspired and look forward to seeing them in the lab again!
