We have also reached out to members of Congress. Dr. Tan and his Ph.D. student, Dawn Hedgepeth, attended the 14th Annual Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) Exhibition and Reception on Capitol Hill on the evening of June 25, 2008. CNSF is an alliance of over 100 institutions and professional societies that supports the goal of increasing …
MSU Grandparents University is a program for grandparents and grandchildren (ages 8-12) to come together for a 3-day educational experience while spending time together on the MSU campus. Since 2007, SML has been involved in this annual event. Dr. Tan and his students offer a session Smart Materials and Artificial Muscles to curious children and their grandparents.
Chippewa Career Day is an annual event at the Chippewa Middle School in Okemos, MI, where representatives from different professions speak to the eighth graders about career choices. Dr. Tan represented the College of Engineering in 2006 and 2007. On March 6, 2007, he was joined by his graduate student Stephan Shatara and MSU/ECE alumnus …
SML partners closely with the Recruitment and K-12 Outreach Office of the College of Engineering in its various pre-college programs. As a designated Engineering Tour Stop, SML receives about 80 visitors every month including prospective students and their parents. Every summer Dr. Tan and his students give accessible lectures and hold hands-on, interactive demos on …
Dr. Tan has been leading an NSF-funded RET Site program at MSU since 2009, including the RET Site on Bio-Inspired Technology and Systems (BITS) from 2009-2012, and the renewal Site on Robotics Engineering for Better Life and Sustainable Future from 2013-2016 . The Site provides research training and other professional development opportunities for about 10 middle and high school …
Together with 14 other exhibits, SML’s “Swimming with Robotic Fish” exhibit was selected by NSF to represent the Foundation at the inaugural US Science and Engineering Expo in Washington DC, on October 23-24, 2010. The Expo event, primarily held on the National Mall, had about 1500 exhibits in total and attracted over half of a million visitors. …
From April 2016 to January 2017, SML presented a robotic fish exhibit “Robofish Rendezvous” at the MSU Museum. In addition to wall displays, the exhibit included a live experience of interacting with a robotic fish – a visitor can set a target point for the robot using a touch screen, and the robot will use …