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Current Education & Outreach

Nuclear Engineering Classes

The reactor is a resource K-State education.  Nuclear engineering courses have the greatest interaction with the facility, including:

  • NE 250, Reactor Operations Laboratory

  • NE 495, Elements of Nuclear Engineering

  • NE 512, Principles of Radiation Detection

  • NE 612, Advanced Principles of Radiation Detection

  • NE 648, Nuclear Reactor Laboratory

  • NE 761, Radiation Measurement Systems

NE 250 Class

NE 250 Class

 

 

Other K-State Courses

Many other K-State classes use the reactor.  Most involve a tour of the facilities and a presentation about radiation, nuclear principles, and how nuclear principles are useful.  In some academic courses, the facility is used as a focal point for class or individual projects. In some cases, the reactor generates radioactive isotopes for laboratory exercises.

  • BAE, Honors Agriculture

  • CHM 111, General Chemistry Laboratory

  • Risk Communications

  • ME 830, Special Topics

  • ME 574/574, Senior Design

  • University Experience

Kansas Elementary & High Schools

Many schools within a large radius from K-State participate in field trips to the reactor facility for tours, laboratory exercise, or experiments.  A typical reactor tour takes about an hour, and are usually coupled with tours of other K-State facilities such as the McDonald laboratory, the K-State insect zoo, and of course the Student Union to name a few (more information about possible places to visit on campus is available through the Office of Special Tours at 785 532-631).

Reactor Tour -- North Cental High School Reactor Tour -- North Central HS in Control Room

North Central High School on 22 Foot Level

North Central High School in Control Room 

 

 

If your school is within a few hours from Manhattan and not on the list of institutions that have recently visited the K-State reactor facilities, please consider taking advantage of the opportunity.  A tour can be scheduled using this we site.

  • Abilene 5th Grade (Abilene)

  • Anthony Middle School (Manhattan)

  • Bergman 6th Grade (Manhattan)

  • Buena High School

  • Centralia Junior High School (Centralia)

  • Goessel High School (Goessel)

  • Chapman High School

  • Clifton-Clyde 8th Grade

  • Delphos 7th and 8th Grade (Delphos)

  • Derby High School (Derby)

  • Hamilton High School (Hamilton)

  • Healy 9th Grade (Healy)

  • Highland Park High School

  • Junction City High School (Junction City)

  • Junction City 9th Grade (Junction City)

  • Manhattan High School (Manhattan)

  • Marlatt Elementary School (Manhattan)

  • McPherson High School (McPherson)

  • Minneapolis High School (Minneapolis)

  • North-Central Jr/Sr High School (Topeka)

  • Robinson Middle School (Topeka)

  • Rock Creek High School (St. George)

  • St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Salina)

  • Salina High School (Salina)

  • Shawnee Mission North High School (Shawnee Mission)

  • Topeka West High School (Topeka)

  • USD 383 (Geary County)

  • Ward High School (Ward)

  • Wichita 7th Grade (Wichita)

  • Homeschool groups (Manhattan, Topeka, Johnson County, and others)

In addition to standardized tours with an educational component, some schools participate in demonstrations, experiments, or exercises using the reactor ("half-life" is incorporated in the Kansas educational standards), which can take additional time. 

Classes and individual students sometimes use the facilities for projects; recent projects have included:

  • Determining how quickly water is drawn into different types of plants by measuring radioactive material dissolved in the water (science fair project)
  • Evaluating differences between poultry raised in a large production facility and poultry raised on a small farm using Neutron Activation Analysis (home school group)
  • Determining how radiation affects the vitamin C content of strawberries (class project)
  • Evaluating contamination levels in ponds and run-off pools for a medium-size greenhouse operation using neutron activation analysis (senior project)

If you are interested in exploring the use of the reactor facilities in projects, please contact the reactor manager (785 532 6657, whaley@ksu.edu). If you want to perform a specific project or experiment using the reactor facilities, it can be scheduled using this web site.

Educational Programs

K-State supports or participates in many pre-college educational programs designed to stimulate at-risk students, provide enrichment experiences and challenges for high performance students, acquaint members of underrepresented groups to opportunities in engineering, and offer the rich resources of this campus to interested groups.  These groups toured the reactor or performed experments in conjunction with K-State activities.

  • Boy Scout Merit Badge Conference
  • Boy Scout Troop meetings
  • Girls Researching Our World (GROW)
  • Engineering Summer Science Institute (EXCITE)
  • 4-H Discovery Days
  • Upward Bound Math & Science Program
  • USD 383 Advanced Placement ??? Enrichment Program
  • NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates
  • K-State Summer Math Program
  • Quarknet (Physics Teacher program)
  • K-State Engineering Ambassadors
  • Society for Women Engineers
  • EXCITE (Exploring Science, Technology, and Engineering)
  • GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs)
  • Beyond the Boundaries program

Other

In addition to programs with a strong academic component, the reactor is used to somewhat de-mystify nuclear principles and provide the general public a basis for understanding nuclear issues.  This occurs either through individually arranged tours (see above) or through formal K-State programs as listed.

Open House in the Control Room

Open House at the South West Beam Port

  

Open House 22 Foot Level

Open House Touring Control Room

Open House Viewing Experiment 

Open House on 22 Foot Level 

 

 

  • Engineering Scholarship Days
  • K-State Open House
  • Engineering Open House
  • College Success Seminar
  • Engineering Days
  • Kansas Rural and Small School Conference
  • K-State Family Day
  • Topeka YMCA
College Success Seminar

College Success Seminar

 

 

Other Colleges & Universities

Outside support provides other colleges and universities with the opportunity to visit the facility and use the available resources.  A partial list of recent visitors and experiments from other colleges and universities is shown below.

  • Benedictine College (Atchison, KS)
  • Bethany College (Lindsborg, KS)
  • Cloud County Community College (Concordia, KS)
  • Kansas Wesylan, Society for Physics Students (Salina, KS)

  • Loughborough University (UK)

  • Manhattan Christian College (Manhattan, KS)

  • University of Montreal (Montreal, Canada)

  • University of Chicago (Chicago, Il)

  • Washburn University (Topeka, KS)

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