Interest is building among youngsters to find advanced applications for cotton. Being the holiday break for school and college students, it is such a delight to welcome youngsters to our Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech University. Recently, two school students and one college freshman visited the laboratory to have a firsthand look of cotton’s ability to absorb oil.
Nandanaa Anand, 10th grade student from Lubbock High School, Aditya R, 7th grade student from Hutchinson Middle School, Lubbock and Kumaren Anand, 1st year student from Rice University, Houston arrived sharply at 9.00 AM to learn about the advanced applications of textiles such as oil absorbent and filters.
The students did hands on experiments with cotton as oil absorbent. Discussions during the experiments revolved around the sustainability of cotton and its application in environmental protection. Anand who wants to be an entrepreneur stated, “It is important for aspirants who want to build businesses to engage with laboratories that commercialize research.“
The students appreciated the fact that laboratories like Nonwovens & Advanced Materials welcome high school students to be part of short-term research. Kumaren Anand said he had to go to Houston to spend 2-months of summer holidays after completing 10th grade to be involved with research in MD Anderson Cancer Center.
PhD research students in our laboratory, Mirza Khyum and Faizur Rahman participated in the research outreach efforts even though it is a holiday break. The enthusiasm in the students to commercialize research and create start-ups is encouraging for the research ecosystem.
By: Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA
