2.1

Organizations Involved

The Michigan Light Project formed in October 2014 as a collaboration between the student chapter of SPIE and OSA at the University of Michigan (the Optics Society at the University of Michigan) and the OSA Local Section (Ann Arbor OSA). Through advertising on the university calendar, additional collaborators were added. In late spring of 2015, the Student Astronomical Society at the University of Michigan joined the Michigan Light Project to plan light-based events for the remainder of 2015.

2.2

Fundraising

Fundraising for the IYL events was done primarily through the Optics Society at the University of Michigan (OSUM). In later 2014, OSUM applied for and was awarded funding from the SPIE International Year of Light Activity Grant and the OSA International Year of Light Education Outreach Grant. Additional funding was sought from corporate sponsors. Members of the Michigan Light Project reached out to local optics companies through Mi-Light, the Michigan Photonics Cluster⁴. By having a clear plan for the activities and the proposed benefits to the companies, the Michigan Light Project secured three corporate sponsorships.

2.3

Development of Kits and Activities

The outreach activities implemented by the Michigan Light Project were a combination of new ones designed for the International Year of Light as well as classic existing activities. A summary of these activities is shown below. Each activity is classified as a demonstration, consumable activity, and/or interactive activity. Demonstrations are activities run by a volunteer that demonstrate an idea or concept and do not involve audience input. Consumable activities are activities where a component of the activity is either consumed during the activity or given away to participants after the activity. Interactive activities are activities that depend on a high level of participation from the audience.

Table 1.

Summary of activities. SAS = Designed by Student Astronomical Society

The outdoor holography and pinky-powered photon activities are detailed in companion proceedings to this paper. Microscopy involved purchasing jewelers’ microscopes and encouraging participants to examine leaves, bugs, and other interesting samples. Interested participants could take the microscopes home. Solar-powered junk was a collection of solar panels and motors. Bright sunlight or a work light causes the devices to move.

Fig. 1.

Solar-powered junk during the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, 30 June 2015.

Laser communication involves sending music over laser light through analog modulation of the laser beam. UV fluorescence demonstrates the ability of materials to ‘change color’ under UV light. Some materials we used were tonic water and vitamin B. Solar telescope was a telescope with a sun filter. The projection pyramid is a 3D acrylic pyramid that allows the user use a phone or tablet and ‘project’ a 3D image. SAS provided two activities (color filters and spectroscopy), which examined how light could be composed of multiple colors. Polarized light art uses Polaroid and a birefringent material (packing tape or a plastic fork) to create art.

4.1

Summary of Events

Table 2.

Summary of IYL Events.

4.2

Ann Arbor Summer Festival

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival (A2SF) is a three-week music and arts festival in Ann Arbor, MI. It offers dozens of performances, activities, exhibitions, and screenings representative of the best in music, dance, comedy, film, circus and street arts, and family entertainment. One family-centric activity of A2SF is their KidZone, which is a tent at the main festival location where a different organization organizes an activity each night of the festival. The Michigan Light Project sponsored one such event on 30 June 2015 from 5 PM to 8 PM and advertised light related activities.

Our advertisement in the A2SF bulletin read: “Dive into the Michigan Light Project for an exploration of light! Zoom in on the microscopic universe around you, capture a 3-D hologram, and take home an LED energy harvester. Join us to celebrate the U.N. sponsored 2015 International Year of Light, in which more than 100 partners from more than 85 countries are doing activities that highlight the importance of light and optical technologies in our lives, for our futures, and for the development of society.”

We ran 10 different activities - 6 originals from the Michigan Light Project and 4 existing activities from the Student Astronomical Society. They were very well received by the festival-goers. We had 20 volunteers from the Optics Society at the University of Michigan, the Ann Arbor OSA, the Student Astronomical Society, and from the community at large.

Fig. 2.

Young girl examining a sample using a microscope during the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, 30 June 2015.

4.3

Baker College of Flint Outreach Events

The International Year of Light 2015 fit very well with all the activities taking place at Baker College as the first group of college students was going through the new program. The enthusiasm of faculty and students extended over several areas: the first time teaching and learning of these exciting subjects, using the new lab equipment, and spreading the message about this very interesting field to people outside the program.

A variety of outreach activities for K-12 students take place throughout the year at the College as well as the schools locations, supported by faculty and students from the photonics program. These include visits to the College, summer camps, participation in Career Days organized by the schools, and other special events.

Middle school and high school students interested in STEM fields visit the College periodically. In 2015 we had 280 eighth grade students from four different schools coming to the College for a STEM day experience. Each school attended on a separate day. Students, divided into groups of 20, were introduced to several engineering and technology areas, with 30-40 minutes dedicated to each area. The general format of the sessions included a short, interactive presentation by faculty to introduce the area to students, followed by hands-on activities in the lab. The hands-on activities were specifically requested by the students’ teachers and were much appreciated by the students.

For the photonics area, we started by presenting International Year of Light videos from SPIE and discussing the significance of the event. We encouraged students to learn more about IYL 2015 after the visit. Faculty explained what photonics is and discussed lasers, optical fibers and their wide spread applications in numerous fields today. For the hands-on activities we supplied each group with the following: red and green laser pointers, photometer to measure the optical power of the lasers, laser safety glasses, color filters, diffraction gratings (handheld spectrometers/diffraction glasses), prisms, and plastic optical fibers. Quick demos of how everything works were given, and then students were allowed to experiment by themselves. Faculty then asked the groups to share their findings and answered questions that came up.

Feedback from these sessions showed they were appropriate for eighth grade students who enjoyed them. For high school students who visited, the sessions had a similar format but a little bit more structured approach. Teachers requested to connect the topics presented to what students were learning in science and other courses. They also wanted more information to be provided about the career pathway a high school graduate can take to work in this field.

Summer camps were offered in 2015 to middle school and high school students separately. A record number of 45 middle school students attended the 5-day Robotics and Photonics summer camp, which included two half-days of photonics activities. We divided the large group in two and held a morning session and an afternoon session with the same content. The high school camp was titled “Exploring Engineering and Technology” and was attended by 25 students going into grades 9-12. A half-day session on photonics was held where students had the opportunity to perform a few experiments in the course of three hours. These included finding the speed of light in acrylic material, polarization, and diffraction grating experiments.

Faculty and students from Baker College also participated in two Career Day events for eighth grade students at two middle schools in the area. The entire eighth grade class at each school was exposed to photonics activities during these events. Similar to visits at the College, students were divided into groups and were involved in hands-on activities after an introduction to the field and to IYL 2015.

Fig. 3.

Career Day at North Branch Middle School, June 2, 2015.

The elementary school district in Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint, organized a Family STEM Night in June 2015 that featured the International Year of Light and photonics activities. This was the first time we had an outreach event for elementary school students. Students came together with parents, siblings, and other family members who often participated in activities with their young kids.

4.4

Back to the Bricks

Another IYL event that reached a large number of people of all ages and backgrounds was the “Back to the Bricks” festival held in downtown Flint in August 2015. When it started several years ago, this event was mostly a car cruise through the central brick-paved boulevard, from which it derived its name. Over the years due in part to the large participation from the community, the organizers decided to bring other activities to the festival, so it became more than watching cars cruise by. An example are the many high school robotics teams from the area showing their competition robots. This expansion provided a wonderful opportunity to showcase optics and photonics to the general public under the auspices of the International Year of Light. For the first time, optics and photonics outreach was included in “Back to the Bricks” in 2015. The organizers provided us space for this purpose in a centrally located area in downtown Flint.

Fig. 4.

(L) Married couple looking at samples with microscopes at Back to the Bricks on 15 August 2015. (R) Young girl creating a pinky-powered photon device. Note the LED eyes.

5.1

Fundraising

When fundraising for outreach events, it is best to have a clear plan for which activities you want to undertake. Be prepared to explain how those activities benefit the community and your sponsor. We approached several local optics-related companies and asked for sponsorship.

5.2

Logistics

When planning a series of diverse outreach activities, we recommend that time is spent building relationships and understanding your groups unique constraints (time, money, space, etc.). For our group, we understood that due to our limited time and budget, it was best to collaborate with other organizations. By working together, we were able to gather more volunteers and plan better events. After polling our volunteers, we discovered that most were interested in volunteering for the events, but not engaging in the planning. Therefore, we relied heavily on activities that our representative groups already knew how to do. Furthermore, rather than plan our own events entirely, we collaborated with existing city festivals. This was effective because it saved us the time in planning and advertising as well as drew in people we would not otherwise have been able to contact.