When the lobby of the William Ekhardt Research Center was transformed into a playground of microscopes, lasers, beakers and whirling, twirling robots, Jon-Edward Stokes’ experiment was off to the side.
“I’m away from everything because, you know—fire,” Stokes said, standing next to a line of blasting Bunsen burners.
Stokes was one of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and UChicago Physics students demonstrating the wonders of science and engineering for South Side middle school students during UChicago PME’s yearly No Small Matter Molecular Engineering Fair.
Stokes’ experiment scorched various materials under Bunsen burners to show amazed students—through protective Plexiglas, of course—how the flames’ different colors tell scientists what a material is made of.
It wasn’t too long ago that Stokes, whose family moved to Hyde Park when he was in the eighth grade, could have been one of those students.
“UChicago has always been in the back of my neighborhood,” said Stokes, now a PhD student studying battery electrolytes in the Amanchukwu Lab. “It’s really important for me to be here helping out, just to show you really can do anything, regardless of how you look or where you came from.”
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