2017 Illinois Wesleyan University Annual Report

Chapter Officers:

Spring 2017 Officers:

Position Officer Email SPIE Number

President Kathryn Yarnot kyarnot@iwu.edu 3757574

Vice President Shiv Patel spatel1@iwu.edu 3566048

Secretary Mark Siegel msiegel@iwu.edu 3713134

Treasurer Emily Gail Brown ebrown3@iwu.edu 3765652

Fall 2017 Officers:

Position Officer Email SPIE Number

President Mark Siegel msiegel@iwu.edu 3713134

Vice President Joe Ziegel jziegel@iwu.edu 4010251

Secretary Sarah Pombar spombar@iwu.edu 4089391

Treasurer Nick Milcik nmilcik@iwu.edu 4013574

In order to synchronize our executive board turnover with the Illinois Wesleyan University academic calendar, elections were held in the spring for the 2016-2017

school year. The current officers will remain on the executive board for the remainder of the 2017-2018 school year, with minimal changes. Additionally, our faculty advisor--since our chapter’s founding in November of 2013--has been SPIE Fellow Dr. Gabriel Spalding.

Chapter Members:

Current Members (paid SPIE national members): Emily Brown Zhenghao Ding Ziyan Liu Nicholas Milcik Shivum Patel Sarah Pombar Robin Williams Kathryn Yarnot Joseph Ziegel Paul Johnson Jack Davine Mark Siegel J. Alex Maloney In addition to the group of paying SPIE members, we have a large number of members who we are encouraging to join SPIE, but they are are still realizing the value of membership. Current Members (not paid SPIE national members): Binh Phan Hamzah Khan Jake Malzenski Jacob Henry Aaron Manuel Suzanne Ruihan Zhang

Yash Thacker

Chapter Activities Note:

Throughout the Spring of 2017, we dedicated nearly all our time to planning and building our solar powered remote control car, as we wanted to finish it before the seniors of our organization graduate. During the fall, we finished this project and explored a few other interesting fields in relation to optics. Chapter Activities:

February 2nd, 2017: We acquired a one tenth scale remote control car for use in our project. The car kit includes the car frame, motor, remote control, and just about everything except a battery and battery charger.

March 1st, 2017: After a few meetings with just the student members of SPIE, we decided to, on this day, invite the physics faculty to offer advice on the solar project and point us in the right direction for taking proper care with the solar equipment. With their help, we have

formulated a plan for the circuitry of the car that would allow us to attach something to it, (like a camera or small gizmo run by an arduino), in the future if we want to. To start with, however, we decided to simply make the solar car work first, then after the summer we can discuss possible additions to the car.

March 15, 2017: This meeting finalized our plans to acquire and assemble the necessary parts for our solar car. If we work efficiently throughout our meetings for the rest of the semester, we should have just enough time to finish before finals start up. The picture below shows our plan for cutting a foam board to mount the solar panels on.

March 29th, 2017 through the end of the semester: From here on, our meetings became less consistent as our members grew busy with end of the semester projects and schoolwork. We met whenever we could as often as we could to try and finish work on the solar car, which included teaching newer members how to solder, linking up the solar cells we acquired, integrating them into the circuitry of the remote controlled car itself, and cutting out and attaching a plexiglass top to protect the solar cells. We were able to finish the car just before the end of the semester, but unfortunately, when we tested it, it did not function properly. Thus, we have had to pack up the project for the end of the year. In the fall of 2017, fixing the car’s problems will be our top priority. Below are some pictures documenting our progress.

September 13th, 2017: First meeting. Introductions with new members and played with light demos and laser chess boards (Khet).

September 27th, 2017: Tutorial on how to sign up to SPIE international & discussed benefits of doing so. September 30th, 2017: SPIE and IWU’s Society of Physics Students registered student organization co-hosted the annual physics department picnic on the main quad of IWU. New students got to meet the faculty of the department and the upperclassmen physics majors as well. As has become tradition, we brought out our Fresnel lens to explore refraction and the focusing of light by having the new members light our grill with it. Everyone also enjoyed a few rousing games of cricket and bocce ball on the side.

October 11th, 2017: Discussed homecoming plans & future plans for solar panel, post-Solar car. No conclusive plans were laid out, however ideas such as correlating light sources to sound, powering a lighter, and other fun projects were brainstormed on.

October 14th, 2017: Discussions on activities and demos for our table at the annual homecoming festivities were had. We also discussed our possible outreach opportunities with girl-scouts, ideas for which included our solar car, our new sumo robots, super bubbles, lasers and prisms. October 25th, 2017: Explored the world of optical illusions. These included simple pictures that appear to be moving, dragons that follow your gaze, and the pseudoscope, which inverts the perspective of your right and left eyes, and by doing so, inverting depth.

Chapter Outreach:

November 18, 2016: Our chapter of SPIE attended the girl scout outreach event at the children’s museum to teach girl scouts how trebuchets and projectiles work. April 18, 2017: Our chapter of SPIE attended the Benjamin Elementary School Science Fair showcasing the science behind light diffraction and some fun newtonian physics lessons courtesy of a trebuchet.

April 20, 2017: Our chapter of SPIE attended “Sciencepalooza Night” at Prairieland Elementary School to continue teaching kids with the demos we had showcased at Benjamin Elementary, again having some fun with light diffraction glasses and our miniature trebuchet. Future Plans:

● Possible arduino expansion to solar RC car. ● Final attempts to resolve circuit issues with Solar car.

● Using our solar car’s solar panel to explore other curious effects with solar technology (e.g. hooking it up to a speaker).

● Explore the possibility of making a laser harp. ● Explore the Schlieren effect to see minute changes in the index of refraction of air.

Budget: Credits: Leftover from previous years: $280.07 Due to some confusing circumstances transitioning between years and chapter officers, our student chapter has yet to apply for the student activity grant for 2017. So, as of the time for this report, we only had the money left over from previous years (though we did not know it until recently). Debits: Food for 1/18 meeting: $39.36 Food for 2/01 meeting: $39.36 Food for 2/15 meeting: $34.45 Food for 3/01 meeting: $36.00 Food for 3/22 meeting: $40.69 Food for 4/5 meeting: $33.90 Food for 9/13 meeting: $30.32 Ending Remaining Balance: $25.99 We used all of the money spent exactly as described above. We do plan to acquire the 2017 activity grant before the end of the year if we can, but as of the time of this report, we have yet to do so.

Additional Information: In addition to our meetings and events, our chapter actively maintains a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/568701726537840/) that receives high traffic from our members. On the page, we post about upcoming meetings, share exciting science news, and encourage members to suggest potential optics related meeting topics. Alumni, current students, and professors make up the members of the group.

2018 ACTIVITY GRANT SUGGESTED SPENDING (WHEN APPLYING IN 2017): Snacks for bi-weekly meetings (approximately three large pizzas for each meeting and two two-liters of soda per meeting with around 15 meetings a year): $350 Supplies for future projects:

● General meeting supplies (fliers, posters, small prizes for meeting activities): $60

● "Field trip" transportation costs (gas money for visiting a nearby optics production facility for learning or elementary school for outreach): $50

● Outreach supplies (fliers, handouts for Registered Student Organization fair at the

beginning of the year): $20

● Schlieren effect mirrors, stands, and setup supplies: $200

● Laser-Activated handheld harp: $150

● Solar Panel Tests: Speakers, spark lighter, others: $100