Outreach

April 13, 2015

Students from the Kohler Group helped students from two Bozeman elementary schools and other visitors understand the science of UV radiation and the group’s NSF-funded research on DNA excited states. Visitors made bracelets from photochromic beads that turn bright colors in sunlight, learned about fluorescence and phosphorescence, and viewed sunscreen applied to their skin under black light!

November 5, 2013

Gerrit Egnew (undergraduate), Cassia Wagner (undergraduate), and Ashley Beckstead (graduate student) (L to R) shared interactive science activities about UV light with a 4th grade class at the Twin Bridges Elementary School in Twin Bridges, MT.

November 19, 2010

Prof. Bern Kohler weathers a barrage of paper wad “photons” in a demonstration of stimulated emission at Montana State University’s Museum of the Rockies during a public event recognizing the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser and the laser’s impact on the economy of southwestern Montana. The strobe-like images are caused by a 60Hz blacklight positioned on the stage.

November 13, 2010

Over 100 area children participated in hands-on activities during a Science Saturday event organized by Profs.
Joseph Shaw, Rob Maher, Rob Walker, and Bern Kohler. Participants learned how lasers w
ork and how we put lasers to work. Lasers can do much more than blast space aliens. They check out items at the supermarket, play music from compact discs, zap our e-mails around the world over fiber optic cables, build houses and computer chips, and even perform surgery and fight disease. Lasers are everywhere! Kids helped laser beams navigate a maze, they measured the length of a light wave, and learned what laser speckle is. The program ended with a slice of laser cake to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser.

All outreach projects were made possible with funding from the National Science Foundation.