Absolute Zero Campaign Update - Spring 2007
Absolute Zero Presents ... “the cold, hard facts about the coolest stuff in physics”
Thanks to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a unique Absolute Zero Webinar will take place on Thursday, March 22, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. EST. From his laboratory at NIST, Nobel 
Laureate Bill Phillips, a leading researcher in the physics of ultra-low temperature atomic gases, will explain how and why he and his colleagues made the coldest gases ever seen, provide engaging ideas on how to make the physics of the ultra-cold appealing to middle and high school students, and suggest low-temperature demonstrations.
Topics and questions will include: What is the difference between cold and hot? What's the coldest anything can be? Why do scientists care about making gases colder than anything has ever been before? What happens to matter near absolute zero? How do we get to less than a millionth of a degree above absolute zero? How is the achievement of such incredibly cold temperatures going to affect everyday life?
The Webinar is designed primarily for grades 5 – 12. We encourage everyone to help bring this special event to the attention of formal and informal educators. For more information log on to: http://institute.nsta.org/AbsoluteZero/zero.asp.
Production Update
Absolute Zero is in the final production stage. The producers have completed the interviews and are focused on post-production efforts. The goal is to have the documentaries ready for review by PBS within the next month. DCI will alert everyone as soon as the network makes a scheduling decision.
In addition to excellent historical reenactments the programs feature interviews with a number of low-temperature luminaries including Nobel Laureates Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle who shared the 2001 Nobel Prize for physics for their discovery of Bose-Einstein condensates. Daniel Kleppner, professor of physics at MIT; Lene Hau, professor of physics and of applied physics at Harvard University; Tom Shachtman, author of “Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold”; and several prominent historians also appear in the documentaries.
NATIONAL AWARENESS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (NAAC)
The NAAC held its second meeting in January in Washington, D.C. Meredith Burch, executive producer and David Dugan, producer/director, provided a brief preview of the Absolute Zero documentaries. The producers were pleased with the Committee’s response and have incorporated a number of their suggestions. Devillier Communications and Committee members then reviewed the national outreach campaign. Highlights included:
- New National Partners were announced including the Acoustical Society of America, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the Optical Society of America. Several other organizations expressed interest and have since joined the campaign (see below).
- National Partners are promoting Absolute Zero to their members and colleagues through their newsletters and on their Web sites, and at their conferences.
- Absolute Zero Experts are beginning to conduct a variety of educational outreach activities in communities across the country (see below).
- NIST, a National Participant, is speaking with the Montgomery County School System (Maryland) regarding an Absolute Zero premiere screening.
- The Absolute Zero Community Education Outreach Guide and Science Educator’s Guide have been well received.
- The Absolute Zero Webinar will feature Nobel Laureate Bill Phillips.
- The Absolute Zero Web site continues to be updated with informative and innovative content (see below).
In addition, Richard Hudson, director of science production at Twin Cities Public Television (TPT), described the Absolute Zero companion PBS Web site.
Absolutezerocampaign.org
The Absolute Zero Campaign Web site (www.absolutezerocampaign.org) is where students, teachers, parents and others can learn and become more involved in the field of low-temperature physics. Teachers can download classroom materials such as the Absolute Zero Community Education Outreach Guide and the Science Educator’s Guide. Students can learn about the “cool” things happening in the field and physicists, engineers and other scientists can become more involved in the education process. The site contains a variety of educational resources including biographies of historical figures, graphics and a timeline of low-temperature physics history.
The latest addition to the Web site are the Absolute Zero Sudoku based on the Fahrenheit, Celsius and Kelvin temperature scales and “cool” crossword puzzles. There are three levels of Sudoku puzzles for new and experienced puzzle players. These puzzles can be useful for teachers who wish to get their students more engaged in the field of low-temperature physics. Don’t forget there is also an Absolute Zero trivia quiz!! Educational games can be found in the “Get Involved” section of the Web site.
NEW PARTNERS
The campaign has five new National Partners. They include two associations that support educators and students in the Hispanic, Chicano and Native American communities; an association dedicated to helping physics teachers extend their reach to schools in communities nationwide; a prestigious online organization that partners with science centers worldwide and one of the nation's most prestigious educational organizations that focus on ultracold research. We look forward to working with them.
Center for UltraCold Atoms – CUA
CUA is a research community at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 
Harvard University that pursues scientific opportunities made possible by the advent of ultracold atoms and molecules. The Center has agreed to highlight Absolute Zero in its educational efforts, and two prominent members of the CUA team, Director Wolfgang Ketterle and Co-Director Daniel Kleppner, appear in the documentaries.
The Physics Instructional Resource Association -- PIRA
PIRA serves as a network for the exchange of information on management of teaching laboratories and lecture demonstration facilities, in order to advance physics education at all levels.
TryScience.org
TryScience.org is a gateway to experience the excitement of contemporary science 
and technology through on and offline interactivity with science and technology centers worldwide. Thanks to its relationship with more than 400 science centers worldwide, students and teachers of all levels can investigate, discover, and try science for themselves. TryScience is a partnership between IBM Corporation, the New York Hall of Science (NYHOS) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC).
National Society of Hispanic Physicists - NSHP
NSHP’s goal is to promote the professional well being and recognize the accomplishments of Hispanic physicists within the scientific community, to encourage Hispanic students to enter a career in physics, and to support efforts to increase opportunities for Hispanics in this special field. NSHP is distributing Absolute Zero materials at its annual meeting in Boston the week of February 21.
Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science - SACNAS
The mission of SACNAS is to encourage Chicano/Latino and Native American 
students to obtain the advanced degrees necessary for science research, leadership and teaching careers at all levels.
SACNAS hopes to feature Absolute Zero during its annual meeting
later this year.
National Partner activities
National Partners continue to feature Absolute Zero in their institutional efforts. For example:
“Ambassadors Dinner” -- The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory’s Ambassadors program is designed to provide professional development and networking opportunities for science educators in Florida’s “Big Bend” area. At the Ambassador’s Dinner in early February, Sylvie Fuzier, an assistant scholar scientist in the lab’s cryogenics group, treated more than 60 science teachers and resource staff to a “very cool” presentation. She provided an overview of low-temperature science and demonstrated how to build a thermometer. (She utilized an exercise in the Absolute Zero Community Education Outreach Guide.) Everyone received a copy of the Outreach Guide.
On February 24, the Lab will host its annual Open House, which attracts as many as 4,000 visitors. The Lab will highlight Absolute Zero during this hands-on science extravaganza.
MEETINGS
A three-hour symposium entitled “What’s Hot in Cold” took place February 17 at the AAAS 2007 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The symposium explored the historic perspective and future promise of low-temperature science. Presenters included:
- Tom Shachtman, author of “Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold”
- Russell Donnelly, low-temperature physicist, professor of physics and director of the Cryogenic Helium Turbulence Laboratory, University of Oregon, and Absolute Zero principal investigator and Advisory Committee chair
- Mark Kasevicch, Stanford University
- Heather Lewandowski, University of Colorado - Boulder
- Steven M. Girvin, Yale University
- Richard Packard, University of California, Berkeley
- Moses Chan, Pennsylvania State University
During the session, Dr. Donnelly provided a brief preview of the second program in the two-part special “The Race for Absolute Zero.” It was well received. NAAC member, Charles Clark, chief of the Electron and Optical Physics Division at NIST, helped arrange the AAAS presentation.
Please let us know about your upcoming conferences. We will be happy to
discuss how best to promote Absolute Zero with speakers, flyers, posters and more.
Contact Allan Childers ( achilders@devillier.com). |
Absolute Zero Experts
Experts Reaching Out to Local Communities
We are pleased to report that Absolute Zero Experts have begun to incorporate Absolute Zero materials in their educational outreach efforts.
For example:
Alina Gearba, assistant professor of physics at the University of Southern Mississippi 
(USM), recently made a presentation to 60 students at the Lafayette County High School in Oxford, Miss. Dr. Gearba and her team performed several experiments with liquid nitrogen, discussed the Bose-Einstein condensate and used the applets from the University of Colorado-Boulder Web site. Dr. Gearba is making arrangements to visit seven other area high schools. Dr. Gearba said the Absolute Zero campaign Web site was helpful when planning the student demonstrations.
In addition, the physics department conducted a liquid nitrogen demonstration, during the Mississippi Association of Physicists annual meeting, which took place on the campus of USM.
We will share stories about other Experts in future campaign updates.
New Absolute Zero Expert
Dennis Clougherty, professor of physics at the University of Vermont, is currently a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Clougherty, who is a member of APS and Sigma Pi Sigma, is experienced in giving demonstrations to students and to the public. Dr. Clougherty is a theoretical condensed matter physicist who has worked in superconductivity and the quantum sticking and evaporation of ultracold atoms and molecules. We welcome him to the campaign. Dr. Clougherty can be reached at: dpc@physics.utexas.edu.
