Recent Initiatives from the Science Education Program at PPPL

In the past year, the Science Education Program (SEP) has initiated or enhanced several new collaborations for K-16 students and teachers as well as the general public. Most of these programs are housed in the Plasma Science Education Laboratory, whose upgraded facilities opened in September 2005. The Plasma Camp program was reconfigured for middle school teachers while the ``Energy in the 21st Century'' enrichment program for high school students was expanded. The new middle school Science Bowl was also improved. A collaboration with a ``special needs'' school now includes teacher training and curriculum development centered on energy-related topics. Finally, new programs with local science museums will include remote video conferencing from the NSTX control room for Master Teachers, a tabletop plasma experiment, and new plasma displays for the general public. Along with education programs, student research in the laboratory concentrates on an ECR sputter source and transport measurements in a dusty plasma.