The Penn State MRSEC (NSF DMR-0820404) completed its fourth science museum kit as part of its longstanding partnership with The Franklin Institute. Hidden Power focuses on the ways various energy sources are converted to electricity, and vice versa. A hands-on, interactive approach conveys key concepts in the materials science and nanotechnology of solar panels, piezoelectricity, thermoelectricity, light emitting diodes, batteries, turbines, and efficiency. MRSEC faculty and graduate students helped develop demonstrations, train representatives from recipient museums, create supplemental fact sheets highlighting current research, and present the kit at our own local outreach events. MRSEC members recently started brainstorming for the fifth museum show project, to be distributed in Fall 2013.
