Summer 2013: Day 10

Mike Coble talking about forensics.

Today was the last day! It was so sad! In the morning we welcomed back some of the middle school teachers from previous summers and focused on forensics. Mike Coble gave a presentation on his work in forensics, which included solving the mystery of the last two Romanov children. He also prepared an activity explaining how and why they use specific DNA markers over other DNA markers. After he was finished, we split into two groups.

Counting Chromosomes

One group went to a presentation by Bryan Goehring about ways to use forensics in the classroom. It was really neat how he created a story for the kids to solve. It is a six week project which allows the students to apply science in a real life situation.

Bryan Goehring talking about forensics

The other group went to tour a lab with Matt Staymatts. He works on detecting particulates on people or things that are connected to drugs or explosives. They tested a twenty dollar bill, and there were trace amounts of morphine on it. Most American money carry trace amounts of drugs, not because of all the drug deals, but because the money involved in drug deals eventually circulates back to banks and through counting machines. The counting machines are then contaminated and contaminate all the other bills passing through. They also showed us two 3D printers that they were in the process of printing some things they were using. They also have an optical bench set up in such a way that they can see heat gradients. It was a really good lab tour.

For lunch, we went to Dogfish Head Alehouse as a group. It was fun to have a big lunch together to celebrate the week. It was also really delicious and quite filling.

The closing ceremony

After lunch, we had the wrap-up and ceremony. We presented each teacher with a personalized poster, a certificate and printed pictures of the week. Mary talked about all the great contributions each teacher made to the program. It was a really nice end to the program.

The Reception

To close off the day, we had a reception for NIST staff. There was food, a slideshow, and lots of people to talk to about the week. It is so fun seeing the great relationships the teachers have built with the scientists. It was a sad end to an amazing experience, but a great way to reflect on all the amazing things we did.