Neutrons, Isotopes, and…Sketching?
Dr. Dimeo shares an example of a “sketch note,” a way to communicate about scientific topics with audiences with all levels of technical capabilities
In a far-ranging discussion with Sandra Lee Heyman STEM Career Awareness Fellows, Dr. Robert Dimeo recently described both the power of neutrons as tools for probing materials – and the power of sketching as a way to communicate scientific concepts.
Dimeo is a physicist who leads the Oak Ridge National Laboratory office responsible for planning and executing upgrades to enable long-term operations of the High Flux Isotope Reactor at the U.S. Department of Energy facility. He shared details about how neutrons are used to look at the structure of polymers in jet fuel additives to make safer jet fuel, advance drug design, and better understand and harness the properties of materials used for magnetic storage in consumer, medical, and industrial devices upon which we all depend.
He traced his start with STEM as a 10-year old. “I was the only kid on the block who had a computer terminal in their house,” he said. His father, who worked for a prominent computer company, told him “That’s the future.” In fact, programming has factored into his career, “through electrical engineering and physics. And I still do computer programming today, although it's more for fun in recreation than it is for many practical purposes.”
Dimeo related that he was attracted to math when he was young, which led him to physics as a practical application of math. Then, for a school project, while on his high school track team, he asked a classmate to record him doing a long jump. “I would analyze it in terms of the trajectories. That was a really fun application, and I was bitten by the physics bug,” he said.
The now-physicist ended up going to Penn State to get my bachelor's degree in physics. “I took a detour to electrical engineering after that”, and then went back into physics to get my Ph.D., Dimeo said. “That's where I got interested in this measurement technique called neutron scattering,” he shared.
Dimeo went on to earn a B.S. in Physics, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Physics – all from Penn State – before working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), as an instrument scientist. In that role, he was responsible for helping to make sure that experiments being run at the NIST neutron facility would be successful. (Dimeo noted that his programming background came in handy then since, among other things, he developed software to be used in those experiments.)
While thoroughly enjoying his job, Dimeo decided to take advantage of an opportunity to work on much broader issues while serving a two-year stint at the White house Office of Science and Technology Policy. There he worked on issues with other STEM professionals on topics related to the National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, among other agencies. “It was a fantastic opportunity to learn how the federal government works when it comes to science, funding, and science priority setting,” Dimeo said.
Clearly, his career did not follow a linear path. “I had some diversions, going from physics to electrical engineering and back to physics and I didn't know where I was going to end up.” It was “more about following my interests and my passion,” Dimeo told the fellows.
Beyond describing his interest in physics and his career working with neutrons, Dimeo took time to explain how and why he became interested in using “sketch notes,” a technique he learned from author Mike Rohde to create “rich visual notes created from a mix of handwriting drawings, hand drawn typography, shapes, and visual elements like arrows, boxes, and lines.” With this drawing technique, he said, “You only look at it for a fraction of a second, and you get what the idea is. It's designed to be a summary of a message,” something that Dimeo has applied to communicate about scientific topics with audiences with all levels of technical capabilities.
Responding to the fellows’ interests and questions, like nearly every other guest to speak with Sandra Lee Heyman fellows, Dimeo recommended that the students consider internships as a way to become more aware of what STEM jobs entail. Likewise, Dimeo counseled the students, “What you think your career trajectory is going to be may be dramatically different from what it turns out to be. So give yourself a break in terms of putting too much pressure on yourself.”
And what are the most important non-STEM courses that the fellows should take? For his part, Dimeo encouraged the students to seriously consider English, writing, technical writing, creative writing, presentations and public speaking. He told the fellows that “One of the biggest challenges that folks in my field have to contend with and learn to do is communicate complex technical topics to an audience which isn't necessarily familiar with them.” Clearly, if the physicist’s sketches help with that task, it’s time well invested.
The Sandra Lee Heyman Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in memory of Sandra Lee Heyman, a long-time mathematics teacher at the elementary, middle school, high school, and community college levels. The 18-month long Fellowship is aimed at promising high school students who have the opportunity to meet with STEM leaders, visit prominent institutions in the Washington, D.C., area, and access peers and mentors to support career exploration in STEM fields. There are multiple ways to support the Fellowship program, and donations to the Foundation are tax deductible.