2023 Blackfeet Summer Camp for Native American Students

After 1600 miles of traveling with ~200 pounds of equipment, our team arrived at the local public school. Working with the local school faculty, we had a demo session on the day before the summer camp in order to examine the equipment. Students spent over 12 hours optimizing/re-machining of the turbine kit so that the student at BPS would have a better hands-on experience. The next day, the science camp started with a short introduction on how to generate electricity from wind power through Faraday Law, along with a demonstration using coils and magnets. The students successfully built over 20 wind turbines with LEDs, multimeters, and buzzers powered by the wind power of each turbine. Students took ownership of their finished product and took the turbines home as well as their own voltmeter. This hands-on approach allowed the students to gain a practical understanding of renewable wind energy, which could potentially benefit the Blackfeet community as they are rich in wind power resources at Browning, MT.

2016 Blackfeet Summer Camp for Native American Students

The Broad Impact of the NSF Award activities that increase the Native American participation in education and research within the scientific community. Allen research group has partnered with the faculty and administration of the Blackfeet Community College (BCC) located in Browning, Montana, which is the heart of the Blackfeet Native American Reservation. We participated in two days of the summer camp held in BCC that include 32 middle school students and 30 high school students. We use the new wing of science at BCC – the physics and chemistry labs. They were especially useful as we include a short course on the soldering of integrated circuits, the assembly of solar kits and building wind turbines.​

2016 Sept                   News Release: Blackfeet NSF Outreach Program: