Outreach

Summer Textile Exploration Program (STEP)

This summer program is designed to introduce rising high school seniors to the field of textiles. For one week, groups of students are immersed in activities that they would have never had exposure to before NC State. Dr. Bradford and his group have participated in this program by hosting a week long session on Textile Engineering with a focus on textile composite materials. Students learn about high performance fiber production and properties (including carbon nanotubes), and get to participate in multiple hands-on activities making composites by mixing short fibers into resins, roll wrapping prepregs, vacuum assisted resin transfer molding and high performance sandwich composites using vacuum bagging. If you are a high school student interested in this program please see the following link for more information on STEP.

NanoDays

Nanodays is an annual state-wide event allowing middle and high-schoolers to experience the science and applications of nanotechnology. Dr. Bradford group has participated in this event for the last two years by giving lab tours, explaining carbon nanotube production and properties and demonstrating the production of carbon nanotube fabrics from drawn carbon nanotube sheets. Over 200 students have come through the lab!