JK: After we constructed the demo software, I showcased it at Argonne’s Science Careers in Search of Girls occasion, which invitations feminine highschool college students to discover STEM careers alongside the lab’s girls scientists and engineers. As of 2021, girls nonetheless occupied solely a few third of STEM jobs. So, Argonne and different nationwide laboratories provide many packages that goal to recruit extra women and girls into STEM and to assist them really feel welcome in these careers.
How did college students react to your miniature plant?
JK: I defined that the plant makes use of a pump to maneuver water from the decrease reservoir into the higher reservoir. Then, we allow them to flip a valve to maneuver the water down, which lights up an LED gentle. It is actually rewarding to see their faces. They do not at all times know what electrical energy means, however they’re excited due to the sunshine.
Quentin: However a few of them did not care concerning the glowing gentle. They wished to the touch the tubing to really feel the water taking place. It is type of humorous, the various reactions you may get.
So, why are these STEM schooling tasks essential? Is hydropower going through any particular challenges?
JK: There’s a notion challenge. Individuals see hydropower as boring or simply an enormous dam. However with these actions, we may also help individuals see the worth of hydropower and ultimately get extra individuals to hitch this business.
Quentin: Hydropower is an outdated know-how. When individuals take into consideration renewables, no person thinks about hydropower regardless that it offers practically 30% of the USA’ renewable vitality.
The hydropower workforce is getting older, too, proper?
Quentin: Not too long ago, JK and I have been each at a hydropower convention, and we realized that there have been no younger individuals. We have been there for a DEIA panel and pondering, “How can we get extra younger individuals within the business?” The general public working in hydropower are older as a result of we do not have numerous new workers coming in. And that makes it onerous for an adolescent to see themselves within the business. However the good factor with this pumped storage hydropower mannequin is that it is a type of commercial—a option to present children one thing they will perceive.
Other than constructing this mannequin, you additionally just lately hosted highschool summer season interns at your lab, proper?
JK: We co-mentored highschool interns right here for eight weeks. We taught them management totally different vitality sources to satisfy vitality demand. As a easy instance of what Quentin and I do on a regular basis, we taught them use mathematical equations to schedule when the grid will get vitality from which sources. Many of those options included pumped storage hydropower, a worthwhile useful resource for grid stability.
What was their response? Have been they excited concerning the exercise?
JK: I believe they have been actually happy with what they completed. They received to current their work to an viewers at Argonne that included their mother and father.
