Development of a Research-Based Outreach Plan for the ZEUS Laser Facility

In alignment with recommendations from the National Academy of Science study on high intensity lasers [NAS, 2018], NSF has recently invested in three extreme light mid-scale research facilities, including the Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort Pulse Laser System (ZEUS) at the University of Michigan. Critical to the success of these facilities is the ability to integrate their research into their outreach efforts. They must develop outreach programs that raise awareness, effectively communicate to a variety of audiences, and promote meaningful understanding of the significant impacts of extreme light research to society. In this presentation we will describe plans for outreach at the ZEUS facility, providing examples of activities, milestones, and evaluation methods. We will also describe how this plan was developed and the resources utilized. For the second half of the presentation, we will discuss ways to integrate new members into the plasma-focused outreach community and effective methods for sharing best practices. Several examples will be presented, including a virtual toolkit, which would provide members with examples of successful programs, assessments and corresponding data, a directory of members and their areas of expertise, webinars, and other resources.