RAIN Goes International with Demo in Turkey

Our colleague, Ozgur Cakmak, recently made a special virtual visit to his alma mater in Turkey. Ozgur has been continuing his post-doctoral studies at Penn State and recently introduced the Electron Microscope to high school students (grades 9-11) from his home town. Students convened in their school seminar hall, where Ozgur began with a brief introduction to nanotechnology and the working mechanisms of the Electron Microscope, while connecting using a remote access software. Using this specialized equipment, students were able to examine gold nanoparticles, butterfly wings, ants, cicada wings, and the lotus leaf.

Post-viewing, students had the opportunity to pose questions and hear first-hand responses from Ozgur. In all, the response to this internet-based class, was very positive with students sharing how excited they were to participate in the interactive activity.

We couldn’t help but wonder how Ozgur was able to arrange this session with the 7 hour time difference between Turkey and PA, USA. He said that “the time difference does become a key factor and that he began the session around 7 am, 2 pm in Turkey.” All in a day’s work, as our RAIN tech-force make special efforts to bring the excitement and visual impact to students, in their classrooms.