The team is developing two outreach plans to educate students, collegiate and high school, about the fundamentals of Wind-Sheared Waves on Thin Films Under Microgravity. Each plan will tailor its depth around the level of technical education for each group. Therefore, the basic (high school) plan will focus more on the opportunities of microgravity in a more informal presentation. The advanced plan will be presented to students currently in their first, second and third year of college. This will delve farther into the engineering aspects of the project.

The basic presentation will begin with video of the experiment being performed in the KC-135 “The Weightless Wonder.” This should direct their attention to the exciting and dynamic aspects of Microgravity Opportunities. From this, the basic physics and engineering of the Wind-Sheared Waves experiment will be explained, as well as, the reasons requiring the use of microgravity. The presentation will conclude with a synopsis of other possible experiments and explain how interested students can participate in future programs.

The advanced experiment will be much more involved including video of the experiment being performed, as well as, the process of developing and constructing the experiment. The physics will be explained with more technical descriptions of the natural phenomena of wave perturbations. The conclusion will follow the same format, but will explain more precisely how and when students can become involved in the Microgravity experiments.

The basic presentation will be given to high school seniors taking advanced physics and chemistry classes. This will target those who already show strong interest in pursuing a technical education. In addition, these students should have fundamental knowledge of mathematics, physics, and other hard sciences enabling them to relate to the information. The presentations will be given to local area high schools in the Bryan/ College Station area including A&M Consolidated and Bryan High School. As well as, schools in the San Antonio from North East Independent School District (NEISD) and Northside Independent School District (NISD). The advanced presentation will be given at the student run professional societies at Texas A&M University. Such organizations include: the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).