Newsletter No. 25 - September 27th, 2010 |
Festival Dates: Expo Dates:
10/10/10
- 10/24/10 10/23 & 10/24Celebrate Science: Don't miss the Expo on the National MallOctober 23 and 24, 2010, 10am-5:30pm - A free event for all ages
Over 1500 hands-on activities, more than 75 stage shows on four stages Volunteers Needed for Expo Weekend!
Help our exhibitors move-in Saturday morning, then explore the Expo the rest of the day! Find out more!Save the Date for the Festival Opening Event on 10/10/10
Powers of Ten: A Journey in Song from Quark to Cosmos 10/10/10, 5-7pm, Find out more |
Check out our NEW FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE and Invite ALL your Friends to the Festival! Now is the time to let us know you will be there!
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All Hands On Deck: Office of
Naval Research Emphasizes Innovation and STEM Careers as Festival Sponsor
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has become a key Sponsor of the USA
Science and Engineering Festival, bolstering the Festival's efforts to expose
students to cutting-edge innovation and Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math (STEM) careers.
As an added and generous boost to this inaugural national event, ONR is also
supporting the Festival through a $100,000 STEM grant.
An abundance of fun, exciting and hands-on learning await visitors to ONR's
booth exhibit during the Festival's Expo next month on the National Mall --
from exploring how to use math and science skills to designing, building and
racing your own underwater robots and ships to finding out about the hottest
Naval STEM careers of the future!
As a key research arm within the U.S. Department of Defense, ONR provides
technical advice to the Chief of Naval Operations and the Secretary of the Navy
on matters ranging from marine meteorology and ocean acoustics to underwater
signal processing and marine mammals and biology.
The Naval STEM Coordination Office supports the Navy's commitment to STEM
education and outreach across the entire U.S. Navy enterprise, including ONR,
Naval Academy, air and sea systems commands, Naval Research Laboratory, and
many others.
"The Festival is a great opportunity to show students how math, science and
engineering are put to practical use every day in the real world," says Dr. Kam
Ng, ONR deputy director of research, who is working closely with Dr. Michael
Kassner, ONR director of research, in sponsoring ONR's participation in the
Festival.
"For instance," says Ng, "visitors to ONR's exhibit can learn about
SeaPerch, an underwater robotics project, which is designed to introduce
pre-college students to the marvels of engineering, science and ship/submarine
design." At the SeaPerch exhibit, he says, "students will have the chance drive
the underwater ROV around the pool, dive it, and even race it with other student-built
ROVs."
Through another exciting ONR exhibit called "Virtual Robo Glove," students
will learn "first-hand" about how motion sensors work by manipulating an
authentic robotic glove by using accelerometer sensors!
Motivating and preparing a greater number of students for science and
technology related fields is a critical priority for the Navy today, helping
its personnel to remain ever-ready to tackle the challenges of the future, says
Carolyn Van Damme, director of the Naval STEM Coordination Office.
"The Navy has made a commitment to double its investment in STEM education
and outreach over the next five years," she says. "We are currently investing
nearly $60 million in STEM programs, and are looking for ways to increase our
impact by leveraging our current portfolio and partnering with best practice
programs that reach beyond our current scope.
In addition, she says, "the Festival is an excellent way to send a strong
message in support of science, technology, engineering and mathematics
education, especially highlighting its importance in cultivating a more
competitive and diverse workforce for tomorrow."
At the ONR exhibit booth, representatives from ONR and the Naval STEM Coordination
Office will be available with information about a wide variety of cutting-edge
STEM career opportunities available in the Navy.
What's more, the Naval STEM Coordination Office along with ONR will provide
details about the numerous STEM outreach programs they support to prepare
students for such careers.
Throughout the year, in supporting STEM and other outreach efforts, ONR
participates in and sponsors science fairs, college internships, graduate
fellowships and curricular enrichment programs. Its outreach initiatives
encourage, promote and coordinate naval science and technology both
domestically and abroad.
These programs include such initiatives for K-12 students as: the Science
and Engineering Apprentice Program, and the Naval High School Science Awards
Program. And such initiatives in higher education as: the Naval Research
Enterprise Intern Program, the Science, Mathematics & Research for
Transformation Program, and the DoD National Defense Science & Engineering
Graduate Fellowship Program. For
more information, http://www.onr.navy.mil/en/Education-Outreach.aspx.
In addition, the Naval STEM Coordination Office keeps the public abreast of
all Navy and Marine Corps STEM programs through a valuable website portal and
resource known as Stem2Stern http://www.stem2stern.org/index.
The site also features inspirational success stories from students about how
Navy STEM programs are enriching their academic and career development.
We thank ONR and the Naval STEM Coordination Office and our other valued
Sponsors as they join us in our goal of inspiring the next generation of
scientists and engineers! |
Get your Passport and Discover Engineering!
Have you ev er wondered what engineers do? Engineers shape the future. They design, build and make things that matter - all around us! During the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo, visitors will enjoy a unique opportunity to learn more about engineering by making a journey through more than a dozen partnering Discover Engineering exhibits. Each exhibitor will issue a passport for your journey and help guide your experience. Your passport will take you to engineering exhibits where you can talk with engineers, explore engineering challenges, and find interesting information about alternative energy, entrepreneurial space, floatation and buoyancy, the world's Grand Challenges, materials science, nanotechnology, and more! Kids of all ages can even explore the visually-stunning cyber universe of Disney's movie release TRON: Legacy. Get your passport stamped at five or more activities and receive a prize at the National Engineers Week Foundation exhibit! Enjoy engineering? Don't stop here. Your passport will also reveal where you can find more fun engineering activities after the festival! Discover-e participants: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics American Society of Civil Engineers American Society of Mechanical Engineers IEEE-USA JETS Materials Research Society / NISE Network MATHCOUNTS Museum of Science, Boston National Academy of Engineering National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering National Engineers Week Foundation National Society of Professional Engineers Society of Women Engineers WGBH-TV/PBS (NOVA)
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Partner Highlight: Lights On Afterschool STEM!
We are proud to welcome The Afterschool Alliance, which
works to ensure that all children have access to quality, affordable
afterschool programs, as a Festival Partner. In addition to their interactive
booth at the Expo, the Afterschool Alliance is encouraging afterschool programs
around the nation to participate in our Satellite Event initiative.
8.5 million children are in afterschool programs[1]
in the U.S. for an average of 12 hours per week. These programs offer a range of activities, including tutoring,
academic enrichment, physical activity and arts. Increasingly, afterschool
programs are turning their focus to STEM.
The afterschool space is ideal for STEM learning and
provides a wonderful complement to school day instruction. The setting allows for hands-on
exploration of science concepts, and long-term - often multi-year - engagement. Afterschool programs allow children to
do science without fear of academic failure and help them gain an appreciation
for science's relevance to their daily lives. Nationwide, afterschool programs are engaging children in
STEM activities that make them excited about STEM career paths.[2]
The Afterschool Alliance,[3]
has organized a booth at the USA Science and Engineering Festival that will
feature STEM-focused afterschool programs. Instructors and children from the DC
Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, Higher Achievement Program,
4-H DC and The After School Corporation (TASC) from New York City will provide
a glimpse into the world of STEM in afterschool.
Our participation in the Festival is part of Lights On Afterschool, the nation-wide rally for afterschool
programs. Every October, thousands of afterschool programs across the country
use Lights On to showcase their wonderful work and bring attention to the importance of afterschool programs.
Visit the Lights On Afterschoolwebsite
to learn more and find
an event near you.
Contact the Afterschool Alliance to learn more about
afterschool how afterschool programs are engaging the next generation of STEM
professionals!
Afterschool Alliance, (202) 347-2030
Anita Krishnamurthi, Director of STEM Policy, [email protected]
Rivka
Burstein-Stern, Field Outreach Coordinator, Afterschool Alliance, [email protected]
[1] The term
afterschool program is used broadly nowadays and refers to the time before
school begins, after it ends, and the summer months when school is out.
[2] http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/issue_19_career_development.cfm
[3] The
Afterschool Alliance is a non-profit advocacy group that works to ensure
high-quality afterschool programs are available to all. We are committed to crafting a STEM
policy agenda for afterschool to ensure all children and youth have access to
the jobs and careers of tomorrow.
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The amazing poster of the Amazing Nano Brothers!
| The Atomic World as You've Never Seen Before
"Joel, don't you know you can't shrink people down to the size of nanometers?" asks Joel's know-it-all brother, Dan, with acute embarrassment. But the na�ve Joel's mistake becomes this madcap pair's excuse to make it up to the audience, who have, after all, have come from miles around to see The Amazing Nano Brothers in action. So begins The Amazing Nano Brothers Juggling Show - a 45-minute comedic and mind-blowing romp through the insides of atoms and the quirkiest of nanoscale forces.
On the way, you'll see some truly mysterious virtuoso juggling, rivaling The Flying Karamazov Brothers; scenes like Dan and Joel passing brightly strobing "electrons" in complete darkness, from farther and farther away, while a brave young volunteer holds a small glowing "nucleus" mid-stage. Then there's the unforgettable scene where Dan and Joel (on a 7 ' unicycle) recreate Don Eigler's famous discovery that a scanning probe microscope can pick up and move individual atoms, a seminal event that some say kicked off the nanotechnology revolution. And audiences love the finale, with all sorts of nano-enhanced sporting goods flying from one juggler to another as they ride their unicyles up and down the stage. "Don't try this at home," Dan cautions the K-to-gray audience. "Yeah, do it at your friend's house," Joel suggests in a loud whisper.
"Learning science doesn't get any better than this," said one visitor to the Museum of Science, Boston, where the show has entertained more than 40,000 people since opening in 2008, "they're so talented; they're so funny; we learned so much!"
The Amazing Nano Brothers Juggling Show was written and directed by Carol Lynn Alpert, a former public television producer who heads up the strategic projects group at the Museum of Science, in collaboration with the real Dan Foley and Joel Harris (not brothers, but friends -they met long ago during a snowball juggling contest inside a laundromat in their hometown of Spencerport, NY.) Development of the show was supported by the NSF Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing, headquartered at Northeastern University and UMass Lowell, and by the Harvard NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. Catch the show at the Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History, Saturday, October 23rd at 12:30 and 4:00, and Sunday, October 24th, at 12:30. (DVDs available at talkingnano.net)
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It's Show Time: Festival's Powers of Ten Opening Event to be Broadcast Live!
As anticipation mounts for the opening date of the USA Science & Engineering Festival on 10/10/10, get ready for another jolt of excitement that day: Powers of Ten - the opening kickoff event for the Festival - will be broadcast LIVE on cable television in major areas of Maryland, and also streamed live online and fed down to Washington, DC for online viewing there.
The broadcast and streaming, made possible through the University of Maryland (a key Festival Partner), will not only give the opening day of the Festival heightened visibility but also greatly expand the local and regional viewership of Powers of Ten -- a majestic and magical celebration of science through music and song led by noted English composer David Haines.
The musical production, featuring more than 250 children and adult singers from the Washington, DC area, will be held Sunday, October 10 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the University of Maryland, College Park campus.
UMTV - the University of Maryland's cable TV station - will carry the Powers Ten event live in both Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, the university reports. (In these areas, Comcast Cable customers can watch the broadcast on Channel 73 in Prince George's County and on Channel 2 in Montgomery. The event will be on Channel 40 in both counties.)
In addition, the event will be streamed live by the university and fed online by fiber optics to Washington, DC to Verizon's AVOC switch. The Festival also plans to post a recorded version of the event on its website later in October and to save it in its archives.
As the countdown begins for the Festival, the buzz in the community about David Haines' music and the Powers of Ten event has also started. "The common theme I keep hearing from the participating choirs is that they love David's music and can't wait to perform it," says Nancy Huddleston, Communications Director for the Earth & Life Sciences Division of the National Academy of Sciences. Nancy, a musician who also directs the Academy's choir, is assisting the Festival by serving as volunteer coordinator for the Powers of Ten.
The event promises to be one to remember. David and his vocalists - through a savory combination of musical styles, including a touch of classical, a soupcon of jazz, a dash of pop and a sprinkle of rap -- will take you on an amazing journey through science. During this experience, be prepared to be dazzled by the wonders and mystery of quarks, atoms, bacteria, the string theory, amoebae, tectonic plates, Earth, Moon, black holes and other marvels of science. Said David recently about his work: "I write science songs the way other people write love songs -- out of passion for the subject matter... I don't generally aim to teach science through song, but to celebrate it and to arouse the curiosity of those who perform and hear it."
David has long worked as a composer in the sleepy rural county of Devon in South West England. He is currently songwriter-in-residence with the world famous Royal Botanic Gardens and Millennium Seed bank in England. For more information on David, visit www.davidhaines.co.uk and www.singtastic.com
Participating Schools and Choral Groups include Suitland High School (Prince George's County) Thomas Jefferson High School (Fairfax County) Loudon Country Day School (Loudon County) Ft. Belvoir Elementary School (Fairfax County)
Collegium Musicum The Refrains (National Academy of Sciences chorus) Little River UCC Contempos North Cambridge Family Opera
Powers of Ten will be held Sunday, October 10, 2010, 5-7pm, a the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the University of Maryland, College Park campus
Tickets are free of charge, but seating is limited and you must reserve a ticket by calling 301.405.ARTS [2787] - Donations to offset the cost for creating this event will be appreciated at the door.
For more information visit http://www.usasciencefestival.org/powersoften
We wish to sincerely thank the University of Maryland, College Park for hosting the Powers of Ten event, and for serving in other key roles as a Festival Dream Partner.
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Festival to be Officially Launched
September 29 With Press Conference and 'Sneak
Preview' of Event A high-profile press conference September 29 in Washington, DC will officially announce the launching of the USA Science & Engineering Festival to the nation. If your communications department would like to attend, please email Aimee Stern at [email protected] The conference, to be held at the Koshland
Museum, will provide news media
and guests with an intriguing "sneak preview," or microcosm, of what will be occurring at the Festival, including the event's Nifty Fifty, and Lunch with a Laureate sessions, as well as a look some of the
Festival's key interactive Expo
exhibit demonstrations. With Jim Dinegar, president and CEO of the Greater Washington (DC) Board of Trade,
serving as emcee of the press conference, speakers at the gathering will
include: Charles Vest, President, National Academy of Engineering; Jennifer Byrne, Vice
President of Technology Strategy, Lockheed Martin; Francis Eberle,
Executive Director, National Science Teachers Association (NSTA); Wallace
Loh, President-Designate,
University of Maryland College Park, and John P. Holdren, Assistant to the
President for Science and Technology, and Director of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy.
Sneak previews of Expo presentations -- ranging from demonstrating the
excitement of physics and the marvel of Science Channel's "Meteorite Men" to
learning from the "Father of Green Chemistry" and the mystery of the Rubik's Cube - will give participants
a good idea of the breadth of activities to expect October 23-24 at the Expo on
the National Mall in Washington, DC.
Hosting exhibits at the press
conference for their respective institutions are: Holly
Riehl, Senior Vice President, You CAN DO the Rubik's Cube Program; Jennifer
Byrne, Vice President of Technology Strategy, Lockheed Martin; Bob Hirshon, Senior Project Director, AAAS;
Paul Miller, CEO, EE Times Group; Adam Bly, Founder & CEO, Seed; Karen Nelson, Director,
Rockville Campus of J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI); and Lisa McDonald, Director,
the JCVI Education Group; Debbie
Myers, General Manager of Science
Channel and Executive VP of Programming for Discovery Emerging Networks; Eric Green, Director,
National Human Genome Research Institute; Matthew Bobrowsky, Director,
Lecture-Demonstration Facility, Department of Physics, University of Maryland; Steven
Koonin, Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy; Paul Anastas,
Director, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, and Mariette DiChristina,
Editor-in-Chief, Scientific American. Also participating in the press
conference proceedings will be up to 75 students from Washington, DC's Martin
Luther King Elementary School.
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THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
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Silicon Valley Bank - Bechtel National Radio Astronomy Observatory Space X - Research In Motion SciVee - SchoolTube Thirty Meter Telescope Project Astronomy Outreach Foundation Virginia Commonwealth University School
of Engineering National Math and Science Initiative Rochester Institute of Technology SpringBoard, a Program of the Juneau
Economic Development Council The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science The USDA Food Safety Discovery Zone Air Force Research Laboratory DeVry University, DC Metro The Aerospace Corporation Periodic Quest Inc. ExxonMobil
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Visit us online at www.usasciencefestival.org
New logo design by MORRIS
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Festival Host:
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Buy a Festival T-shirt Buy 10 or more and get 15% off Go to store
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Register your team for our You Can Do the Rubik's Cube Tournament Click here for more info
In partnership with
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Engineering.com is partnering with The USA Science Festival to bring you "The Great Science Teacher Video Contest" Are you a great science teacher? Prove it! Submit your video now for a chance to win cash and electronics prizes! Click here for more info
In partnership with
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Are you a Fan of the Festival? Tell others by posting our "I am a Fan" Logo on your Facebook page, website, blog or wherever else you share information.
The logo is available for download on our "Resources" page
In return, we will gladly post a link to your site. Provide us with your basic info and your Fan "ShoutOut" about the Festival, and we will add you to our website... Click here to fill out a brief form
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Be part of the National Celebration: Check out the Satellite Events Map to see celebrations around the county.Take a look! |
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