Outside of the Engineering Complex at California State University, Bakersfield, a group of students were working hard over something that looked a little like a snow globe. A glass orb sat on top and around a spinning water sprinkler, creating a rainlike effect within. What the device is might not be immediately apparent to anyone looking on, but the students and their faculty mentor were happy to explain.
“We want to come up with a system that we can generate emission-free energy from,” said Dr. Dayanand Saini, pointing out the quartz wafers attached to the globe and explaining how the water hitting them creates mechanical energy that can be converted into electrical power. “If we are successful in these projects, you just need a source of water. We aren’t burning anything.”
Dr. Saini and his four students were studying piezoelectricity, or electricity created from pressure and latent heat, as part of CSUB’s School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering’s inaugural Student Undergraduate Research Experience program, which is sponsored by Chevron. Their project was one of 12 taking place over three weeks earlier this month, with topics spanning different scientific disciplines.
With SURE, undergraduate students at CSUB have the opportunity to work with NSME faculty members on research projects, getting the kind of firsthand experience that can shape the rest of their academic lives. In groups of four or six, depending on the project, a total of 56 students participated in SURE this year.
Initially planned for last summer, SURE’s first year was postponed because of COVID-related restrictions on campus. This year, with safety precautions like masks, distancing, regular health-screening and smaller groups, the program was able to resume its mission of giving undergraduate students valuable hands-on research experience.
“After spending so much time and energy building up this new SURE program, not being able to run it last year was really disappointing,” said Dr. Andrea Medina, director of grants and outreach for NSME. “Getting our students back on campus and in a research-driven learning environment is even more meaningful now after the last year and a half of online classes.”
If Dr. Saini’s group was representative of the others, the students were all happy to be back on campus too. Sophomores Sarah Boyd and Maximus Hidalgo, junior Jesus Quinonez and senior Jese Martin agreed it was nice to see people again and to learn science not through a video or Zoom call but in a physical space.
“The hands-on experience has been wonderful,” Martin said.
“It’s a great opportunity to be back on campus,” Hidalgo agreed.
For this project, the students’ time in SURE started by learning about piezoelectricity, including seeing it in action and reading up on the work completed by a previous group Dr. Saini led. With just three weeks in the program, though, the students didn’t have to wait long to get to work on their own project.
“By the third day, we started getting into things,” Hidalgo said. “We learned about the wafers and that if you put pressure on one, it generates energy. Now, we’re trying to improve on last year’s seniors’ project. We still have more work to come.”
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