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ST. PIUS

Every year since 2013, St. Pius, which is located in Chicago, comes to Dober at the end of their school year. Dober employees volunteer their time to teach students about science and technology by coming up with experiments/experiences that relate to what the students learned about during that school year. Below is a highlight of each year of the program.

2017

Jessica Kask - Chematic Lab


Jessica Kask - Chematic Lab

We did a disease lab activity. We learned about what makes you sick, how diseases are passed, and how easy it is to pass a disease from one person to another doing an activity with color changing liquid.

Eric Hepinstall – IT


Eric Hepinstall – IT

Students learned about how data is important in almost any job, and how data gets from one system to another via networking. They were able to see the innards of a computer and it’s components, along with an open hard drive. The session included discussion about major IT career paths, and a demonstration of a LEAP Motion controller, showing how multiple IT professions work together to create innovative technology of the future.

Scott Ullian- Procurement


Scott Ullian- Procurement

Being part of a sports team can help you in the work place.

  • Work with others
  • Learn from each other
  • Learn how to lose
  • Learn how to be reliable and to be counted on
  • Learn how to encourage others.
  • Everyone on a team has a specific job to do just like any company.
  • When everyone is doing their job, the entire team (company) wins.
  • Also stressed how a positive mental attitude and mutual trust and respect is important on any team.
  • TEAM acronym – Together Everyone Achieves More


John Howe-IT

Presentation consisting of a 3D printer where we showed how the printer works and what makes it work. Each participant received a 3D printed robotic arm, servos and Arduino allowing them to practice programming robotic controllers. Arduino definition: Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software

United captain Dave Murray talked about his start as a commercial aviation pilot along with the skills required to complete the training. He brought in his radio controlled model of a jet aircraft. The aircraft is powered by an actual turbine engine running JetA fuel which he ran in the parking lot to demonstrated the scale power and noise.


2016

Water Bending with Min:


Water Bending with Min:

Through multiple experiments, groups of students worked to learn about properties of water, including:

  • Bending water using electrostatic balloon
  • Frozen water properties
  • The stability of super cooling liquid
  • Surface Tension

GreenFloc Chitosan Lab:

Students performed jar tests in the GreenFloc lab using corn and guar gum. They were able to add Dober products to their jars to learn about chitosan, chemical charges, and how manipulating chemical charges can aid in removing dirt and oil from water.

Chematic Lab:

Students learned about polymers and cross linkers by creating silly putty.

The process: The glue is made of a polymer (PVA). When you mix the glue with a solution of borax and water, the sodium borate from the borax reacts with the glue as a cross-linker that makes the polymer much more rigid and able to absorb a large amount of water which will cause the mixture to form a stretchy putty that can be molded, and also bounces.

2015

Buckyball Demonstration:

Buckyball Demonstration:

Students learned about Buckyballs and then, in teams, raced to build a Buckyball. They also learned about Ferrofluid through a demonstration, and then experimented with memory wire.

Plastics:

Students learned about plastics, how they work and what they are made of. Through the process of creating shrink dinks, students learned about how temperature can cause plastics to shrink/shrivel and go back to their preferred natural state.

Additional labs included:

Lab #1:

  • Batteries, Simple Circuit, Magnetism, Motors, Generators and Hands-on circuit building

Lab #2:

  • Electrical power in Guar area and explanation of guar system, Fracking 411 – Demo of how pumps work, and Flashlights in the bucket

2014

Spindle:

Spindle:

A flow meter and a visual display with water pumping through it was setup to show how displacement is working in the flow meter to record the volume being pumped. The intention was to show the students an Ultrax calibration dispensing a desired amount and how it is compensated with K-factor. K-Factor is a program setting that shows how many pulses per ounce that go through the Ultrax.

Business:

Using magnetic gears to describe the motion of a business, students were taught how each gear is a different part of the business and how all the gears work together to satisfy the customer. They also learned how if one gear is pulled out, how that affects the entire process.

Lab:

Students learned how water can flow from one container to another with and without force. Various beakers with different levels of water were setup. The students saw how water can flow from one beaker to another at different levels. Students also learned how creating a suction will aide in pulling the water from one level to another, along with how it won’t flow unless there is force behind it (vacuum or pump).

2013

Spindle Development Team:

Spindle Development Team:

Using the site scratch.mit.edu, students were taught the basics of programming and then given the opportunity to try and do some cool stuff on their own. They had a walk through example that showed the basics and learned about theory throughout the lab.

CSD Lab:

The students measured the freeze point of engine coolants themselves using our refractometer to see the result. They were able to see how glycol effectively and clearly helps lower the freeze point. Students also learned about the colors of coolants and saw how phenolphthalein can function as a dye, giving a purple color at alkaline pH and turning colorless at acidic pH, reversibly.

ADDITIONAL LABS:

  • Pharmaceutical Lab
  • Microscope Lab
  • Oil and Gas
  • CSD Lab
  • GreenFloc