Karen
Downey
2005-2006 CSIP Fellow
Research
Interest
Materials Science & Engineering
My
background includes bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in chemistry, but my recent research experiences
have tended toward the physical side of the science. As
an optical engineer in industry, I worked on developing
new glass ceramic materials for use as optical amplifiers
and laser materials. That is, I worked on developing materials
that were largely a glass matrix with tiny crystallites
embedded throughout which acted to absorb light in one
wavelength and, when stimulated by a signal at a longer
wavelength, emit photons in that longer wavelength. Stimulated
emission of photons at a desired wavelength is key to
my current research as well, for it also involves optical
amplification. My Ph.D. research in materials science
now focuses on developing amorphous (glassy) materials
for signal amplification in optical computers. More than
that, though, I am working to establish why some materials
are so very bad while others are much more effective.
To this end, I’m working with large composition
spreads, investigating the effects of chemical trends
in size, electronegativity, and charge.
My
background encompasses solution-based and solid-state
inorganic chemistry, as well as quite a bit of light-
and magnetism-related physics. I would be happy to work
with teachers on either physics or chemistry projects.
I have in mind projects relating to the chemistry and
physics of friction and surfaces, as well as the nature
of color. As an undergraduate, a graduate student, and
an industry scientist, I’ve loved investigating
light and matter. I look forward to working with teachers
and students in 2005-6, sharing my excitement about research
and its methods. I hope that, as a CSIP fellow, I can
help middle and high school students understand that science
is not just a collection of facts, but a process of trying
to understand the world around us. My essential desire
is to help students discover which questions science can
(and can’t) address, and how well-designed an experiment
must be to help answer the questions we choose.
