03 September 2004

Student science and professional science

Forrest M. Mims III

Several years ago I was invited to give a seminar talk to a group of government and university scientists. The requested topic was solar ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation and how it can be measured with good accuracy using simple, inexpensive instruments.

Near the end of the talk I mentioned that school students can make good measurements of UV-B. A well known UV-B scientist then joked, "How do we know they won't get peanut butter on the sensor!"

After the laughter subsided, I replied that students can take scientific measurements with considerable care, and they are able to keep their instruments clean. In fact, they can keep their instruments cleaner than those used by some professional scientists.

I then offered to escort the group to the roof of their building to show them the water stains on their UV-B instruments installed downwind from a large rooftop air conditioner. The room became totally silent, for all present knew about the problem caused by mist from the air conditioning system.

Fortunately the problem the professional scientists were experiencing with their instruments was resolved when the instruments were moved to a new location. As for the scientist who joked about students, he later accepted a paper I submitted to a scientific conference, where we had a very pleasant discussion.

The above chart shows UV-B measured at various sites ranging from a few hundred meters above sea level to the summits of two Colorado mountains. These data were collected by my daughter Sarah Anna Mims when she was 9 years old. She used a commercial UV-B instrument that cost around $100 and provided results very similar to those of professional instruments.

Sarah's findings became part of a fascinating science fair project. Her project did not involve the very high quality, spectrally resolved measurements of UV-B conducted by professional scientists. But her measurements were every bit as good as the results professionals around the world obtain using various broadband UV-B instruments.

More importantly, Sarah did something that very few UV-B scientists have ever done. She transported the same instrument to a wide variety of sites and altitudes to observe the resulting differences in UV-B. This kind of research is very rare.

Students can indeed do quality science. Please remember this when you mentor them or when you discuss their projects with them at local and regional science fairs. It's always good to compliment good research. But, especially in science, its equally important to ask questions and offer suggestions. So I hope you will challenge the student scientists you know and meet to strive for excellence.