Festival Host

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K&L Gatesium 

Nobelium

Einsteinium

  

Krypton

NASA

 

 









 

 
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SIGN UP to volunteer for the Expo & Book Fair Volunteer NOW!  The best way to be part of the FUN is to Volunteer. We need Volunteers for Expo Move-in, Sneak Peek Friday, Expo, Book Fair, and Special Evening Events. Tell your friends and volunteer together.  We have Volunteer Opportunities for Individuals (Youth & Adult) and Groups of five or more. All volunteers will get a FREE Red Volunteer T-shirt - and memories of a lifetime!

Volunteers who bring in the most FRIENDS will win prizes! Email questions about Volunteering & your total number of volunteers to Laura. 

Attend ONE Volunteer Training Session- April 14th and April 21st at 10am-12pm or 1pm-3pm for Expo & Book Fair Volunteers at K&L Gates, 1601 K Street NW, Washington, DC. 

Group Volunteers Register HERE

The National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency focused on keeping the U.S. at the leading edge of discovery in fundamental fields of science and engineering, is returning as a major participant in the Festival!  NSF is sponsoring 15 exhibits at the Festival's Expo, some with partners that the agency regularly collaborates with in science, including George Washington University, the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program, and NBC Learn.

Science education and outreach are closely aligned with NSF's primary mission of funding and advancing cutting-edge research, says Judy Gan, Director of NSF's Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA).

"NSF is the primary federal agency focused on funding research that advances science and engineering -- with the goals of keeping America globally competitive, improving quality of life, and securing the national defense," she says. "Closely tied with that is assuring that research is fully integrated with science education, ensuring that the nation continues to train tomorrow's top scientists and engineers, and that we support science teachers to enhance the quality of education."

At the Festival Expo at the end of this month, NSF's Expo exhibits are aimed at showcasing key areas of research that the agency is supporting and "to show kids the relevance and the many sides of science in exciting hands-on ways," says Susan Mason, Head of External Affairs at NSF. 

Take a look at just a few of the fascinating interactive encounters NSF has in store for Festival-goers:

Virtual Human Museum Guides

Interact with Ada and Grace, two virtual museum guides who greet and converse with visitors, including answering questions about exhibits, computer science, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Also, program a portable iRobot using basic principles of computer programming!

Come see and control a realistic-looking robotic fish swimming in a fish tank. This isn't an animation. Learn how NSF is using autonomous robotic fish for the monitoring of aquatic environments, including monitoring oil spills in the Gulf and harmful algal blooms in lakes.

Mobile Labs: Adventures of a Storm Chaser

Sit at the controls of a Doppler on Wheels (DOW), the mobile weather radar facility that scientists from NSF  use to gather up-close data on tornadoes, hurricanes, wild fires, winter storms and other severe weather events. Hands-on activities will also include models of tornadoes, microbursts and experiments with air pressure.

Experience a Fossil Dig in Panama -- Live!

Discover 15- to 20 million-year-old fossil deposits from Panama - new specimens of extinct rhinoceroses, beardogs, camels, horses, and the giant shark, Megalodon, that all lived in Panama during the Miocene. Interact via a live video feed with researchers and students at a fossil dig in the Panama Canal!

For a complete listing of NSF-sponsored exhibits, visit this link. 

The Festival thanks NSF for their sponsorship and participation in this year's Expo! 

Megan Rosenberger, the newly-crowned Miss Teen Earth Pennsylvania 2012, will be there promoting the importance of making our planet more environmentally friendly. High school students from the Lockheed Martin-sponsored Explorer Post 1010 of Montgomery County, MD  will also be there showcasing their fascinating display of rocketry and robotics. 

These are just some of the 18 individuals and STEM-related groups who have been selected to march with famed NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the 100th Celebration of the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade on April 14 in Washington, DC. 

This prominent national event will this year feature the contributions and importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and to help promote this, the USA Science & Engineering Festival was asked to enlist the assistance of science organizations, fans and the public in creating dynamic ideas, displays and costumes for the parade's science-related floats and activities.  This request resulted in us developing a recent contest  for schools, students, teachers and professional entities in STEM to submit their best creative approaches for entries.   

Winners of the contest, in addition to the opportunity to meet and march with Parade Grand Marshall Buzz Aldrin, will also walk with other parade personalities such as the Science & Engineering Festival's Mondo Spider, Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, "Milli Mole" (the mascot of the American Chemical Society), and Life Technologies' "Dream Gene".

Don't miss seeing our contest winners as they march!  The list of winners also includes:

• Forensic science experts from the National Museum of Crime & Punishment whose CSI lab instructors will be featured wearing Tyvex suits and marching with their famous adopted mascot in crime-solving - McGruff the dog!
• The Math Tree outreach organization will have staffers dressed up as an actual math tree (with its leaves made up of numbers, equations and math symbols),  and will include other displays promoting its hands-on activities such as its Divide and Conquer, Algebra Appetizers for Adolescents, and Multiplication Matters programs.
• Five-year old Emerie "Eme" Mitchell-Butler of Manassas, VA, who, blind from a rare childhood genetic disease known as Lebers Congential Amaurosis (LCA), will march to represent the promise that gene therapy holds in identifying the cause of this condition and perhaps one day restoring sight to children like Eme.

The parade will be nationally televised with an estimated audience of 72 million viewers and more than 120,000 spectators on site cheering the parade on as it makes its way down Constitution Avenue. This year's event is co-hosted by Katie Couric, with Alex Trebek  serving as parade route correspondent. Other celebrities participating include Marie Osmond, and U.S. Olympians Kristi Yamaguchi and Benita Fitzgerald Mosely.

Chemistry drives virtually everything we depend on to sustain life and its necessities - from the air, water, and food that sustain us, the energy and engineering technology that empower us, to the pharmaceuticals and medical breakthroughs that ensure our good health.  No one knows this better than The Dow Chemical Company, which has long been at the forefront of innovation, providing scientific solutions that make the world safer, cleaner, and healthier, and our lives more convenient and productive.

As a key sponsor of the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo, Dow will showcase its long-term commitment to advance interest in, access to, and quality of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

Dow is working to build an innovative and competitive workforce, and create a knowledgeable society that values science and technology through its support for STEM education and careers. As an advocate for innovation, Dow is supporting transformational initiatives that make a difference for students, educators and academic institutions.

"Dow invests strategically to leverage its science and technology expertise, sustainability focus, and global network to increase public appreciation of chemistry, encourage interest in chemistry among young people, and generate enthusiasm for the creative future of science," commented Bo Miller, director of Corporate Citizenship and president of The Dow Chemical Company Foundation. "Dow has made a long-term commitment to advance the understanding and appreciation of the values and benefits that science brings to society as well as inspire future generations to pursue education and careers in science-related fields."

Dow's current commitments to enhance the quality of STEM education in America include providing scholarships for experienced teachers to attend workshops at the Keystone Center and The National Science Resource Center (Smithsonian Institutes), and funding National Science Teachers Association's (NSTA) New Science Teacher Academy for second- and third-year teachers. Since 2008, these programs have impacted more than 11,500 teachers and 1.5 million students in the United States alone.

Dow is also serving as the sole corporate sponsor this summer for the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO), which provides high school chemistry students around the globe the opportunity to compete in high-level science competitions.

The Festival sincerely thanks Dow and our other valued Sponsors for their participation in inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers!