CMI Outreach 2025

CMI plans education and outreach activities throughout the year, ranging from youth to adult, with an emphasis on workforce development.

July-August-September

• CMI Leadership Academy member Gaurav Das, OLI Systems, used the CMI Education Toolkit in a presentation to introduce critical materials to middle school students in New Jersey. “Outreach sparks curiosity and shows students that STEM is more than textbooks – it’s about discovering the hidden building blocks that shape the world around us,” Das says. Students experimented with magnets made from domestically sourced rare earth elements and experienced science in action. The rare earth elements make possible so many modern technologies, from phosphors in displays to catalysts and powerful magnets.

  

• During summer 2025, the Critical Materials Innovation Hub hosted eight interns in the second year of the CMI Intern Program. All eight attended the 2025 CMI Annual Meeting meeting in August, where they gave an oral presentation and a poster presentation and received a certificate. CMI launched the intern program in 2024 with one student, and grew the program in 2025 to eight students at three national laboratories and two universities with the added opportunity for an industry site visit and to attend the CMI Annual Meeting to give oral and poster presentations, receive recognition as a CMI Intern and network with more than 200 members of industry, universities and national laboratories. 

  

• During the 2025 Critical Annual Meeting, CMI celebrated members of the CMI Leadership Academy Cohort 6. The members who were at the meeting described their experiences with group projects, including readings and discussions, building a CMI Education Toolkit and using it for outreach across the country, and planning an event. Each member received a certificate. Shown with mentors: on left, CMI Deputy Director Rod Eggert, Colorado School of Mines, and on right, Ruby Nguyen, Idaho National Laboratory. Leadership Academy members, from left: Chandra Nath, Purdue University; Gaurav Das, OLI Systems; Rambabu Kuchi, Ames National Laboratory; Harshida Parmar, Ames National Laboratory; and Aaron Malone, Colorado School of Mines.

  

• In July, CMI Leadership Academy Cohort 6 member Chloe Tolbert, Idaho National Laboratory, participated in a high school engineering camp career panel as part of the STEM leadership’s summer STEM Scholars Camp. At the panel, Tolbert discussed her career in critical materials and shared insights on how to apply skills learned in high school to college and beyond. She raised awareness of INL’s impact in the critical materials space and discussed her scientific contributions to CMI. The panel provided students with the opportunity to engage with INL researchers, learn about the research conducted at INL in the critical materials space, and helped to shape the upcoming generation interested in STEM and engineering. 

  

• In July, CMI Leadership Academy Cohort 6 member Eunjeong Kim, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, used the CMI Education toolkit to introduce the concept of critical materials to younger students through interactive and relatable examples during a Summer Academy in Fremont, California. The session was conducted by upper-grade students for lower-grade peers to enhance accessibility and engagement while promoting science communication among presenters. The presentation focused on identifying critical materials found in everyday technologies such as magnets, solar panels, and hard drives, etc. Students learned how to recognize elements essential for modern devices and discussed the parameters that define criticality, including supply risk, economic importance, and substitutability. One particularly engaging moment occurred when students were asked, “What kinds of critical materials can you find in your daily life?” Several participants quickly associated titanium (Ti) with strength, referencing its frequent appearance in Apple advertisements. This response demonstrated their ability to connect commercial media with material properties - a meaningful sign of applied understanding. In addition, hands-on demonstrations, such as testing the strength of magnets and observing phosphorescent materials that glow when lights are turned off, provided immediate, memorable experiences that reinforced key scientific concepts. 

  

• The Critical Materials Innovation Hub Leadership Academy is using the CMI Education Toolkit in outreach across the United States. CMI Leadership Academy Cohort 6 member Lesta Fletcher, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, visited Valley High School in Pine Grove, West Virginia, to share information about critical materials and CMI. The sophomores in an earth science class were amazed to learn that they owned and used items everyday that contained critical material during the “what’s in your pocket” activity. However, it was “the strength of magnets” activity (pictured right) that was quickly voted a class favorite. Before this activity none of the students had seen a neodymium magnet. They enjoyed seeing which group could build the magnetic icosahedron fastest. The runner up as class favorite was “a tale of two magnets” as they observed the differences in speed when dropping neodymium and ceramic magnets through a copper tube (pictured left). 

  

April-May-June

• The Critical Materials Innovation Hub Education and Workforce Development team of Cynthia Howell and Danielle Ladd mentored the Colorado team for the 2025 National Engineering Design Competition (NEDC), June 23-26. An overview from MESA USA can be found at LINK. For the fifth year in a row, Colorado School of Mines, CMI and NEXUS research teams have sent the Colorado state high school Engineering Design Competition champions to the national competition. The theme for the 2024 MESA USA National Engineering Design Competition (NEDC) is Designing for Equity Locally to Affect Sustainability Globally. Colorado was recognized for bringing a state championship team for five years. During the competition Drs. Cynthia Howell and Danielle Ladd were engaged in national MESA USA meetings with Executive Directors from all states and all NEDC logistical meetings. Outcomes of the national committees and meetings provide materials and guidance for states to ensure the STEM academic rigor for students from throughout the nation.     
   

  

• The Critical Materials Innovation Hub Leadership Academy is using the CMI Education Toolkit in outreach across the United States. On May 7, CMI Leadership Academy Cohort 6 member Aaron Malone, Colorado School of Mines, used a magnet activity to inspire youth in an after-school program.

  

• The Critical Materials Innovation Hub (CMI) joined the NEXUS research center to host the 2025 Rocky Mountain State Engineering Design Competition on May 1 at Colorado School of Mines. Collaborators included the CMI organizers from Education and Workforce Development (EWD) team Cynthia Howell and Danielle Ladd and two NEXUS team members, Kelly Hummel and Christian Beren. The competition was held in the Marquez building with seven competing high school teams. More than 60 people, including competitors, mentors, volunteer judges and parents were on site for judging student Technical Pitches and a Poster Symposium. The Design Brief and Academic Poster were judged virtually by 12 volunteer judges from across the nation. The 1st Place and 2025 State Champion is Warren Tech Central High School – Team Dustbuster, which will represent the state of Colorado at the National Engineering Design Competition, hosted by MESA USA on June 23-26, in San Diego, California. 

  

• The Critical Materials Innovation Hub Leadership Academy is using the CMI Education Toolkit in outreach across the United States. In March 2025, CMI Leadership Academy Cohort 6 members Harshida Parmar and Rambabu Kuchi, Ames National Laboratory, shared the kit during an outreach event at Ames High School.        
   

  

January-February-March

• The Critical Materials Innovation Hub Leadership Academy is using the CMI Education Toolkit in outreach across the United States. On March 20, 2025, CMI Leadership Academy Cohort 6 member Chandra Nath, Purdue, shared the kit during the STEM Fair at Carmel High School. 

  

• Critical Materials Innovation Hub Education and Workforce Development team at Colorado School of Mines planned he National Engineers Week and Rocky Mountain MESA Day Celebration, held February 20, 2025, at Colorado School of Mines. CMI and NEXUS, a partnership between CMI Team members Colorado School of Mines and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, welcomed nearly 100 high school undergrad and graduate students and industry members to celebrate National Engineers Week. The Rocky Mountain Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (RM MESA) students represent nine schools from Denver and surrounding communities. At the Colorado School of Mines campus, they experienced a college campus; problem solved an engineering project; listened to a Mines student panel about college life, and celebrated National Engineers Week. The jam-packed interactive day was focused on getting high school students to elect to go to college while considering a STEM field (our workforce of the future). CMI hosts included Cynthia Howell, EWD manager (pictured top right), and Danielle Ladd, adjunct research associate. CMI graduate student researcher Ines Flores Aroni engaged high school students in a lunch conversation regarding CMI and STEM career opportunities, and later joined two NREL researchers in judging the student engineering project of designing a helicopter out of paper.

• The CMI Winter Meeting showcased the work of students and early career researchers, with 150 people attending the meeting, which included 16 oral presentations and 22 poster presentations, as well as several presentations by CMI leadership and guests from the U.S. Department of Energy and Colorado School of Mines. The meeting included a CMI partner meet-and-greet with students and post-docs to share information about the company and opportunities for collaboration and/or employment. Also, participants could participate in optional tours, including to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Kroll Institute of Extractive Metallurgy Labs, and the Mines Geology Museum and CMI Exhibit.

  

   

• CMI webinars are offered nearly monthly, and most are recorded. CMI webinars in 2025 include CMI researchers and guest speakers: Link to CMI webinars

CMI Outreach 2024

For further information please contact:          
Danielle Ladd dladd@mines.edu          
Research Faculty, Education & Workforce Development