Next Volunteer Outreach Team Meeting Scheduled October 30th!  Sign UP Now!

New and returning Volunteers - Sign up for the next Volunteer Outreach Team meeting October 30th, 2011.  We will reveal a new Festival postcard and poster - and you will learn more of existing Festival details. We will give you a Festival 

t-shirt and materials to share - and you can meet your School District Volunteer Outreach Team Coordinators!   

We look forward to seeing you on 

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

2:00-4:00PM

at

K&L Gates, 1601 K Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20006

New Volunteers register here: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/volunteer/volunteer-outreach-team

Returning Volunteers register here: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/volunteer/volunteer-outreach-team-meetings

Book Fair Selection Committee Meeting 

Wednesday, October 12th at 6:30PM 

We have an overwhelming response of excellent books submitted for the USA Science & Engineering Book Fair. If you would like to be on the Book Fair Selection Committee, contact Laura (bluebonnetpath@gmail.com). Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 12th in Springfield, VA at 6:30PM.

Richard Byrd Library 

7250 Commerce St
Springfield, VA 22150

Please RSVP if you can attend. 

Books are still being accepted by submitting - visit: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/submit-a-book

School District Volunteer Outreach Coordinators Named   

We are pleased to announce Volunteer Outreach Coordinators in each of the following school districts.  Please email Laura (bluebonnetpath@gmail.com) if you would like to represent a school district not listed, or would like to Co-Coordinate a school district.  We are grateful to our wonderful Volunteer Outreach Team Coordinators!  To be on the Volunteer Outreach Team, register here: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/volunteer/volunteer-outreach-team

DC    DCPS    Beatrice Thompson
DC    Private Schools    Verda Peterkin
MD    Anne Arundel County Public Schools    Jack Andraka
MD    Howard County Public Schools    Kevin Baker
MD    Howard County Public Schools    Leslie Sands
MD    Montgomery County Public Schools    Kathryn Spivey
MD    Montgomery County Public Schools    Rosanna Thomas
MD    Prince George's County Public Schools    Felicia Reed
MD    Prince George's County Public Schools    Velarie Harvell
MD    Prince George's County Public Schools    Laura Carriere
MD    St. Mary's County Public Schools    Corey Redmond
MD    Catholic Schools    Tom Brett
VA    Arlington County    Teresa Liao 

VA    Arlington County    Rob Dudek
VA    Arlington County    Louisa Marinaccio
VA    Fairfax County    Patrick Truver
VA    Loudoun County    Veronica Breza
VA    Prince William County    Carol Matheny
VA    King George County    Elody Shojinaga

Tell the schools to SIGN Up NOW to Bring a Nifty Fifty Speaker to your School...Space is Limited! 

Teachers: we invite you to apply NOW to host a Nifty Fifty speaker at your school as part of the 2nd USA Science & Engineering Festival! Don't miss the opportunity for your students to meet and be inspired by one of our dynamite 'Nifty Fifty (times 2)' science and engineering professionals who will fan out across the Washington, DC area in March and April of 2012!    

Over 100 Nifty Fifty (times 2) speakers are signed up to participate, and waiting to visit your school! They include: social network research guru Sinan Aral (find out what the future holds for email, Facebook and other technologies in the Information Age); robotics and rocketry outreach expert Bob Ekman; Mars and Bermuda Triangle geosciences researcher Marilyn Fogel; the intriguing astrophysicist and science educator Jeff Goldstein; the card-shuffling mathematician C. Brent Morris, and chemist Diane Bunce (learn her classroom secrets to demystifying chemistry for students!).

And don't forget: noted biologist Marnie Halpern (let her show your students the amazing discoveries she's making studying tiny zebrafish!); Naval STEM outreach leader Michael Kassner (tomorrow's high-tech Naval careers  never looked so exciting!), and renowned space physicist Mario Livio (get ready as he plunges students into the mysterious world of Black Holes, super novas and dark energy).  Plus many others!

View all of our speakers by visiting the Nifty Fifty webpage below. 

Space is very limited and the application deadline is October 21, so apply NOW by visiting:

http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/schoolprograms/nifty-fifty-application-form-for-schools

Brought to you by:

In addition to bringing a speaker to your school, you can see lots of exciting Nifty Fifty Speakers at Sneak Peek Friday on April 27, 2012 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center! This is an excellent opportunity for teachers and homeschoolers to take their students on a special field trip to preview the exhibits and other activities that will be happening at the Expo that Saturday and Sunday. Your students will experience all of the fun and excitement of the Festival Finale Expo before it opens to the general public! And - while having fun - your students can leave with information about science and engineering scholarships, internships, mentorship, future jobs and much more.

 

Space for Sneak Peak Friday is limited so teachers must register early!  

Register for Sneak Peek Friday NOW by visiting: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/schoolprograms/attend-sneak-peek-friday

Contests, Contests...and More Contests! 

Tell the Schools to Get Involved Today!

The 2nd Festival is currently underway with several nationwide contests including a science song contest, science and engineering video contest, Who Wants To Be a Mathematician Contest and many others. All of these contests are accessible on our website here: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/. There is thousands of dollars in prize money. Read on to find out how your students can get involved NOW!

Festival Songwriting Contest 

Write a song about science that gets kids moving, and excited about science and engineering careers! Winners receive cash prizes! 

http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/contests/song-contest 

Deadline Nov. 30, 2011  

"Save the World Through Science & Engineering" 2012 Kavli Foundation Science Video Contest 

Make a video that dazzles and wows us with the POWER of science! Show us how science and engineering can help save our planet and improve our lives. Winners will be honored in a special festival Awards Show hosted by Bill Nye the Science Guy! http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/contests/kavli-video-contest 

Contest opens Oct 1, 2011 and closes Mar. 1, 2012     

You Can Do the Rubik's Cube Contest 

DC, MD and VA K-12 teams will be competing for the fastest time to collectively solve 25 Rubik's Cubes. There is a K-8 and 9-12 competition. Team sign-ups will be announced Fall 2011, and will compete in a semi-finals contest. The top six finalists will then compete for the championship at the USA Science & Engineering Festival during the Expo weekend 4/28/2012. Free workshop for teachers and cash prizes will be awarded to winning schools.

The Grand Challenges 60 Second Pitch Contest (Sponsored by Engineering.com)

Tell us in 100 words or less how you would solve one of these challenges: economically harness solar power, provide access to clean water, or restore the urban infrastructure. The top submissions will be invited to record their pitch at the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo in April 2012, and will be eligible for cash prizes!

http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/contests/grand-challenges-contest

Contest opens Sept. 20, 2011 and closes Mar 30, 2012

Who Wants to Be a Mathematician? (Sponsored by AMS American Mathematical Society) 

Are you a DC area high school math whiz? Test your smarts by competing at the festival in a student math game competition, and be eligible to win cash prizes!

http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/contests/who-wants-to-be-a-mathematician

Teachers must administer pre-qualifying tests in advance of the Expo, which are due at AMS Public Awareness office by Mar 28, 2012 

"World's Biggest Cheer for Science" (Sponsored by Science Cheerleader, Science for Citizens, and Discover Magazine) 

Send us a video of your best science cheer and be eligible to win cash prizes! Thousands of people will join in the BIG CHEER FOR SCIENCE on April 27, 2012 at the festival in Washington, D.C.

http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/contests/worlds-biggest-cheer-for-science

Your middle and high school students will surely want to be at the Festival next April when we host one of the largest public math experiments ever performed: examining and testing the elliptical properties of the Ellipse -- the famous national landmark located between the National Mall and the White House in Washington, DC!

Sign up your middle and high school students and members of your school's science, math and engineering clubs today by visiting: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/schoolprograms/attend-ellipse-day

In mathematics, an ellipse (which resembles a circle that has been squashed into an oval) is a curved line forming a closed loop, where the sum of the distances from two points (called foci) is constant to every point. The shape and properties of ellipses have long fascinated math experts.

Now, on Thursday, April 26, you and your students will have the chance to join in a massive experiment called "Ellipse Day" to help figure out the elliptical configurations of the well-known DC landmark, just as they were laid out in the late 1800s by Lieutenant Col. Thomas Casey of the Army Corps of Engineering when he designed the Ellipse.

In a three-phase experiment requiring more than 500 participants ( who will sometimes be working individually, in teams or in human chains), Ellipse Day will be done on a huge scale, says Glen Whitney, Executive Director, Museum of Mathematics. "This will make it fun and physically challenging as volunteers working with Museum of Math-designated coordinators attempt to answer such questions as: Is the Ellipse truly a mathematical ellipse? If so, where are its foci? And, what is that constant total distance for the Ellipse?" says Glen, who with colleagues founded the Museum of Math several years ago when the smaller Goudreau Museum of mathematics on Long Island, NY closed.

Are your students up for the challenge, and its cash prize awards? For a photo and layout of the Ellipse in Washington, go to: 

http://www.visitingdc.com/neighbor/washington-dc-ellipse.htm 

And for more details on Ellipse Day, and how to participate, visit:  

http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2012festival/schoolprograms/attend-ellipse-day