Outreach

Outreach and Public Engagement

Public engagement has been a continuous and meaningful part of my scientific journey. From my graduate studies to my academic career, I have actively pursued opportunities to communicate science, inspire curiosity, and contribute to STEM education.

During my graduate studies at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), I participated in outreach initiatives designed to make fundamental physics concepts accessible to broader audiences. One particularly memorable project, “Lazy Liquids,” explored the slow dynamics of highly viscous materials. In this experiment, we prepared multiple bitumen samples contained in glass tubes with varying orifice diameters. The samples were monitored using webcams that recorded images from both top and bottom perspectives at regular intervals. The project provided a visually intuitive demonstration of slow relaxation processes and long-timescale material behavior, offering an engaging way for students and the public to connect with soft-matter physics.

My interest in communicating science extended beyond laboratory demonstrations. I was interviewed by Faculti Media (UK) in a feature titled “On States of Matter Developments,” where I discussed broader themes in condensed matter physics and the evolving understanding of complex material systems. These interactions reinforced the importance of clear scientific communication and the role of outreach in bridging research and society.

During my time as a scientist at the Shull-Wollan Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, while living in the Knoxville area, I became involved in community-based STEM education. I volunteered with Youth Outreach in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Yo-STEM), a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering underserved students through hands-on learning experiences. This work provided an opportunity to engage directly with young learners, fostering enthusiasm for science while emphasizing creativity, critical thinking, and exploration.

As part of my outreach efforts, I co-authored a public-facing article in The Conversation*, together with John Katsaras and Pat Collier, titled “Memories may be stored in the membranes of your neurons.”*