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AAAR@UIUC members participated in Engineering Open House, Environmental Engineering Symposium and held our elections this past April and May.
Engineering Open House is an annual event hosted by the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Grainger College of Engineering. This tradition dates back over 100 years and represents one of the largest educational public science and technology fairs in the U.S. UIUC welcomed over 35,000 attendees from local schools, field trips and the community to campus to see 200+ student-run exhibits ranging from drone demonstrations to prosthetic hands and a wind tunnel demo. Our AAAR@UIUC chapter participated for the first time, hosting the exhibit "Care for the Air". We had four main elements to our exhibit, which are discussed below. Our exhibit won two awards: “2nd Place for Best Demonstration of a STEM Principle” and “Distinguished Environmental and Sustainability Efforts”.
“Smog in a jar” experiment: this experiment demonstrated smog formation. We dropped a lit match and piece of paper in a damp glass jar and covered it with aluminum foil and an ice pack. This caused the smoke to mix with the water and condense, forming smog. This allowed students to visualize air pollution and its formation.
QuantAQ sensor : We demonstrated low-cost and real-time air quality monitoring using the QuantAQ sensor. Attendees were able to see how factors like large crowds or the smog in a jar experiment affected the indoor particulate matter levels.
Box filter: we displayed a box filter and discussed how this low-cost air filtration technology was developed early in the pandemic to make air filtration more accessible. The box filter, or Corsi-Rosenthal box, consisted of furnace filters and a box fan taped together. We discussed how to make this filter, how it works and mentioned community resources on how to make/access these filters.
DIY “pollution catcher”: Students could make their own pollution catcher using a paper plate and petroleum jelly. They were encouraged to hang this in their home to see what kind of pollution they could "catch". We also had a pollution catcher that had been hanging in our lab for a week, where students could use a magnifying glass to identify particles
Several of our members presented at the 28th Environmental Engineering & Science Symposium, which is organized and hosted by graduate students in Civil & Environmental Engineering. To prepare for this symposium, AAAR@UIUC hosted a practice session, where students could practice their presentations and receive feedback. Manho Park and PS Ganesh Subramanian won awards for their presentations!
Congratulations to this year's chapter President Tessa Clarizio and Vice President Erin Emme for passing their preliminary and qualifying exams, respectively!
Finally, we held our election for committee positions for the 2023-2024 schoolyear. Please welcome our new committee:
President: Manho Park
Vice President: Erin Emme
Secretary: Tahsina Alam
Treasurer: Hope Hunter
Membership Director: Tessa Clarizio
This summer, we plan to hold monthly journal clubs, weekly writing sessions, and social events.
By Tessa Clarizio