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Grade 11: A Visit to UM-SJTU Joint Institute

December 28, 2020

In the afternoon of December 24th, 15 eleventh grade students arrived at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). They visited three labs located in the UM-SJTU Joint Institute as well as the Student Innovation Center. This visit was indeed a fruitful and unforgettable field experience for all the students.

Professor Bo Shouhang's lab was the first that eleventh graders visited. Professor Bo elaborated on the prospect of the modern battery as well as the concept of solid-state batteries made by sodium ions or magnesium ions. Professor Bo thinks that it's not hard to design a battery that's extremely safe or inexpensive. Scientists' current research interest is to combine those two aspects, which is very difficult. He also introduced the current experiment interests for his lab, to design a solid-state battery using sodium ions or magnesium ions in order to obtain a safer, more stable, and more efficient charge-and-discharge battery. With the students actively asking questions, Professor Bo also talked about the concepts like energy density, effect of temperature, and experiment conditions, etc.

The eleventh graders then visited Professor Ma's lab. Professor Ma and his PhD student introduced a method of wireless power transmission using megahertz electromagnetic induction and the optimization of wireless power transmission technologies with methods such as modifying the number of coils in the device. Professor Ma's student then demonstrated using a thermal imaging camera to locate major power transmission inefficiencies on the device, as well as introduced a gigahertz wireless power transmission in which energy is transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves in order to increase transmission power. To prevent damage to humans, the power emitter will only transmit energy for a short period of time if it receives a request signal from the power receiver. Moreover, this technology can also shift the position of the power receiver through the vector addition of pulses emitted by adjacent power emitters.

Finally, by demonstrating and introducing related knowledge about ultrasonic wave, a PhD student from Professor Shen Yanfeng’s lab elaborated on transmitting waves through materials. Starting by testing humans’ hearing range by an oscilloscope, he furthermore utilized imagery of oscilloscopes to examine possible problems inside the material. Combining the knowledge relating to waves we learned from school, students actively raised questions and gained a deeper understanding about the current progress of conducting sound through certain materials. All of them gained a better overview towards study about waves and material sciences.

The Student Innovation Center is a place for SJTU students to conduct their own independent research, create their own designs, and develop innovative products. SHSID students first visited the factory of the Student Innovation Center. The factory is full of a myriad of large industrial machines for cutting and gardening materials. Knowing how to operate these machines is a compulsory course for all SJTU freshmen. SHSID students were also shown a drone that could carry people up in the air. This unmanned drone was created and designed solely by SJTU students. Aside from the factory, the SHSID students visited other areas in the Student Innovation Center which included the 3D printing center, drone FabLab, robot FabLab, etc. It is worth noting that many robots, aerospace models, and 3D products in the Student Innovation Center were all completed by SJTU students on their own. Many SJTU students devote their spare time in innovative research and development. Their passion for scientific research and self-initiative in innovative technology are great inspirations for high school students in their academic pursuits.

The visit truly immersed the students in the miraculous world of scientific investigation and discovery. Best wishes to all students in their journey of finding and advancing in scientific research that combines their own interest.

(Written by Anya, Rachel, Diandre and Jasper Pictures by Hui Liao Edited and Supervised by Sijia He)