Out of the lab, into the world
Working with the public
Artifice Chicago
is a technology centre on the South Side of Chicago. Kids aged between 9 and 14 drop in after school to learn programming and robotics, try science experiments, tend the community garden, and get homework advice. As an instructor I had a lot of fun planning an engaging but educational curriculum, and had an amazing time with these smart and hilarious kids. I miss them!
The Cosmic Shambles Network,
founded by comedian Robin Ince and Trent Burton of Trunkman Productions, produces podcasts, videos and live events for people with curious minds. They've been kind enough to let me join the shambles by performing in their Christmas event Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People, and joining in their documentary All Genius, All Buffoon: 100 Years of Richard Feynman.
Pint of Science
is an annual festival that brings science to the pub! What an opportunity to perform SuperNEMO - the Musical to an enthusiastic audience at a great venue - Farr's School of Dancing in Dalston.
Code First: Girls
provides free programming classes young women and non-binary people across the UK, with the aim of helping to address the gender imbalance in technology. I taught students at Canary Wharf and at UCL, leading a course about web programming, covering HTML, JavaScript, CSS and some web toolkits. By using SuperNEMO's website, which I coded, as an example, I even managed to interest the students in the physics I do! The women were really engaged and it was a great opportunity to teach something a little different and develop my own materials.