CaSTL recognizes its duty to communicate with the public at large and not just the scientific community. The Center has launched the following programs to accomplish that goal.
• CaSTL Fellowships
• Orange County Discovery Science Center
• OSA Student Chapter
• CaSTL Wikipedia pages
CaSTL Fellowships
In the CaSTL Fellowship program, we broaden the participation of students from underrepresented groups by offering research fellowships to undergraduate students at neighboring non-PhD granting institutions.
Orange County Discovery Science Center
The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana is an interactive museum that specializes in conveying the fascinating world of science to children, students and families in Southern California. CaSTL has partnered with the Discovery Science Center to run K-12 science outreach programs and to set up an exhibit within the museum on the wondrous world of molecules.
OSA Student Chapter
CaSTL graduate students have committed themselves to a wide variety of minority outreach programs through the student chapter of the Optical Society of America (OSA) at UCI. Indeed, the leadership of UCI’s OSA chapter is composed mainly of CaSTL graduate students. The chapter’s primary focus is on educating K-12 and undergraduate students about optics and optical spectroscopy, in addition to organizing academic seminars and career workshops.
CaSTL Wikipedia pages
No other medium is more effective in reaching the public at large as the world wide web. Wikipedia, in particular, has grown to a primary source of information on the net. The Wikipedia formula is particularly well suited for distributing scientific information, as it recruits the participation of experts in the fields for constant improvement of the web content. In addition, Wikipedia allows for quick for updates in synchrony with rapidly changing scientific findings and insights. While Wikipedia is vast, many special topics relevant to single molecular investigations remain uncovered. CaSTL members have recently started a program aimed at distributing accurate and accessible information, directly related to the Center’s research program, on Wikipedia.