Newsletter No. 8 - January 18, 2010  |
Festival Dates: Expo on the National Mall:
10/10/10 - 10/24/10 10/23 & 10/24
Online Info Sessions for Exhibitors Start This Week!
Attention all Festival Partners and Exhibitors: Join one of three online Info Sessions on January 19, January 28 or February 2. You should have received registration information by email - if you did not, please email Ruth Kiefer at rkiefer@mindspring.com.
Nominate a Nifty Fifty Speaker- Read Details Below
The Nifty Fifty are a group of noted professionals who will fan out across the
Washington, DC area next October to speak about their work and careers to inspire the next generation of scientists. Read more...
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The USA Science & Engineering Festival is proud to present:
2010 You CAN do the Rubik's Cube Tournament
Teams of 8 collectively solve 25 cubes in the fastest time. Students learn how to solve the Rubik's Cube, enhance math and 21st century learning skills and have fun! Cash prizes totaling $5,000 and trophies for the winning team. Registration Deadline: April 30, 2010. Register Now!
Join the fun... All public, private and religious schools, home schools, after school, and other non-profit community youth organizations in the Greater Washington DC area (including Virginia and Maryland) serving ages K-12 can participate.
Prizes:
1st Prize - $2,000
2nd Prize - $1,000
Four 3rd Prizes - $500 each
The Tournament will be held as part of the 2010 USA Science & Engineering Festival. All teams will compete in the preliminary Tournament to be held on Thursday, October 21, 2010*, at the National Electronics Museum. The top six finalists will advance to the Grand Final to be held on Saturday, October 23, 2010, as part of the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo on the National Mall. The Final will be followed by the Awards Ceremony.
The Tournament will
consist of teams of eight, K-12 only, who will be competing for the fastest time
to collectively solve 25 Rubik's Cubes. Cash Prizes will be awarded to the winning school/youth organization and must be allocated towards
science and math education efforts.
Free Orientation Workshop for Teachers and Coaches
Teachers
and coaches are encouraged to attend an orientation workshop on March 6, 2010, 11:00am to 2:00pm to be held at the National Electronics Museum. At the workshop, we will show you how to solve the Rubik's Cube and you will hear from teachers
and educators who already use the Rubik's Cube in their classroom. To
sign up for this workshop, simply state so on the tournament
registration form.
The first 30 teachers/coaches who register for the tournament AND
attend the teacher/coach orientation workshop on March 6, are eligible
to receive a free Math Education Kit valued at $150.
You CAN Do
the Rubik's Cube
is a math education program that can be integrated into the school curriculum
and/or used as an educational outreach activity through after school clubs,
community youth organizations or any environment that encourages learning
activities. The You CAN do the Rubik's Cube Math Education
Kit is available for purchase at www.YouCanDoTheCube.com and includes 12
Rubik's Cubes, Solution Guides, and instructional CD with math lessons and
activities that have been designed and piloted by teachers and educational
consultants for classroom use at varying grade levels. These lessons are
aligned with national standards, curriculum frameworks in 50 states and 21st
Century Skills. Kits materials can be downloaded (without cubes)
for free. No purchase is necessary to register and compete.
The
Tournament is a great opportunity to integrate You CAN Do the Rubik's
Cube into your math curriculum. Achieving the
elusive goal of solving the Rubik's Cube can bring every child an increased
sense of self-esteem, accomplishment, enthusiasm, pride and joy plus it's a
really cool way to teach and learn algebra and geometry.
The venue for the workshop and tournament is generously provided by 
*depending on the number of competing teams, preliminaries may run over two days beginning Wednesday, October 20th
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 Festival Partners - Help Us Answer Obama's Call!
Send Us Your Nifty Fifty Nominees
When the President of the United States calls upon you to help motivate and excite students about science and engineering -"to encourage young people to create, build and invent" - well, it's a plea that's hard to ignore.
 The USA Science & Engineering Festival is gearing up to answer this call to action by establishing the Nifty Fifty, a group of noted professionals who will fan out across the Washington, DC area next October to speak about their work and careers at various middle schools and high schools. The Nifty Fifty will feature individuals who have made a major impact on the field of science and engineering either through research or through other fields such as law, business, government and public service.
Last November, President Obama announced a major science education initiative before the National Academy of Sciences. In his speech, the President told the august assembly of scientists and guests: "I want to persuade you to spend time in the classroom, talking - and showing - young people what it is that your work can mean, and what it means to you...Think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering."
"The Nifty Fifty will be an important, high-profile group in the Festival's mission to bring young students in personal contact with renowned professionals and to build momentum and excitement in the weeks leading up to the massive gathering at the Festival's Expo on the National Mall," says Larry Bock, Founder of the USA Science & Engineering Festival.
We are now asking Festival Partners to nominate at least one of their scientists or engineers to be considered for this elite cadre of professionals.
 We are looking for nominees from all areas of science and engineering who are dynamic, recognized in their field and passionate about what they do - and who have the proven experience and desire to communicate that passion to young students in engaging, interactive ways.
The nominee's ability to engage a young audience is critical, especially because these talks are not only intended for youngsters who may be interested in science and engineering careers, but also for kids who may not be as enthusiastic. The challenge for the Nifty Fifty speaker is to engage everyone.
Selected scientists and engineers will be scheduled to make at least one, three-hour commitment for a presentation during October 12 -20 at a selected middle school or high school in the Washington, DC, northern Virginia or Maryland areas.
In considering which scientists or engineers to nominate as Nifty Fifty presenters, Festival Partners are advised that nominees should:
-be engaging speakers.
-preferably live in, or be within driving distance of, Washington, DC, northern Virginia or Maryland.
-be able commit to including ample/appropriate visuals (such as videos and other multimedia technology, cool demos, research samples, and handouts) in their talks, and other means (such as humor and personal vignettes) to engage students. It is important that speakers be able to customize their talks to young audiences and not use typical materials or language they might employ for talks directed to colleagues.
-be able to submit to the Nifty Fifty selection committee video or audio samples of "kid friendly" presentations they have conducted in the past in classrooms or in other science education settings.
-be able to communicate (or preferably meet) with the assigned classroom teacher at the school at least 30 days before the scheduled Nifty Fifty presentation to discuss the level of student understanding of the speaking topic, coordinate the contents of the talk, audiovisual needs, logistics and other matters.
The speakers' talks should center on three key areas:
-the science and/or engineering they are passionate about
-their career path (including how they became interested in what they do, who or what influenced them as young students, and stumbling blocks or challenges they encountered along the way)
-what opportunities they see for young people in their field.
Nifty Fifty talks should be no more than 35 minutes, with an additional 15 minutes for Q&A. Speakers should also be able to stay at least 1.5 hours after their talk to have lunch at the school with a subset of interested students.
The Festival seeks a broad representation of Nifty Fifty speakers, especially a diversity of science and engineering professions, ethnicity and gender. Note: Since the Festival has been fortunate to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, we are also very interested in recruiting Nifty Fifty speakers in such areas as clean technology, alternative energy, green chemistry, bio-mimicry, sustainability, ecology and conservation, or speakers who can include elements of these areas in their talks.
We invite you to take a look at several Nifty Fifty Speakers who have been selected thus far:
 Francis Collins
Deciphering the Human Genome
 Jim Kalikos
What do Spiderman and Other Comic Book Superheroes Have in Common With Physics?
 Diandra Leslie-Pelesky
Combines Her Love for Auto Racing With Science Research
 Matthew Nordan
An Entrepreneur Using Business Genius to Propel Science into the Future
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Vertex Pharmaceuticals - You Can Do The Rubik's Cube
Sandia National Laboratories - Genentech
NuVasive - FEI - Case Western Reserve University
Silicon Valley Bank - Bechtel
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Create a Festival Jingle
Grand Prize: $500
(and knowing that your Jingle will be sung by thousands of science enthusiasts)
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Visit us online at www.usasciencefestival.org
New logo design by MORRIS
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Sponsorship Opportunities
Help us create the largest celebration of science and engineering in the World.
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10/10/10?
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