Hawbridge Charter School Returns With New Group to Tour TUNL, FEL and LENA

On November 13, 2014 a group of twenty students, instructors and parent chaperones from the Hawbridge Charter School in Saxapahaw, NC traveled to Duke University to tour the physics labs at Triangle Universities Nuclear Lab (TUNL), the Free Electron Laser (DFELL) and the Laboratory for Experimental Astrophysics (LENA). The student body on the tour was comprised of young women and men enrolled in the physics and math program at Hawbridge with interest in pursuing undergraduate careers in the field of physics. The tour lasted about two hours and the students were highly engaged and excitedly asked many questions.

The group was welcomed in the TUNL lobby but TUNL Director Prof. Calvin Howell:

Prof. Tom Clegg of UNC-Chapel Hill guided the group through the TUNL facility:

R&D Engineer Patrick Wallace showed them the DFELL:

And Prof. Art Champagne of UNC-Chapel Hill gave a tour of the LENA lab:

Following the tour the group met for a pizza lunch with members of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) in the TUNL lobby.

This was a second visit for Hawbridge as they toured earlier this year in January. That trip sparked a lot of interest from younger students who were able to attend this time around. To read more and see photos from that event, please click here. More photos from November's trip can be viewed on our Flickr profile here.