Outreach
Prof. Cote and the Cote Research Group participate in numerous Outreach engagments throught the year.
Some are highlighted below. For additional information about any of these,
or to schedule a lab tour or other event with us, please contact us!
Some are highlighted below. For additional information about any of these,
or to schedule a lab tour or other event with us, please contact us!
K-12 STEM Outreach
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center High School Apprenticeship Program
The Cote Reserach Lab hosts summer interns from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) Apprenticeship program to perform research along side our undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers. At the end of the summer, they present research posters based on their projects with WPI students, faculty, and staff.
Frontiers Summer Program for High School Juniors & Seniors
Frontiers is a 2-4 week summer program for high school students entering 11th and 12th grade. They participate in hands-on experiences in STEM fields and Humanities on the WPI campus.
Prof. Cote and Dr. Tsaknopoulos lead the Materials Science & Engineering "major" assisted throughout the program by other group members. Check out some of our activities!
Everything is made of materials! This program dives into four types of materials (polymers, ceramics, metals, and composites) using lots of hands-on activities (many involving food)! Oreo cookies are a composite! Taffy is a polymer! We look at how the atoms that make up a material affect their hardness, ductility, strength, and more. Each day you will uncover a new materials science topic with at least one edible activity to illustrate the concept.
Below are some activites performed during the course, as well as Cote Research Lab student, Matt Gleason, assisting with a liquid nitrogen activity demonstrating ductile to brittle transitions!
High School Summer Internships
High school students from all grades and regions join the Cote Research Lab each summer for an immersive hands-on experience working alongside group members. Interns actively participate in group meetings and projects, often with their own subproject, which enables them to gain responsibility of a research topic. The summer culminates with a poster session where they share their research findings.
retention of WOMEN in STEM
A major focus of Prof. Cote is increasing retention of women in STEM - from high school through college and career. She has given numerous presentations and webinars on various angles of this topic; some are given below.
There is often much disparity between intention, behavior, and reception of behavior - at all levels. Let's change that!
Photo: Dr. Cote with her little ones. Admittedly staged, this scenario is often all too real for so many working parents.
Topic: Creating a welcoming technical workspace
Why create a welcoming workplace? Besides increasing job satisfaction, several studies show it helps increase the bottom line! Dr. Danielle Cote, member of the ASM IDEA Committee, shares experiences and advice about creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for everyone in the STEM arena.
Anecdotes are coupled with simple explanations of issues that tend to affect productivity and inclusion in the work place. In particular, the webinar will focus on effective communication strategies, improving teamwork, and how to be an advocate for yourself and others. Tips and resources are shared to provide actionable changes to benefit the entire organization.
Topic: navigating the stem culture
Women in STEM in all stages - high school, college, career - often experience things differently than their male colleagues.
These presentations offer insight to validate these experiences, then provide tips to overcome many of the potential negative effects.
Retention Subcommittee
Prof. Cote serves as chair of the ASM International IDEA Committee's Rentention Subcommittee. A large effort of the group is to dissiminate information to help increase retention of women in STEM fields at all levels. A convenient website is being developed to serve as a valuable and simple resource for everyone - women, colleagues, educators, human resources, managers - to gain information and tools on the topic.
Women's Impact Network
Prof. Cote and Dr. Tsaknopolos serve as co-founders (with our colleages in our DDMS research group!) of the Women's Impact Network-funded Women Interdisciplinary Scholarship Engagement Network. We fund women at WPI to attend interdisciplinary conferences as well as provide networkiing events to enhance research collaborations across fields.
Both Prof. Cote and Dr. Tsaknopoulos are also recent recipients of the WIN Young Investigator Fellowship.
Undergraduate activities
First Year Lab Experience
Mechanical Engineering students at WPI have the unique opportunity to join a research lab in the department during their very first semester for a paid research position. The Cote Research Lab hosts students from this program, allowing them to shadow our researchers, participate in group meetings, join our journal club, perform basic research, and share an end-of-term presentation with the group.
Material Advantage
Prof. Cote serves as faculty advisor to the WPI chapter of Material Advantage - a program for Materials Science & Engineering college students hosted by four professional societies in materials science.
undergraduate research
The Cote Research Group welcomes several undergraduate researchers into our labs each academic year and summer. While some perform research for course credit, most are given paid positions as research assistants for our grant-funded programs. Our students come from various majors across campus, including chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and more!