1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,320 Have you ever seen radiation? I have, and it's mesmerizing. 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:08,880 While testing a radiation cloud chamber kit from the American 3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:12,600 Nuclear Society, I watch tiny streaks zip across the mist, 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,040 each one a particle of radiation leaving a visible trail. 5 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,000 It's the kind of experiment that sticks with you, and for many 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,320 students, it's their first step into the world of nuclear 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,320 science. Today, we're diving into how we 8 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,320 can create those moments of awe. Why shouldn't nuclear education 9 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:32,960 start as early as a kindergarten? 10 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,960 And like then we even step back. I mean, not to get too pie in 11 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,280 the sky or eye in the sky, sort of a starry eyed, but like 12 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,040 nuclear is like the fabric of our reality. 13 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:46,040 Like all matter is made of an atom. 14 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,320 Like it really is one of the coolest aspects of science. 15 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,800 My guest today is Uchena Eziebe, senior manager for STEM programs 16 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,440 at the American Nuclear Society. We're going to explore how A&S 17 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,640 is shaping the future with cloud chamber kits, nuclear 18 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,760 ambassadors and a high school program where students are 19 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,880 already building detectors in their garages. 20 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,760 So these students worked with us, developed the program, they 21 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,960 came to our winter conference and actually were analysts on an 22 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:18,480 executive session. But first I wanted to know, how 23 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:20,320 did Uchana get into nuclear energy? 24 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,680 Did he always know he was going to be the STEM director for the 25 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,120 American Nuclear Society? Hi, Danielle, and thanks for 26 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:28,600 having me. It is a dream job. 27 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,320 I absolutely love it. I mean, nuclear is already 28 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,920 incredibly fascinating, and it's one of the coolest. 29 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,640 I feel like, you know, sectors of science already. 30 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,360 And the fact that I pretty much get to prioritize sharing the 31 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,360 world of nuclear with kids is pretty much a dream come true. 32 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:48,600 So yeah, really enjoy it. It was quite the journey. 33 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,720 So I didn't actually go to school for science education. 34 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,400 I majored in French and international relations. 35 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:59,160 I wanted to be a diplomat. Went through that whole process 36 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,720 of taking the test and starting to move through the steps of 37 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,000 becoming a diplomat. And as I learned a little bit 38 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,280 more about that role and kind of how you're focusing on maybe a 39 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,640 country or region for a certain part of your career, then 40 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:15,360 jumping here, then jumping there, I realized I kind of 41 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,240 wanted to sort of have a role, work a dive deep into something 42 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,400 and maybe not be. I loved languages and loved 43 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,560 international relations, but I wanted to be able to really 44 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,600 unpack something throughout my career that at the end of it, I 45 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,720 could say, yeah, I really mastered this thing. 46 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,440 And I really feel like I made an impact in all through kind of 47 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,400 high school and college. I was working in education. 48 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:42,240 You know, I started as a French tutor and then right after I 49 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,120 graduated college, as I was going through the steps to 50 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,920 become a diplomat, I was a French teacher and I really did 51 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:50,320 enjoy that. I still had a love for 52 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:54,320 languages, but I was still kind of floundering looking for what 53 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:56,920 the thing was. And I'd always loved science. 54 00:02:56,920 --> 00:03:02,480 I really was a STEM kid when I was younger, and science was by 55 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:07,160 by far by my primary love. But like many students, I 56 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,120 struggled with math once I hit high school. 57 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,080 Like I went from a little bit of a less rigorous school to a kind 58 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:16,600 of a very, very academically rigorous school in high school. 59 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:20,120 And my math suffered. And then that math anxiety hit 60 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,080 and I, I started not to XLS much in science, but I was doing 61 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:26,280 great in the humanities. So I said, OK, we're going to 62 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,560 switch over to the humanities. I'm going to do the French thing 63 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:30,920 and the national relations thing. 64 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:34,800 I'm going to be a diplomat. But in my free time watching 65 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,120 documentaries on science, doing Moocs, massive open online 66 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,480 courses on science topics just for fun. 67 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,000 So that was the background. I actually feel like there's 68 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,560 something there, right? Wanting to deal with various 69 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,720 cultures and various individuals and like trying to see yourself 70 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,720 in the other is a really good skill for an educator because 71 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:57,480 not every student's going to be the same. 72 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:02,000 You often have to be a diplomat between like knowledge and and 73 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:03,960 humans, right? You have to be that diplomat of 74 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,280 helping that transition. But yeah, I love how you 75 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,240 mentioned your background. So also Arabic. 76 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,480 I'd studied Arabic all through college, and I'd studied in 77 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,400 Morocco for a year. So it's crazy how we have very, 78 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,880 very similar trajectories. So yeah, I love it. 79 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:20,800 Loving science but not doing it professionally. 80 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,040 And in the middle of the school year, while I was a French 81 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:28,680 teacher, the science teacher up and quit, and the kids did not 82 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,120 have a science teacher, right? This was the middle school 83 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,960 science teacher for 7th and 8th grade, and the principal knew 84 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:37,560 that I had a huge love for science. 85 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,240 I had sub science when the science teacher wasn't there. 86 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,720 So, you know, she begged me to just fill in the gap for the 87 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,400 rest of that school year and I loved it. 88 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:48,800 And that was it. And I taught science there for 89 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,840 about 3 or 4 more years and I've been in STEM education ever 90 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:54,160 since. It definitely, you know, I felt 91 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,520 as soon as I made that transition, like this is the 92 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:00,720 thing that I want to be doing. So after teaching, I went on to 93 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,600 do STEM education at various nonprofits, worked for a little 94 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:09,680 bit at a STEM education grant making organization after the 95 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,240 nonprofits where I helped support a portfolio of STEM 96 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:17,160 programs. And while I was there, I learned 97 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:21,320 about ANS and you know, it was just basically a connection. 98 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:23,760 Someone said, hey, you might be interested in this role. 99 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,120 And I known a little bit about nuclear, quickly learned a lot 100 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,920 more about nuclear and realized this was a really, really cool 101 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:31,960 opportunity. So after a few years in the 102 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:36,800 grant making space, which was great, but again, very broad, 103 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,120 30,000 foot view supporting these national programs that are 104 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,600 really large, not really diving into a topic, I thought it'd be 105 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,720 exciting to kind of focus heavily on nuclear science and 106 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,560 exciting it has been. So that's the trajectory ANS has 107 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,240 been around, I believe since 1954. 108 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,840 It's been around for a very, very long time as a professional 109 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,160 society. So has seen a lot of that 110 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,400 trajectory of college students studying nuclear, maybe being a 111 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,440 student member at ANS, then moving into the professional 112 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,120 world, joining ANS as a regular member and has seen that 113 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,120 throughout the decades. And I think the launch of the of 114 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,240 the K12 resources, which again came, I'm not sure exactly what 115 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,440 year, but it was a few years before I came on board, you 116 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,640 know, came from just noticing that students were, you know, 117 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,080 the students that are coming into the society and the 118 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:27,960 students that are learning about nuclear. 119 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:30,560 A lot of these students are the students that are already 120 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,840 getting exposed to nuclear, really excited about nuclear in 121 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:36,080 high school. Really jazz that really had the 122 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:40,360 opportunity or an individual in their life to kind of show them 123 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,480 the science of the technology. But for the average student, 124 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,160 that's really not the case. The average student learns a 125 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:49,640 little bit about nuclear science and their physics or their 126 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,120 chemistry class. They may get a general 127 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,240 understanding of, you know, model of the atom and what 128 00:06:55,240 --> 00:07:00,440 nuclear energy is, but really unpacking the science in a way 129 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,840 that you're graduating high school. 130 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:07,360 Understanding nuclear energy, its role, understanding nuclear 131 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,680 science and its various applications outside of energy, 132 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,040 all of that is, is something that if you want it as a high 133 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,280 school, you very often have to go and get it yourself. 134 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,440 So I think INS noticed that if we really want to have like a 135 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,520 nuclear literate society, we're going to have to be reaching 136 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,000 students before they actually get to university. 137 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,720 And it's great to have those students who are already really 138 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,920 excited about nuclear before they even get to higher Ed and 139 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,080 are like already on the trajectory of entering the 140 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:37,160 nuclear industry. But there are a lot of other 141 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,920 students that could be that student if they just had that 142 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,240 first touch point a little bit earlier in their educational 143 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:48,040 journey. Chenna shares how his journey 144 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:51,440 from French teacher to STEM educator shaped his passion for 145 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:53,520 bringing science live in classrooms. 146 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:56,800 He describes how most students never meet a nuclear 147 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,680 professional before college and why that's a missed opportunity. 148 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,120 So have you ever met a nuclear professional or had hands on 149 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,560 experience with nuclear science before college? 150 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,960 And if not, we're going to get into today what ANS is building 151 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,720 for the K through 12 age range. When you're a kid, you know, you 152 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,800 go visit the fire station or doctor comes to your school or 153 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,280 something like that. You don't get that for nuclear. 154 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,800 I don't know. There are very few people who 155 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,240 can say, oh, yeah, I met a nuclear engineer when I was in 156 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,560 middle school or high school. But, but nuclear science touches 157 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,080 so many aspects of our lives that like all those roles 158 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,600 obviously have huge, huge impact on, on, on our lives. 159 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,760 Like nuclear touches everything. And obviously people talk about 160 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,520 energy generation a whole lot, but like biomedical 161 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,240 applications, aerospace applications, manufacturing 162 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,800 applications, like stuff like radiocarbon dating in the art 163 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,280 world, like all of these things are affected by nuclear science 164 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,640 or these are driven by nuclear science. 165 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:01,640 And like then we even step back. I mean, not to get too pie in 166 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:05,880 the sky or eye in the sky, sort of starry eyed, but like nuclear 167 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:07,680 is like the fabric of our reality. 168 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:09,680 Like all matter is made of an atom. 169 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:12,920 Like it really is one of the coolest aspects of science 170 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,800 because you're dealing with the literal building blocks of our 171 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,960 world. So it's a tragedy that you don't 172 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,440 get those touch points earlier on in the average student's 173 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:25,480 life. So that's one of the things that 174 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,360 we try to do is put in nuclear professionals in front of 175 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:30,200 students. That's one of the programs that 176 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,600 we run. But we have a suite of five 177 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:35,480 programs. The 1st is Navigating Nuclear, 178 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:39,040 which is our nuclear education curriculum. 179 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:41,760 It's spans grades three through 12. 180 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:47,040 It's NGSS aligned. NGSSNGSSS is the largest body of 181 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,000 science standards in the United States. 182 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:52,760 So it's standards aligned grades three through 12. 183 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:57,080 And it's the goal of that curriculum is to support both 184 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:02,000 students and educators in in learning about nuclear science. 185 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,400 Because, you know, we like to provide resources for students 186 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,800 directly, but educators are such force multipliers, like an 187 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,280 educator saying how many students a year and then if they 188 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:15,720 have a 23rd, 20 or 30 year long career, you can do the math. 189 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:17,560 They're going to reach a lot of individuals. 190 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:21,280 So that curriculum is kind of the foundation of our 191 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:23,880 programming. And a lot of the content for our 192 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,600 other programs comes from Navigating Nuclear. 193 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:30,080 And we developed Navigating Nuclear in partnership with 194 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,600 Discovery Education and the Department of Energy Office of 195 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,360 Nuclear Energy. And it's available for free, as 196 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,240 is all of our other programming at ans.org. 197 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:42,120 Of course, we have some in person programming that you 198 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,280 actually have to be somewhere to consume, but we we try to 199 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,400 provide as much programming as we can free of charge. 200 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,200 So Navigating Nuclear is kind of the bedrock. 201 00:10:51,560 --> 00:10:55,080 We also have our educator training program and our 202 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:59,280 educator training program consists of both in person and 203 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:03,720 virtual educator workshops that's provide educators with 204 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:07,800 professional development geared towards making them more capable 205 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,160 and more comfortable teaching nuclear science. 206 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:12,440 And those workshops are a lot of fun. 207 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:16,320 Often they're like a day long engagement where we have a 208 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:18,040 series of classes in the morning. 209 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:20,920 You know, we may do like radiation basics, nuclear 210 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:23,320 energy, one O 1 and what about the waste? 211 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,000 Those are usually the three classes we do with educators. 212 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,640 Give them lunch and then in the afternoon we tore a reactor of 213 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:34,200 some sort so they can look at at a reactor, see some shreen 214 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,240 called radiation. Very often we try to make it a 215 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,520 research reactor so it's small enough that the educators can 216 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,360 can really take it in one glance. 217 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:45,600 It's not some massive, massive building because some of these 218 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,160 reactors are huge, right? So they tore reactor and then 219 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,560 they work with our interactives, like our cloud chamber. 220 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:53,240 We'll pull out some Geiger counters, might do an isotope 221 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:55,120 activity or something of that nature. 222 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:57,560 And then we also have virtual webinars. 223 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:01,800 Once a month we do a webinar on some nuclear science topic 224 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:05,200 geared towards educators and those are really fun because 225 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:08,840 those are like a deep dive into one concept, waste, micro 226 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:13,160 reactors, you know, nuclear, biomedical applications of 227 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:16,200 nuclear, etcetera. And all those are like recorded 228 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:19,040 and kept in the library on ans.org. 229 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:21,720 So that's a really good way for if a teacher just wants to do a 230 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,800 really quick, I really don't understand nuclear waste and my 231 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,320 kids have been asking about it. They have an hour long 232 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,960 interview, not interview, but an hour long webinar with a nuclear 233 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:32,640 professional talking about that topic. 234 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,160 And they're also of course, like teacher guides and things like 235 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:37,880 that that fall underneath the educator training program. 236 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,760 Third program is nuclear ambassadors, and that's what we 237 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:43,760 were talking about earlier, getting those nuclear 238 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:45,520 professionals in front of students. 239 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,240 That's where we train. And it used to just be ANS 240 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:52,720 members, but now any nuclear professional can get trained as 241 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:55,600 an ambassador. But we train nuclear 242 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,280 professionals to go out into the classroom and conduct lessons, 243 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:02,960 activities, you know, talks, presentations, etcetera on 244 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,360 nuclear science. So, you know, we do the 245 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,000 training, we also do the deploying, connecting them with 246 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,960 the schools in the districts where they can conduct those 247 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:13,240 visits. And again, everything that I'm 248 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,600 talking about, I say school and classroom and teacher a lot, but 249 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,840 we really we want to be agnostic, right? 250 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,320 We have those in school settings, but we really also 251 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,760 prioritize reaching students and educators in out of school 252 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,920 settings as well. So summer school after school 253 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:36,720 and we also have worked with Scouts America many years ago to 254 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:41,920 develop the Boy Scouts nuclear merit badge and the Girl Scouts 255 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:46,480 getting to know nuclear patch. So we also facilitate programs 256 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,560 and workshops for those groups as well for those out of school 257 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:52,280 contexts. So nuclear ambassadors is very 258 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,000 popular. Very often they also are 259 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,560 bringing a cloud chamber, Geiger counter, some physical resource 260 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:01,960 to be able to showcase as well. So that's three try to keep 261 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:04,960 track of my mind here. The other one is pathways to 262 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,040 nuclear. That's our career exploration 263 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:09,320 program. So that's you know, we have 264 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,440 career profiles, we have text based career profiles, video 265 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:15,320 based career profiles. We have webinars where 266 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:17,880 individuals are talking about roles in nuclear. 267 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,600 We also have a really cool nuclear brochure, both physical 268 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:26,080 and virtual, which is portraying the different roles in nuclear 269 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,800 and some of the, you know, how long you might have to go to 270 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,640 school and the salaries and then some of the different buckets 271 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,280 where these roles lie. One thing I learned very early 272 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,320 in teaching students is when you start talking about jobs pretty 273 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,000 much off the bat, the 1st 2 questions they're going to ask, 274 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,160 it's how much money am I going to make and how long do I have 275 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:46,840 to be in school to get there? So we try to put that front and 276 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,080 center on the brochure. And obviously, as I'm sure you 277 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,760 know, we have a huge workforce gap in nuclear. 278 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:57,560 A lot of people have been talking about this 375,000 jobs 279 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:01,920 we need to add by 2050 in order to reach projected capacity. 280 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,640 And whatever the stat is, we need a lot of individuals to 281 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,800 enter the nuclear field. So we spend a lot of time 282 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,120 focusing in on those career resources. 283 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,200 And then the 5th program is the Accelerators program and that 284 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,760 which is a very recent program we just launched in January. 285 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:24,560 And the accelerators program is kind of our, you know, for those 286 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:28,200 students who've consumed a lot of our other resources and are 287 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,240 really jazzed up about nuclear and are looking for something a 288 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,560 bit more intensive. That's why we launched 289 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:35,720 Accelerators program. I mean, you know, some of these 290 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:39,480 kids are building scintillators and Geiger counters in their 291 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:43,880 garage, and they're like taking their detectors out and scanning 292 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,720 for uranium or like some of these kids are just miles above 293 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:50,960 what you'd expect for the average high schooler who's 294 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,600 interested in nuclear. So we wanted something that was 295 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,160 able to reach that kid who has really gone through a lot of the 296 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:01,320 other resources and has really made a clear indication that 297 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:05,400 they want to enter this field or at least learn more about this 298 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,160 field than a really strategic sort of way. 299 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,880 So accelerators program, we have two branches of that. 300 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:15,120 We have local branches which are launched at a school or 301 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,520 district. So cohort of schools. 302 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:23,560 And that's typically is about a 8:00 to 9:00 session engagement 303 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,760 where, you know, about a third of those will be lessons, about 304 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,400 a third of those will be visits and talks to nuclear 305 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:32,160 professionals, and about a third of those will be trips to a 306 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:35,240 nuclear site of note local to that student. 307 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,240 And we have those that are starting to get launched around 308 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:39,920 the country. We have one in Maryland, we have 309 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:41,960 one in California. We're working on launching one 310 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,040 in Florida, working on launching one in Tennessee and one in 311 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,040 Texas. And lots of indication of others 312 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,600 that will be coming down the pipeline the next school year. 313 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:53,520 And then we have the National Accelerators Branch. 314 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,840 And that's for any high schooler in the country who wants to 315 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,120 join, who's interested in nuclear. 316 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,880 That meets once a month. And it has alternating meeting 317 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,880 focuses. So, you know, one meeting will 318 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:10,240 be internal for the students to work on group projects or 319 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,720 strategize around what the larger accelerators group is 320 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:17,119 going to focus on in a coming meeting, or generally just chat 321 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:19,920 about the cool things they've done in nuclear science over the 322 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:22,280 last month. And the following meeting will 323 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:25,480 be a talk from a nuclear professional that'll come 324 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:29,240 specifically just to chat with those students about the 325 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,920 industry. One more program that actually 326 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:37,520 just launched really yesterday. But you know, we're in the 327 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,560 process of the soft launch right now and we're going to do a 328 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,840 larger launch at our annual meeting, which is coming up in 329 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,040 mid June. And this isn't K12 specific, but 330 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:49,200 a lot of it falls under our wheelhouse. 331 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,640 We just relaunched the ANS mentorship program. 332 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:55,240 We've had mentorship programs in the past. 333 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,240 They've been a little bit haphazard of stop and start. 334 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,800 So we spent a little while revamping it and we are 335 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,280 relaunching the mentorship program in the sort of a cohort 336 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:06,960 model. So we'll have 4 cohorts 337 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,280 throughout the year where individuals can indicate they 338 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,600 want a mentor or a mentee and then we're doing matches to 339 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,680 help, you know, make those connections. 340 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,960 And the reason I mention it here with the K12 stuff is the 341 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,400 obviously a lot of accelerators. That is a nice natural next step 342 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:24,120 right now. I'd love a mentor to kind of 343 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:28,240 help strategize my pathway into the nuclear industry. 344 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:31,600 But also one of the cool things about the program is we have a 345 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:36,440 specific sector of the program for near peer connections. 346 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,520 And I've been finding that students, especially high 347 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:42,320 school, has really, really been requesting that. 348 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,880 And a near peer mentor was just, you know, say I'm a high 349 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,400 schooler into nuclear. I would maybe be interested in 350 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,840 talking to someone sort of proximate to my age. 351 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:55,040 So maybe someone just left college and is now, you know, in 352 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,000 their first couple years working in the nuclear industry. 353 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,000 Or maybe if I'm a college student, I'm looking for a 354 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,880 mentor. I might want someone who's in 355 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,120 the first like 5 to 10 years of their role. 356 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:06,600 But finding someone who's a little bit closer in age, you 357 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:10,280 can kind of understand what that meant He is going through 358 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:13,880 because they recently were at that same stage of their career. 359 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:16,360 So we're excited for the near peer mentors. 360 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,200 You know, ANS has a young members group. 361 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:20,800 We have student sections at many, many colleges and 362 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,160 universities around the country and making connections if like 363 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,600 high school is really into nuclear and college and early 364 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:31,760 career individuals in the nuclear industry who understand 365 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:33,880 what it's like to be that high schooler. 366 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,160 We're really excited for that sort of aspect of the program. 367 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,080 But first, a message from our sponsors. 368 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,720 How do you become successful in the job market? 369 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:48,040 If you're listening to Season 2 of the podcast, you know that 370 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,080 networking is key. Why? 371 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,600 Because networking connects you to opportunities you didn't know 372 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,880 existed. Here's the truth in nuclear a 373 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:03,480 lot of the best jobs get filled before they even hit a job 374 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,840 board. That's why you need nuclear 375 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,200 talent Scout. Their recruiters know the 376 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,840 companies, the hiring managers, and what it takes to get your 377 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:15,120 resume noticed. When you register, you're 378 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:18,600 putting your name in front of decision makers who are already 379 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:23,200 looking for Someone Like You. Go to nucleartalentboost.com and 380 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:26,520 get started today. Now back to the show. 381 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,400 Luciena walks us through ANSS 5 cornerstone programs, from the 382 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,840 Navigating Nuclear Curriculum to the Nuclear Ambassador program 383 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,680 and why giving educators the right tools multiplies impact. 384 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:45,760 When you think back to your school days, what would have 385 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,400 made science more exciting and memorable for you? 386 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,760 Next, we'll explore how A&S is making that happen through 387 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,680 innovative classroom resources. Yeah. 388 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,000 So the cloud chamber and that was one also that that had 389 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,040 started a little bit before my time that we did do a pretty 390 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:04,760 significant revamp after I got to A&S. 391 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:09,240 But the cloud chamber, you know, when you're a lot of these 392 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,680 engagements that we're doing, you're going to go, you're going 393 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,880 to have them for 20 minutes, thirty minutes, maybe 45 394 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,440 minutes. You know, very often we're 395 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,080 coming back or we're doing a long term program. 396 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,600 We know we're doing visits and tours and all that good stuff. 397 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,760 But sometimes the nuclear professionals just going to be 398 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,520 in the class for 20 minutes on a career day or part of a science 399 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,560 class and they're out of there. So you want something that can 400 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:37,720 contain a lot of nuclear knowledge, but it's also just 401 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,240 visually exciting, right? Like if you put something in 402 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,520 front of someone that's really, really interesting while you're 403 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,400 giving them educational information, they're probably 404 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,880 going to be more likely to remember the content because 405 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,240 they remember how exciting the visual thing was. 406 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:55,360 So that's the idea behind the cloud chamber, right? 407 00:21:55,360 --> 00:21:59,400 It actually contains science that you can observe different 408 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:01,680 sorts of radioactive decay inside of them. 409 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,680 But it's also just really cool watching these trails shoot 410 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,920 through this chamber, especially when it's something that the 411 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,760 student themselves built. So that was the motivation, 412 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:14,440 right? Nucleus already really difficult 413 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:16,640 to visualize. You know, you can take people to 414 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,280 reactors all day, you can show them all these things. 415 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,440 Still really hard to get a visual understanding of the 416 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:25,880 science. So the cloud chamber was built 417 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,440 to to sort of do that and then also to leave something with 418 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,160 that group, right? Like we do a visit, which is 419 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,480 wonderful and we share that information, but if you leave a 420 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,760 cloud chamber with that class, you're having an impact that 421 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,680 extends beyond your visit. They can hook up. 422 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:44,960 I've been using the same cloud channel like my 50th use now, 423 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:47,360 right? You can use them over and over, 424 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:49,880 4 different classes. You can use them in different 425 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:51,920 ways. You know, now we put a source in 426 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,840 it. Let's not put a source in it and 427 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,840 see how much background is showing up as trails. 428 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,880 So that was the motivation, something physically engaging 429 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:02,680 and also something you can leave with that classroom to sort of 430 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,440 extend the learning. Yeah, yeah. 431 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:08,400 I, I, I love that. I, mine was the baking soda 432 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,840 vinegar volcano. Like, I felt like I must have 433 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:15,240 been in my first grade. And I remember to this day, like 434 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,000 the moment of pouring in the vinegar, it comes up and you're 435 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,240 just like, I did that thing, like I built this mountain and I 436 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,120 put in the baking, baking powder or baking soda, don't even 437 00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:26,680 remember. I'm in nuclear now, not 438 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,440 chemistry. So whatever you put in there, it 439 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:31,600 really, really stuck out. And that's the idea with the 440 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,320 cloud chambers is something like you said, that they remember. 441 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,000 So, yeah, we've, we've been distributing them. 442 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:41,720 We've distributed, I think we must be at like 1600 individual 443 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:45,520 cloud chambers now. We had support to give them out 444 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,600 for free. So all of those were given out 445 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:49,560 free of charge. Yeah, believe it or not. 446 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,320 Yeah, we had some support and AMS obviously made a huge 447 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:56,080 investment, but we just saw the value of one of these chambers 448 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,320 in a classroom. You can reuse this thing over 449 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:00,840 and over. You got 20 kids a year who are 450 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,800 observing it. The impact is worth it. 451 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:06,560 You know, that grant has ended, you know, so we're, we're 452 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:09,600 looking for how we can keep handing these out for free just 453 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,400 to anyone and everyone. And yeah, the, the impacts been 454 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,520 wonderful. Like, people really enjoy it, 455 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,400 observing it, whether you're 7 or 70. 456 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,440 I'm about to go to a town hall today. 457 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:24,080 I'm flying out to Texas for a town hall with a bunch of adults 458 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:27,800 who are just there to, they're not even interested in nuclear, 459 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:29,960 right? They're there to learn and I'm 460 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:31,800 going to take the cloud chamber and I know it's going to be a 461 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:36,680 hit. So we've learned how the cloud 462 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,840 chamber allows students to see radiation, sparking curiosity 463 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,840 and anchoring abstract concepts into real life visuals. 464 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,040 Uchena explains the science behind the trails and why it's 465 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:52,840 such an effective teaching tool. Imagine showing students the 466 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:56,440 invisible world of radiation in a way they could actually see. 467 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,120 What other experiments do you think could spark the same level 468 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:02,720 of awe? Up next, we'll see how these 469 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,560 moments of wonder open doors to deeper learning. 470 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,520 Absolutely. So it it's funny you say that 471 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,960 about the teacher being kind of, you know, that student somewhat 472 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:15,120 surpassing the teacher. We actually see that a lot. 473 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:18,600 She knows students will e-mail us saying, hey, just finished 474 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,960 the nuclear science unit and I need something else that wasn't 475 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:24,600 enough. You know, like they'll legit say 476 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,520 that they're like, you know, can I get an interview? 477 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,880 Can I get you'll have additional lessons or something like that. 478 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,920 And then, you know, often in those scenarios, we try to reach 479 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:35,640 the teacher and, and in a system. 480 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,360 And funnily enough, a lot of teachers are reaching out to us. 481 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:44,720 Like a lot of teachers realize that a nuclear is sometimes a 482 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,400 bit complex to teach, but you have to teach it. 483 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:52,080 It's in the standards and B kids have been asking more and more 484 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:55,720 and more for more nuclear science learning. 485 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,000 Even the two years I've been in ANS, I've seen a tangible 486 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,960 increase in student interest in nuclear science. 487 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,000 I mean, and the data reflects this or having statistics that 488 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:09,120 are showing rising support among all ages, but students are 489 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:11,760 becoming, I think it was 4 out of five students in a recent 490 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:13,800 poll. It was Wall Street Journal 491 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,520 report on this poll where it's like 4 out of five students were 492 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:21,080 supportive of nuclear energy. So we're seeing that changing 493 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:22,800 time. But yeah, a lot of educators are 494 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,760 reaching out to us saying I could use some support in 495 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:27,640 helping my students learn about nuclear. 496 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:29,880 And yeah, we, we can help in that regard. 497 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:34,080 We're going to fill that gap. But accelerators, essentially, I 498 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,640 came from the STEM grant making space, right? 499 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,720 So I was looking at a lot of different areas of STEM 500 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,920 education and a lot of these programs that we supported 501 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,680 through our grant making focused on robotics and AI, right? 502 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,080 There's a lot of stuff that the average high schooler can do if 503 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:54,480 they're interested in robotics, AI, coding, machine learning, 504 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:56,520 anything of that nature in high school. 505 00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:01,400 And that enrichment at that age is so important because by the 506 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,000 time you get to college, even though obviously you have time 507 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,960 to change your major and have an idea of what you want to study, 508 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,360 very often by the time you get to college, a lot of the work 509 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:13,000 you might have to do to start yourself on that STEM 510 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,640 trajectory, if you didn't get that hook in high school, you 511 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,720 really have somewhat of a uphill battle. 512 00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:21,720 So it came to ANS, But you know, I saw that. 513 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,880 And if you look at like the cool aspects of science, you've got 514 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,600 like AI, nuclear space, like, I mean, I love science. 515 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:28,960 All aspects of science are great. 516 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:33,200 But those three are kind of, if you're the average kid, average 517 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,640 high schooler, if you're into science, it's a high likelihood 518 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:40,120 one of those three things kind of has got your your attention. 519 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,280 There's so many cool things you can do for AI in high school. 520 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,800 There are a lot of cool things you can do for space in high 521 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:47,080 school. And even if it's not like a 522 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:52,000 program, there's games and courses and planetariums, all 523 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:53,400 these different things that you can do. 524 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,360 And there wasn't really that for nuclear for that student who 525 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:00,960 wants to extend the learning beyond what they're just doing 526 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,400 in their science class. So that was already like a 527 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:06,320 problem that existed. And we were thinking, right, 528 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,600 like, is it a video game? Is it a summer camp? 529 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,320 Is it a, you know what it and we're thinking about those other 530 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:13,760 things too, right? But we were thinking about what 531 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,880 it looks like. And then at that same time, a 532 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,840 group of high schoolers reached out to us and they said, hey, 533 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,080 you know, we've done their curriculum, we've attended your 534 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:26,000 webinars. We've done all these different 535 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,520 things. We want to start a nuclear 536 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:32,520 science club. Like we want to continue what 537 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:34,640 we've been doing. Your resources are great, but we 538 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:36,680 want to link together and do this in person. 539 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:38,880 And the timing was perfect, right? 540 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:40,800 Because we were thinking about something to lodge. 541 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:45,200 They wanted a new offering. And so we said, yeah, let's 542 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,640 start a nuclear science club. And how about you all be the 543 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,440 inaugural chairs and pilot the development of this new program? 544 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:57,680 So between like April to November of last year, we worked 545 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,600 with those students. And I was expecting, I'll build 546 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,840 this program and I'll ask the students every couple months for 547 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,000 their opinions and they'll say, oh, that looks good. 548 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:07,480 Oh, that's boring. Oh, that's great. 549 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:09,920 And I'll go off and work on it and come back every couple 550 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:11,200 months. That's what I was expecting 551 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,200 because I know students especially, you know, both of 552 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,160 these students, one was a senior, the other two were 553 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,080 sophomores. But like, I know how little time 554 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,040 the average high schooler has these days. 555 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,040 And if that was not the case, these students worked tooth and 556 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,040 nail. They wanted to come attend our 557 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:30,720 conferences to even learn more about AMS. 558 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:35,280 They really crushed the development of this program and 559 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,800 we didn't want to develop something saying like here, this 560 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,600 is what you need as the average high school moves into nuclear. 561 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,960 We wanted to hear from them and give something that actually was 562 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,400 aligned with their interests. So these students worked with 563 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,240 us, developed the program. They came to our winter 564 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:54,480 conference and actually were analysts on an executive session 565 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,560 where they talked about nuclear education that showcased their 566 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,960 program in front of the society, all on the same stage as the 567 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:05,320 presidents of ANS, who was also part of that panel. 568 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,200 So they really, you know what I mean? 569 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:12,560 ANS clearly has the will to support programming like this 570 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,160 and students like that. From the president to the CEO to 571 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:17,440 all of the colleagues, to the members. 572 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:20,400 We get so much support around education from our members. 573 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,960 It really is something that both ANS as an organization and the 574 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:29,520 American Nuclear society at large see as a value which I am 575 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,880 so appreciative of because it will make my job really hard if 576 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,360 they did it. So these students went and 577 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:36,960 developed the program and they met with us and nuclear 578 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,600 professionals and they really, really crushed it. 579 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:42,360 So, you know, we're super proud of them. 580 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,480 Actually. They just were also at our 581 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,480 student conference in Albuquerque, and I wasn't able 582 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,640 to attend, but they were sending me back pictures of them going 583 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,600 through the desert with their mini detectors and finding 584 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,360 uranium ore. And yeah, these students are 585 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,480 rock stars. So that's how we developed the 586 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:00,840 accelerators. The three students who developed 587 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,800 it are the chairs. And I think we're hoping to be 588 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,320 able to have a conversation with those three chairs as well 589 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,560 eventually. I think that's working on seeing 590 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,280 if we can make that happen. But these three chairs, they 591 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:15,760 developed the program we launched in January. 592 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,280 And like I said, we've been alternating between these 593 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,320 internal meetings where they're really building their program 594 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:23,840 and working with the other accelerators. 595 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,360 We have about 25 accelerators now to date, so just launched in 596 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,360 January, but it's starting to grow. 597 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:31,880 So their internal meetings where they're really working with 598 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:35,480 their fellow accelerators and, you know, scoping out projects. 599 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:39,160 Like we just got a really cool a foot detector that we sent to 600 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,280 them to work on one project. Another group is thinking of 601 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,480 building one of these desktop fusers. 602 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,680 They're doing really cool stuff. And then the alternate, meaning 603 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:50,360 we get an ANS member who can come and talk with them. 604 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,520 You know, we just had the senior, I believe it was a 605 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,640 senior computational physicist at Terra Power who was able to 606 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:58,040 come and meet with them. Oh, yeah. 607 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,680 When I say like members want to chat with kids and support 608 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:02,800 education and the support is ridiculous. 609 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,840 So he came and was able to chat with them and then we've got 610 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,120 some cool other speakers lined up and we're just going to 611 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,160 continue building. So, you know, if you're a high 612 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,840 schooler and you're listening to this, you can sign up for 613 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:15,400 accelerators. We got a seat for you. 614 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:22,040 So this is what happens when your students outpace the 615 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,480 curriculum. You have to make a new 616 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:26,720 curriculum. That's why the accelerator 617 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:30,400 program was created, designed for high schoolers who have 618 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,800 exhausted standard resources and want to go even deeper. 619 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,880 These students are presenting at conferences, building detectors, 620 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:42,280 and shaping their own learning. So if you had access to a 621 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,720 program where you could lead your own research in high 622 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:46,800 school, what would you have created? 623 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:50,800 Let's hear how A&S is giving students the tools to innovate 624 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:54,720 far beyond the classroom. Yeah, you know, it's, I think 625 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,480 time will tell to see how that sort of changes the nature of 626 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,040 the workforce. But I think we're already seeing 627 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,800 some really interesting early indications of that shift, 628 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,040 right. For instance, AM s s largest 629 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:11,600 growing group, I might get the stats wrong here. 630 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,680 Colleagues, please forgive me if I if I give it wrong, but I know 631 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:16,720 for sure our largest group are young individuals. 632 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:21,840 I believe it's 35 and under. That's our largest expanding 633 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:25,760 demographic within the American nuclear society, and it's by a 634 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,600 significant margin. We're seeing, as you'd said 635 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,320 earlier in the episode, these changing perceptions around 636 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,200 nuclear both among adults and among young people. 637 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:39,960 So I think we're already seeing a bit of that shifting of the 638 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,040 tides. I think what's important is we 639 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,720 continue to meet the moment. Like we have a lot of resources 640 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,480 that I feel like a really, really strong and very deployed 641 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:50,640 right. Like we have a lot of stuff 642 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,360 going out to a lot of corners. Some of those things that, you 643 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:58,360 know, those intensive resources, you know, accelerators programs, 644 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:03,000 but also mentorship, more specific career resources for 645 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,560 steering those students who are interested into the industry. 646 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:11,440 You know, things are going to be important because you have the 647 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:14,480 sharing of the basic information, making people aware 648 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:18,080 of nuclear just who weren't aware at first, which we're 649 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:21,719 really good at now. A lot of people are aware of 650 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,440 nuclear and now it's a good problem to have, but we need to 651 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:30,000 make sure we can help people understand and become aware of 652 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,719 nuclear in the 1st place who worked super interested or aware 653 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,239 of it initially. But also we have really cool 654 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:39,480 programming for that student who is super into nuclear is ready 655 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,000 to supercharge their their trajectory. 656 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,800 So I think time will tell. But I mean, we're already seeing 657 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,320 like a lot of these accelerators have indicated, not even 658 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,960 indicated, but have a applied to nuclear engineering programs. 659 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:54,440 They probably would have without the program. 660 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:56,000 They probably would have without our impact. 661 00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:00,080 But to be able to see for sure, like you are applying, like you 662 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,560 need a recommendation letter, you want to go to a nuclear 663 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:05,440 engineering program, you're applying to all of them that 664 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,680 that's really encouraging to see. 665 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,520 It seems like Gen. Z has a different view of 666 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,760 nuclear energy, and that's shifting the paradigm. 667 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:20,200 Driven by climate concerns and hands on programs. 668 00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:24,160 Uchita explains how early exposures can turn curiosities 669 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,720 into careers and advocacy. So what do you think happens 670 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:32,640 when new generations grow up seeing nuclear not as fear, but 671 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,680 as possibility? And they're going to engage with 672 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,920 nuclear differently as well. Instead of long form lectures, 673 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:42,440 they're going to be short form Tik Toks and video games. 674 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,240 And that's OK. Yeah, absolutely. 675 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:50,280 So I'd say a really good first place to start is just 676 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:56,520 ans.org/nuclear, because that's going to be sort of the landing 677 00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:01,880 page for all of our K12 resources, Programming, videos, 678 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:05,600 webinars, events, everything is going to be housed on that page. 679 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,640 I think a really good first place to visit isans.org/nuclear 680 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:11,920 as far as requesting a cloud chamber. 681 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,440 You know, we used to have that link up on our website and you 682 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:17,320 know, now we're kind of sending them out a bit more 683 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,800 strategically because supply has fallen. 684 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:23,400 We do anticipate being able to re launch that program and have 685 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,440 them just have a link up there where you can literally just, I 686 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,240 mean beforehand you just click, I want to cloud chamber, put in 687 00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:31,360 your address. A week or two later, cloud 688 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:32,560 chamber show up at your doorstep. 689 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:34,320 Stay tuned. We're still going to work on 690 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,520 that. But if you are an educator or a 691 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,800 outreach individual, someone who's conducting outreach in 692 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,280 nuclear in your community and you'd like a cloud chamber, I 693 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,400 would say just shoot me an e-mail directly and I can read 694 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:50,640 out my e-mail here. And then on a case by case 695 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,440 basis, we can try to get those individuals at cloud chamber. 696 00:36:53,640 --> 00:37:01,960 So my e-mail is uezibethatsbasinbravo@ans.org. 697 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:07,120 That's UEZIBE at ans.org. And just say, you know, if you'd 698 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:09,200 like a cloud chamber, I'm an educator. 699 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,160 I am a nuclear professional who does outreach. 700 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,800 Just explain to us your usage of the cloud chamber, like why 701 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:17,600 you'd want one. And then if we can get you a 702 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:19,800 free cloud chamber, we certainly will do so. 703 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:22,600 I love it, man. If I could wave a magic wand, 704 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:25,480 I'd say two things. I'd say, you know, firstly, 705 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:30,320 seeing it more prevalent in the classroom, It's part of 706 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,200 standards, like the average physics and chemistry class does 707 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:35,280 have to touch nuclear at some point. 708 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,400 But like we mentioned, it's sometimes given, you know, maybe 709 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,760 less stage time than it and then it might deserve. 710 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:45,800 And then educators very often find difficulty in teaching 711 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:47,760 nuclear. You know, physics and chemistry 712 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,800 have the lowest percentages of educators with a degree in their 713 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:53,560 field who are teaching in the classroom. 714 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:58,720 Is it always a one to one better degree in the field equals high 715 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:01,040 quality teaching? Not always, but there's probably 716 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:04,600 somewhat of a correlation around comfort with the more difficult 717 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,560 topics if you have a degree in that field. 718 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:12,160 So having most educators, I think it's about 40% of 719 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:14,240 chemistry and physics teachers have a degree in their field. 720 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,600 So having most teachers not having a degree in chemistry or 721 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:22,280 physics, teaching nuclear, we understand when we have that 722 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:26,600 educator reach out and say, I really am having some struggles 723 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:28,880 in in teaching this topic to my students, could I get some 724 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,880 support? So just seeing nuclear having a 725 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:36,920 more significant role in classroom curricula, just seeing 726 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:41,480 it show up and being taught in a more expansive way, I think that 727 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,280 would be wonderful. And I think we're seeing that 728 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:46,680 starting to happen. I think I'm seeing that trend, 729 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:51,600 but more more broadly, I think seeing nuclear. 730 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,520 And we were talking about this earlier with AI in space, right? 731 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,400 Nuclear, and I know I say this a lot, but it's a really, really 732 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:02,440 cool aspect of science. And I, I feel like even just 733 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:07,560 seeing it out in the public sphere more in a way that's like 734 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,320 not, you know, we don't have to say like, Hey, nuclear is safe, 735 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:12,840 don't worry. Like we've proven that, right? 736 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:16,040 Like we've shown the way we have the systems to do it 737 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:20,120 effectively. It is one of the most tangible 738 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,280 ways that we can have like a significant impact on the 739 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:25,320 environment. Like the science is there, 740 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:28,400 nuclear is cool, nuclear makes logical sense. 741 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,160 So like, where's the cool nuclear video games? 742 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,880 Where's nuclear and cool shows and movies? 743 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:36,760 Where's the cool? Like all of those things which 744 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:38,800 you see for other aspects of science. 745 00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:41,320 I would love to see that for nuclear. 746 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:45,880 And I think that's slowly coming to fruition and we just got to 747 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:50,000 keep keep chugging away because once you understand the science, 748 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,560 it sells itself. Like once you understand nuclear 749 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,880 in its entirety, it's rare that you're not going to be 750 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,240 supportive of this technology. So thank you. 751 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:02,040 I definitely do not do it alone. We have a large team. 752 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,640 I'm the only one on the interview, but we've got, you 753 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,760 know, my director of program, Dan Goldberg, who's also working 754 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:09,680 on the Nuclear One O 1 certification. 755 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,880 I'll do a quick plug there if you like the K12 education 756 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,440 stuff. We got cool education stuff for 757 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,360 adults as well. We got certification courses and 758 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,120 an actual certification that was just released and is very 759 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:23,480 popular. But we've got a large team of 760 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,800 folks who are supporting this. So it is by far not just me, but 761 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:28,440 and I, I thank you for having us. 762 00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:30,360 I appreciate it. Thanks for what you're doing for 763 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:32,320 the industry. A podcast is great and 764 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:34,800 showcasing these individuals in the industry. 765 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:36,640 I feel like it's important to get the word out. 766 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:41,080 So thanks, this was fun. From classrooms to town halls, 767 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:45,120 the American Nuclear Society is lighting a spark for a nuclear 768 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:49,200 literate generation. If you are an educator, you can 769 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:53,720 access free lessonplansandwebinarrecordings@ans.org/nuclear. 770 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:56,800 High school students can join the National Accelerators 771 00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:00,240 Program, and nuclear professionals can volunteer as 772 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:03,920 ambassadors to bring science to life in schools across the 773 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:06,520 country. A big thank you to Agena, eBay, 774 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:09,400 and the entire team for their work in building these bridges 775 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:13,080 to the future. And to our listeners, thank you 776 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,640 so much for listening to this episode of Naked Nuclear. 777 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:23,520 Until next time, stay curious. This podcast was edited by 778 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:24,600 Resonate Recordings.