CHARLESTON, WV — Dr. Paul Miller, physics professor at West Virginia University, was the featured speaker at the Martha Wehrle Opening Lecture of the 2013 National Youth Science Camp (NYSC). Dr. Miller presented his lecture (embeded below) at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences – West Virginia in Charleston.
The NYSC is a summer science honors program for two high-achieving high school students from each state in the nation and others from around the world. This experience is held in a rustic setting at Camp Pocahontas in West Virginia’s eastern mountains. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the camp, which has honored and challenged approximately 5,000 participants since its inception in 1963. This year’s delegates will spend the next month studying with prestigious scientists in a variety of fields from throughout the world. Before the delegates leave Charleston and head to camp, they will also have the opportunity to tour the laboratories of the Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research, & Innovation Center (MATRIC) as well as tour the science labs in Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College.
“We have 122 delegates, 26 international from 9 different countries. We have almost every single state represented. The neat part of the opening lecture is it’s the first real introduction to both camp and to West Virginia,” said Desiree Henriksen, director of the NYSC.
Miller’s lecture addressed the impact of science and technology on everyday life. Specifically, he focused on how technology, medicine, and gadgets are often used freely without much thought to the scientific fundamentals that govern how these gadgets work. His lecture also served as a welcome to the delegates of the 2013 National Youth Science Camp and an invitation to explore everything science has to offer.
Miller was Camp Director of the NYSC from 1997 – 2001 so “he’ll be a great introduction to all of the unique experiences,” Henriksen says. “He’ll get the [delegates] to get the most out of the experience because he truly knows what camp is all about.”
Miller teaches introductory physics for engineers and elementary education majors and organizes the WVU Learning Assistants programs. He is interested in education and outreach efforts through the American Physical Society’s Division of Plasma Physics. In addition to obtaining his doctoral degree in physics at West Virginia University, he has also had extensive experience teaching physics to high school students throughout the country.
The lecture was free and open to the public.
Related article in the Charleston Gazette.
Video available soon.