Approximately 180 students from Oak Ridge’s Robertsville Middle School recently visited the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), a Department of Energy user facility, to learn about the many different career paths available at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The event, held on May 11, was the culmination of a week-long program in which SNS staff worked with students in the classroom to build accelerator components using LEGO® bricks.
The same classroom program was executed in parallel at Jefferson Middle School for another 180 students. However, Jefferson students did not participate in the ORNL Careers Day visit to SNS due to timing and logistical challenges.
“I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out,” said Robert Saethre, chief engineer in ORNL’s Neutron Sciences Directorate and founder of Bricks to Beams Tennessee: Spallation Neutron Source built of LEGO® bricks Middle School Outreach Program. “This is the program’s second year, and there are no words for how wonderful it’s been to see the children engaging with the project and asking lots of questions.”
Before visiting the lab, students spent three days in the classroom learning about ORNL, the SNS, what accelerators are and how they function, as well as building a 17,000-piece model of SNS’s accumulator ring using LEGO® bricks.
“It can be challenging getting eighth graders to engage with material that’s a little bit beyond their understanding, but the students really connected with the program,” said Mazzie Zawisza, a science teacher at Robertsville Middle School. “They loved building the model. It wasn’t easy, but it showed a lot of them that they have the ability to solve problems and overcome hard things.”
Zawisza said she intends to participate again next year.
It takes a lot of different pieces to build something big
The students concluded the program with a visit to SNS, where they met with laboratory staff to learn what they do in their roles and how they came to ORNL.
Some of the represented careers included scientists, engineers, cybersecurity, medical, security, welders, graphic designers, video production, technical writers, facility maintenance, finance and accounting, lawyers, and librarians.
“Everyone here says the same thing about how they’re a small cog in a big machine, even though they each do a really big part,” said Sophia Laney, an eighth grader at Robertsville Middle School. “I think it’s really cool and interesting how the lab has job opportunities for everyone.”
The day began in the Iran Thomas Auditorium at SNS with a welcome address from Jon Taylor, associate laboratory director for the Neutron Sciences Directorate, a safety brief from Environment, Safety, Health and Quality Coordinator for Neutron Sciences Eric Griffis, and overviews of neutron science by neutron scattering scientist Thomas Proffen, accelerator science by Research Accelerator Division Director Sarah Cousineau and ORNL careers by talent acquisition partner Natalie Merriman.
Students were then divided into four groups. They rotated between a mini-career fair in the SNS lobby, a walking tour of the Instrument Hall, a trip to the warehouse to see the equipment they built from LEGO® bricks, and a tour of the Second Target Station (STS) site to meet the general contractor. The fire department also had a truck and firefighters at the STS site to show their equipment and jobs. The STS will be a third neutron source at ORNL.
When asked what it was like seeing the equipment they made from LEGO® bricks in real life, one student was surprised.
“It was a lot more complicated, and a lot more specific. It definitely looked a lot cooler,” said Titus Petrucci, an eighth grader at RMS.
Petrucci went on to share what he thought of the visit overall.
“I like a lot of the people here. They’re very nice, very kind. They explain everything very well.”
As for what comes next, Saethre plans to send kits to homeschoolers and summer camps so children can participate in the program outside of the classroom. He also hopes to bring the program to more classrooms in the fall and spring semesters.
Building the idea, brick by brick
Saethre first got the idea for the outreach program after attending the Linac (Linear Accelerator) 2022 Conference in Liverpool, United Kingdom, which included a raffle for a LEGO® brick model of the Large Hadron Collider. Seeing the particle accelerator built with the popular bricks sparked an idea that Saethre brought home with him to Oak Ridge, where he’s brought the SNS to classrooms since 2025.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science — Kaeli Dickert
