University of California, Irvine Material Science Summer Laboratory Program

The University of California, Irvine Material Science Summer Laboratory Program took place during the week of June 27, 2018!! When I was initially applying to the program, I was fairly new to material science but I wanted to explore various fields of STEM before deciding what I want to do with my career!

On the first day of the program, we registered at the lab rooms and learned more about UCI Safety regulations and rules. Following that, we explored various types of composites, with my favorite composite being concrete because it is so crazy to see that the concrete that I walk on a daily basis is made from the composite material. After exploring the concrete composite and learning the basic UCI safety rules, we headed to grab a quick lunch and then we were off to the tour of Cytec!

I loved touring Cytec because it was fascinating to see how these composite materials are used frequently in our daily lives. For example, I remember there was a part of the tour where we looked at various metals that are used to build planes. Seeing how a plane has so many different components was fascinating to me as I would have never imagined that a plane would consist of such minute pieces.

Another aspect of the summer program that I enjoyed was the composite making laboratory activity. After familiarizing ourselves with the University of California, Irvine's lab, we began to make composites right in the lab!

Additionally, on another day of the program (I don't remember exactly which day it was), we had an opportunity to learn about the Impact Test and the Tensile Test. After gathering around in the lab, we learned that the various materials react to the Impact & Tensile test differently. For example, I remember how copper survived the tensile test until it could no longer handle the tension and it eventually snapped!