Sierra Keeler ' 10 and Nick Walton '13 work on a paperweight at Seattle Glass.

January 26 - When Madonna sang the words “We are living in a material world, and I am a material girl,” she was undoubtedly NOT thinking about metal alloys, high temperature superconductors, or polymers. Yet these materials and innumerable others are really the ones which make the world go round. Three students, Kyle Shurtleff ’10, Nick Walton ’13, and Sierra Keeler ’10, have explored the world of materials science in an upper school elective class which focuses on the relationship between composition (chemistry), processing and design (engineering), and properties (physics).  Such interdisciplinary topics are quickly superseding traditional disciplines in science. In this elective, the students have had a chance to look at thermal properties of alloys, developing phase diagrams, and instigating solid state transformations in a metal alloy. They have learned about casting from an industry expert, Fred Feiertag, and had a chance to practice making aluminum castings. Recently we fabricated and poured glass from oxide precursors and, under Nick’s expert supervision, fashioned glass paperweights at Seattle Glass’s studio.