2020 BREW Focuses on Data and Generating Ideas for Science-at-Home Videos

The 2020 Breakthrough Research and Education Workshop (BREW) was held on Thursday, October 1st. 74 faculty, graduate students, postdocs, guest presenters, and staff attended.

One of the themes of this year’s BREW was the use of data and machine learning in materials science. The Center heard from three outside experts in this area to help orient the group’s thinking about how the ongoing revolution in artificial intelligence can accelerate research.

The second half of the event was the education workshop. This workshop resulted in several ideas for the creation of engaging videos for the MRSEC Science at Home series. MRSEC members were encouraged to create videos based on the ideas proposed during the workshop or on new ideas. Anyone interested in contributing to the Science at Home series can contact Anne Lynn (agillian@wisc.edu) or Matt (mstilwell@wisc.edu), who will collaborate on the video creation.

The MRSEC also announced the Wisconsin MRSEC Educational Video Award. To enter, submit a video with a short description including the goals, the audience, and the list of creators. All videos will be hosted on the MRSEC YouTube channel. Types of videos being sought include at-home activities, interviews, lab tours, introductions of instrumentation, and demonstrations of experiments. Video idea submissions are due January 20, 2021. Winners of the award will receive a certificate and some MRSEC swag.

The BREW is the Center’s annual opportunity to come together. While it was all online this year, there were still lots of exciting and stimulating conversations about research and about outreach. The hope is to hold this event in-person in 2021.