From Mars to Humans: Interactive Raman Spectroscopy-based Outreach Activities

Outreach activities can directly influence educational development and career trajectory; while also promoting the institutions that produce them. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is fundamental to development, pushing forward technological advancements and laying the path to new frontiers. This paper aims to provide an overview of an outreach event with a framework that can be developed into a novel teaching tool, showcasing collaboration across multiple STEM subjects: Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Engineering. From Mars to Humans is an interactive educational outreach project, developing the fundamentals needed to understand Raman spectroscopy and its many applications on earth and beyond. This interdisciplinary demonstration includes several devices and models developed by the Biophotonics and Imaging research group at the University of Southampton. We will cover the design and function of "Dr Raman" and the "Raman for Life Rover (R4L)", two interactive activity devices that have been developed using state-of-the-art spectroscopy technology. These devices help translate the understanding of light-matter interactions to real-life applications, focusing on current popular media topics, public health and interplanetary discovery. Additionally, we demonstrate how these devices within the outreach event can inspire a new generation of scientists, utilising how the underpinning science is leading new transformative technologies and advancing human endeavour. From Mars to Humans activity was deployed for the Southampton Science and Engineering Festival (SOTSEF 2022) and received excellent feedback from visitors. We will present the public engagement framework that led to this achievement, analyse the feedback and engagement criteria of the activity, and summarise goals for the future.