AFRL engineers teach students to soar Published July 13, 2010 By Diane Betzler Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Dr. Shawn Phillips is part of a team of rocket scientists who are dedicated to inspiring children to become scientists too. The deputy chief for the Space and Missile Propulsion Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards, is a man who loves his work and strives to stimulate an interest in young students in math, science and technology. To do that, Dr. Phillips has created a youth training program and opens the AFRL facility to youngsters about six to eight times a year. He and his colleagues host an educational tour for Antelope Valley school students from kindergarten through high school. "We open the tour with an introduction and then teach some science and engineering. We give demonstrations of balloon experiments to show how propulsion works and teach the kids how to design rockets," Dr. Phillips said. He said the first thing the children learn is that a balloon could be turned into the cheapest rocket anyone can make. He usually ends up holding a contest to see who can design the best rocket out of a balloon. "Once we get them psyched up about what rockets are, we take them on a two-part tour." Dr. Phillips said the first part of the tour takes the students through the science labs where they are shown the effects of some chemicals. He said the children are taught about the states of matter and experience demonstrations that show how cold liquid nitrogen is, and what affect the cold has on objects when they are put into the nitrogen. "For example, we show them when you put a piece of plastic that's flexible into the nitrogen, it comes out brittle, or when you put flowers into the cold nitrogen, they come out brittle," Dr. Phillips said. He points out to the children that the extreme cold temperature of nitrogen is the type of temperatures that many liquid rocket engine fuels are stored at, and the students begin to see how science affects things and learn that part of an engineer's job is to design around complications. He said they cater to the youngsters about a particular science, depending on the grade level, and the youngsters get hands-on experiences, which is the first step in sparking a child's interest. "We start the tour with a science lab and show the kids how propellants and materials work. Between what we teach them, the demonstrations they get to participate in, and the hands-on experiences, they come away certified as junior rocket scientists," Dr. Phillips said. "When there's a small group of really young kids, (second and third-graders), we often give them T-shirts that say 'Junior Rocket Scientist' on it as well as a certificate." After the lab demonstrations, the students are taken to the test stands and they get to see the size and complexity of the AFRL facilities. During the tour Dr. Phillips talks to the students about the different academic degree levels and what it takes to get to a certain level. "We also discuss the degrees and explore which type of degree a student will need for where he or she wants to go," Dr. Phillips said. For those who have a fear of math, Dr. Phillips shows the students a rocket equation and explains that the symbols are just substitutes for words and it's simply a matter of understanding what the symbols mean. The program is popular and the youngsters seem to love it, "Our last tour was a group of third-graders, and their teacher let us know later that her students said that was the best tour they ever had in their lives," Dr. Phillips said. It becomes obvious that Dr. Phillips enjoys working with young people, and the opportunity that offers him to motivate them. He says seeing a child get inspired makes him smile for days. One of the first things he talks to the students about is attitude and how that relates to success. He also talks to the youngsters about labels and how some students were labeled nerds because of their interest in technology. Dr. Phillips says he tells the youngsters that when some people think about rocket scientists, they think nerd, but he teaches that being a nerd is a good thing, "It shows that you're constantly asking questions to find out how things work," he assures them. "We have a mission here in the Antelope Valley to recruit the best," he tells young people. Teachers interested in booking a tour of the rocket site, a tour, Dr. Phillips says, that combines fun with education, may call Debbie Spotts at the AFRL program office. Ms. Spotts can be reached at (661) 275-5617. Tours should be booked one to two months in advance because of the amount of effort it takes to put a tour together for a large class. "The purpose of our tours is to give kids an opportunity to understand science, math and technology," Dr. Phillips said.