It's Local Edition, I'm Brad Pomerance, thank you so much for joining us. We are joined by
Dr. Elaine Haberer, she is a professor of electrical engineering at
UC Riverside. She has brought with her a biology major, actually, her name is
Nohemi Lacombe from Temecula and we will explain how they are
working together, because electrical engineering and biology doesn't seem like a fit, but
it is.
But they're working together, at first glance, going to Mira Loma Middle
School and teaching the students about solar energy. And look, you brought props,
which I love. Why don't we start with you, Nohemi, and tell us about what we're seeing
before us? [Lacombe] OK, we have this set up,
we have the solar cell right here and we have this light source hitting the solar cells,
so we're trying to teach the students that solar cells absorb light energy and they
produce electricity.
And right here is a multi-meter,
showing us how much is being produced by the source. [Pomerance] Now, Elaine, I was under the same
impression that the sixth graders were,
and that was that it's the heat from the light source
that causes the solar cell to collect the energy. I'm wrong.
[Haberer] Actually it's the light.
[Pomerance] It's the light. [Haberer] It's the light.
[Pomerance] So to explain that to me,
where it's not the heat, because I thought you had to be in desert, in warm climates. Wrong.
[Haberer] Now you can be in warm climates, you can also be in very cold
climates. So you can use a solar cell outside in the snow
and then it'll work just as well as in the desert. [Pomerance] So, for example, you
brought this ice pack to explain to the students -
demonstrate -
[Lacombe] OK. So we would just hold it up to the solar cell and have them measure,
record what the reading was. [Pomerance] And there was no change, because you are basically
making the solar cell cold and it didn't matter. [Lacombe] Right.
[Pomerance] I'm so glad you explained that to them and me indeed because it really,
it doesn't seem intuitive,
but it really is.
Talk to me about what it's like for both of you, we'll start with you, professor, to
see the students eyes light up when they realize
"Oh, the light bulb's gone off in my head just like it's lighting the solar cell."
[Haberer] Yeah, it's, it's really, it's really great and
what we really try to do is probe their understanding and so we ask
questions and we make sure, because a lot of students will say "oh, yes, yes
I understand that," but when you ask them to explain it... [Pomerance] They think it's the heat. [Haberer] Exactly, exactly.
[Pomerance] What about for you? You're not far off from sixth grade, seventh grade, so
what is it like for you to be back? [Lacombe] It's nice.
I really see the students engaged
and they're really making connections in their own life. They think of "Oh, solar cells.
Oh, that's on satellites. So they start making those connections.
[Pomerance] I have to admit, and I have said this before to our viewers, the fact that I have two
girls -
women - before me makes me very happy. I am the father of two daughters and I
think it is so important that women pursue sciences in the same way that boys do – men do.
Let me ask you, as I cough for a second... {coughs} about
the connection between
biology and
solar energy, because I never would have thought there'd be connection. You
are creating one.
[Haberer] Yes, yes, my research looks at using biological materials
to build materials for solar cells.
So it's much like an abalone puts together a shell, we're using biological
molecules to put together solar cell material. [Pomerance] Did you ever think that
biology and solar energy, electrical engineering, could
combine? [Lacombe] No, but I was excited when heard this.
[Pomerance] So what next? What's the next chapter for your students, because we are early in the
semester. Are you going back and showing them the next level of solar technology?
[Haberer] So the experiments that we ran and the activities that we ran are
kind of the basis for them to learn about solar. And then they're going to
have a solar car project later on in the quarter. [Pomerance] I want to be you.
I want to go back to sixth and seventh grade, and teach the kids about solar and I want to
thank you for teaching me that cold, freezing-ness, doesn't matter. It
could be as snowy as ever but the solar light will still work. Thank you both
of you for joining us. My name is Brad Pomerance, thank you for joining us.
Back to HLN.