Middle school science teacher Josh Pearson hosted Dr. Luis R. Carney, husband of middle school English teacher Deborah Carney and senior materials engineer with the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, for several classroom presentations on real world applications of science lessons.

Carney, who has been a materials engineer for more than 30 years as a civilian with the U.S. Navy, has a bachelor, master's and Ph.D from the University of Florida. He was on campus October 11 and spoke with science students in Grade 8.

"The presentation was intended to reinforce subjects students are currently studying in science and will be developing further in the coming weeks," Carney said. "The talk covered the structure of metals and atoms, how science uses this knowledge to control and change the properties of metallic solids and how materials scientists use their scientific training to perform design, failure analysis and accident investigations."

Carney said he shared a number of slides with the classes and told several stories to illustrate the concepts he was explaining. He also brought several aircraft parts made of titanium, steel and aluminum alloys for the students to handle.

This is not the first time Carney has worked with faculty on the Bolles Middle School Bartram Campus. He has volunteered several times to share his experiences "in an effort to connect science with the real world," he said.

"It is useful for students to see how what they are studying becomes useful and solves real problems," Carney said.