Newsletter No. 5 - November 16, 2009  |
Festival Dates: Expo on the National Mall:
10/10/10 - 10/24/10 10/23 & 10/24
High Tech and Life Sciences Companies Wanted:
The USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo on the National Mall is filling up quickly. With over 200 science & engineering organizations already signed up, we are now accepting proposals from high tech and life sciences companies to exhibit at the largest celebration of science & engineering in the US. Expo-goers are your future employees - this is your opportunity to reach out and inspire the next generation to consider the exciting fields of science & engineering as a career. If you would like to present yourself with a fun, hands-on, educational activity, contact us through our online form at
www.usasciencefestival.org
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Mercy Sakes Alive, Looks Like We Got Us
a Science Convoy!
'Cause we gotta mighty convoy, rockin' through the night
Come on an' join our convoy, ain't nothin' gonna git in our way
We're gonna roll this truckin' convoy, 'cross the USA
--From the 1975 hit song
"Convoy" sung by C.W. McCall
Check this out: To bring the
excitement of their laboratories directly to the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo audiences a
growing number of researchers from institutions across the country are
preparing to drive their mobile lab buses and exhibit vehicles to the two-day
Expo on
the National Mall in Washington, DC.
You could call it our mighty
science convoy!
Boston University School of Medicine will be there with their mobile CityLab
and joined by members of the Mobile Laboratory Coalition. Experts from the American Museum of Natural History
will be coming from New York City in two buses with their Moveable Museums. The
J. Craig Venter Institute will wow audiences aboard
their fully-equipped DNA laboratory bus. Researchers from the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at
the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the MdBioLab of the MdBio
Foundation will be motoring down in their mobile lab that will
allow attendees to explore the wonders of their genetic makeup. "It is a privilege for CityLab and members of the Mobile
Laboratory Coalition to be part of an event that promises to inspire people
from all walks of life to a deeper appreciation and understanding of science,"
says Don DeRosa of Boston University School of Medicine CityLab and Co-founder
of the Mobile Laboratory Coalition.
Eric
Hamilton, Senior Manager of Program Administration at the American Museum of
Natural History, looks forward to having Expo-goers climb aboard the
institution's Moveable Museums to view such interactive exhibits as Structures in Culture (which allows visitors to become an anthropologist for
a day by studying ancient cultures and habitats of three nomadic peoples) and Dinosaurs:
Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries.
Says Lisa
A. McDonald, Education Director at the J. Craig Venter Institute: "The festival is
a wonderful opportunity to engage
people in the awe and wonder of science. Aboard our mobile
lab, participants will have the opportunity to extract DNA, solve a crime or
diagnose a patient."
Todd
Boyette, Ph.D., Director, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, adds: "Enabling the
public to do real science and work with actual researchers during a celebration
of science in the nation's capital - what an excellent opportunity!"
"MdBio Foundation looks forward to showcasing the MdBioLab - an
innovative teaching tool that brings laboratory science to high schools across
Maryland. Mobile laboratories make
science more accessible and compelling for students, increasing science
knowledge and exposing students to a wide range of science careers in a unique
and engaging setting," said Richard A. Zakour, Ph.D., Executive Director of the
MdBio Foundation, Inc.If your
laboratory or institution has an interactive mobile science unit that you would
like to include in the Expo, we'd love for you to join our convoy! Just email Larry Bock at biobock@mac.com |
Space: The Final Frontier
Like a mighty rocket lifting off from the launch pad, the USA Science
& Engineering Festival is quickly gaining momentum thanks to an email blast
from the International Astronomical Union.
Here are some of the twenty prominent astronomy and space organizations who have announced they will
participate in the Festival's two-day Expo scheduled for
October 23-24 on the National Mall:
- NASA
- MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI)
- Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI)
- American Association of Variable
Star Observers
- Galaxy Zoo
- California Space Education & Workforce
Institute
- Chandra X-ray Center
- Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
- SETI Institute
- National Security Space Office
- Robeson Planetarium and Science Center
- Space
Telescope Science Institute (STSci)
- The Planetary Society
"The NASA exhibit
will feature all four of the agency's major program
initiatives: Aeronautics, Exploration Systems, Science, and Human
Space Flight -
as well as Education and Space Benefits sections" explains Ann Marie Trotta, NASA's Outreach Program
Manager. "NASA representatives will show Festival visitors how
Earth-observing satellites are helping us understand dynamic processes such as weather systems, ocean patterns, and drought; how
we protect astronauts' health during space missions, and
how the International Space Station has become one of the most profound
recycle facilities on, or above, Earth."
MIT Kavli will share its passion
for astronomy and science by conducting samples of its "Astronomy in
the City" outreach presentation. Sharing this highly interactive
exhibit at the Expo "will give us the opportunity to connect with a large
number of people, of all ages and backgrounds, in a way that would not be
possible to us otherwise," says Irene Porro, Ph.D., Public Education and
Communications Officer at MIT Kavli.
"Our staff is particularly excited to remotely operate Smiley, our 4.6m
radio telescope, and to share SCOPE, our citizen science online stellar
classification project, with Festival visitors," explains Christi
Whitworth, Education Director at Pisgah.
"On the cutting edge of developing
and testing a solar sail spacecraft called LightSail 1, that could someday take
us to the stars, the Planetary Society looks forward to sharing aspects of star
travel technology with Expo visitors", saysCharlene Anderson, Associate Director of
the Planetary Society.
"As
the home to the Hubble Space Telescope, we will show visitors how we support
scientists from around the globe as they explore the cosmos, helping to answer
some of the most important astronomical questions of our time" says Dr. Mario
Livio, an astrophysicist at STSci.
The addition of these organizations is sure to add excitement, education
and intrigue to a topic that is always popular with students and the general
public: space and planetary exploration.
Click here for a list of other Expo exhibitors!
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Grand Prize: $500
(and knowing that your Jingle will be sung by thousands of science enthusiasts)
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Sponsorship Opportunities
Help us create the largest celebration of science and engineering in the World.
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Create a Festival Jingle and win $500
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in Your Community
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