Media Advisory: Robots, scientists and Pueblo school kids

Contact: Nancy Ambrosiano, nwa@lanl.gov, (505) 667-0471 (03-146)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 3, 2003 -- Continuing its all-star annual series of robot-building workshops, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory will bring the cold, hard, hand of science to bear in the classroom this week. Armed with a box of robot kits and a cumulative 100-plus years of professional experience, Los Alamos scientists will do a show-and-tell that should turn some heads at Jemez Valley Elementary School, Jemez Valley Middle School, San Diego Riverside School, Walatowa High and Jemez Valley High School.

The Los Alamos Space Science Outreach (LASSO) Program and the Laboratory's Center for Space Science and Exploration are sponsoring the outreach effort. Several teams of researchers led by Kurt Moore of Los Alamos' Space and Atmospheric Sciences group will be working with students this week from the fourth grade through high school to gain some hands-on experience in science.

After addressing math and science teachers about the project and other science opportunities Los Alamos can bring to their programs, they focus their attention on the students and bring them the concepts that drive and enable the science for which Los Alamos is famous. The researchers will explain to the students some of the basic science principles, show how robotics and related sciences are important to the nation's space exploration effort, go over safety checklists, as every experimentalist must do, and then get to the good stuff: they'll open their own robot kits and stand back as a population of little mechanical creatures takes shape.

The students get a brief soldering lesson followed by a couple of hours where the kids build a small robot from a kit purchased from Solarbotics (see http://www.solarbotics.com). The students will be able to take their robotic creations home with them when they're done, along with a certificate with their name, the type of robot they built, and NASA, Los Alamos and Department of Energy logos. "It's a great way to get students excited about science and it's a lot of fun for the researchers, as you can see from the repeat performers," said Laurie Hixson, one of the LASSO program coordinators from the Center for Space Science and Exploration.

The success of the Jemez Robot workshops has led to a pilot program integrating the Jemez workshops and potential future outreach including workshops for the accord pueblos. The LASSO team now has a 16-foot, covered trailer that contains folding tables, chairs, soldering stations, tools, and all the kits, packed and ready to travel. The LASSO program has relied heavily on about a dozen Los Alamos staff for support, although they have had outside volunteers, primarily through the American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES). Karen Gram coordinates with the schools and ensures the workshops comply with the state Benchmarks and Standards.

For more information on the LASSO program, go to the LASSO Web site at http://set.lanl.gov/programs/lasso/ online.

Schedule of events:

Monday, Nov. 3
Jemez Valley Elementary School Third Grade
11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Introduction and soldering/safety lesson
12:30 - 2:45 p.m. Hand out kits and build, build, build.
Lab staff: Virginia Herrera, Penny Salazar, Becky Cordova, Donald Salazar, Bill Sailor, Suzanne Star, Al Fernandez and Karen Gram
16 students will build a model called a "Hex Pummer."

Tuesday, Nov. 4
Jemez Valley Elementary School Fourth Grade
11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Introduction and soldering/safety lesson
12:30 - 2:45 p.m. Hand out kits and build, build, build.
Lab staff: Jeff Martinez, Gram, Fernandez and Sailor
32 students will build the "Solar Speeder."

Wednesday, Nov. 5
Jemez Valley Middle School Eighth Grade
9 - 9:30 a.m. Introduction and soldering/safety lesson
9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Hand out kits and build, build, build.
Lab staff: Gram, Fernandez, Star, Salazar and Martinez with Tom Lopez, Carlos Salazar, John Valencia and Gina Lujan
32 students will build the "Photo Popper."

Thursday, Nov. 6
Jemez Valley Elementary School Fifth Grade
11:45 a.m. - noon Introduction and soldering reminders
Noon - 2:45 p.m. Hand out kits and build, build, build
Lab staff: Gram, Fernandez, Lopez, Martinez and Will Spencer
25 students will build a "Solar Engine."

Friday, November 7, 2003
Walatowa High & Jemez Valley High
9 - 11:30 a.m. Introduction, soldering/safety lesson, hand out kits, and build, build, build.
Lab staff: Gram, Fernandez, Tony Salazar and Michael Caffrey
33 students will build the "Mini Sumo."

Week of November 17
San Diego Riverside School
11 - 11:30 a.m. Introduction and soldering/safety lesson.
11:30 a.m. -noon hand out kits and inventory parts.
12:45 - 2:45 p.m. Build, build, build.
10 students will build the "Hex Pummer" (third grade).
16 students will build the "Solar Speeder" (fourth and fifth grade).
12 students will build the "Photo Popper" (eighth grade).

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos develops and applies science and technology to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent; reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction, proliferation and terrorism; and solve national problems in defense, energy, environment and infrastructure.