USA Science & Engineering Festival
carlyo | April 11, 2012The USA Science and Engineering Festival will really heat up when Popular Science and Make Magazine writer William Gurstelle speaks at the Family/Hands-on Science Stage on Sunday morning. Gurstelle, who wrote the bestselling DIY science book Backyard Ballistics, will be reading from his newest book, The Practical Pyromaniac. The book is a hands-on guidebook to playing with fire and narrates the story of humankind's long-coming understanding of the most important chemical reaction on the planet.
In addition to his talk, William will join a number of other well-known science authors including…
carlyo | April 9, 2012The Kavli Science Video Contest has wrapped up with over 260 entries! Now it's time for the People's Choice Vote, in advance of the awards ceremony on April 29, in Washington, DC, as part of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. People's Choice Voting begins April 2 and closes April 13. Voting is easy, just view the videos on YouTube and click 'like" for your favorites. Click here to view the videos.
We have been highlighting the Top 20 Finalists on our blog for the past two weeks. In today's blog get to know the next five of the Top 20 Finalists:
SPOTLIGHT ON KAVLI VIDEO CONTEST…
carlyo | April 9, 2012
By Larry Bock
Founder and organizer, USA Science & Engineering Festival
In our world of high-tech bravado, I often wonder where we'd be without explorers -- those undaunted heroes and heroines of the past and of today whose achievements, like an unforgettable song or movie -- form a lasting impression in the brain over what the human spirit can accomplish with will and perseverance.
From the annals of history, their names roll off the tongue almost effortlessly: Vespucci, Columbus, Lindbergh, Earhart, Shackleton, Henson, Cousteau, Glenn and others -- people who, bolstered by a sense of…
carlyo | April 6, 2012The Kavli Science Video Contest has wrapped up with over 260 entries! Now it's time for the People's Choice Vote, in advance of the awards ceremony on April 29, in Washington, DC, as part of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. People's Choice Voting begins April 2 and closes April 13. Voting is easy, just view the videos on YouTube and click 'like" for your favorites. Click here to view the videos.
We will be highlighting the Top 20 Finalists on our blog for the next two weeks. In today's blog get to know the next five of the Top 20 Finalists:
SPOTLIGHT ON KAVLI VIDEO CONTEST:…
carlyo | April 4, 2012
We are excited to share the news that the 2012 USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo Map is out! The Festival will run from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Saturday, April 28th and from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Sunday, April 29th. We will also host free evening shows including the Stargazing Party and our Featured Author Panel Discussion both on Saturday night. The "Largest Celebration of Science" will take place this year in Washington, DC at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
The Festival is packed with entertainment for the whole family with 3,000 exhibits and over 150 stage shows…
carlyo | April 3, 2012The Kavli Science Video Contest has wrapped up with over 260 entries! Now its time for the People's Choice Vote, in advance of the awards ceremony on April 29, in Washington, DC, as part of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. People's Choice Voting begins April 2 and closes April 13. Voting is easy, just view the videos on YouTube and click 'like" for your favorites. Click here to view the videos.
We will be highlighting the Top 20 Finalists on our blog for the next two weeks. In today's blog get to know the first five of the top 20 Finalists:
SPOTLIGHT ON KAVLI VIDEO CONTEST:…
carlyo | April 2, 2012
By Larry Bock
Founder and organizer, USA Science & Engineering Festival
The world runs on science and math, but let's face it, to get this across effectively to young students we sometimes have to get a little, well... messy.
No one knows this better than math and science author Sean Connolly who's gained a reputation with kids and teachers alike for breathing life into such potentially stuffy scientific tenets as Boyle's Law and Bernoulli's Principle through hands-on demonstrations and experiments that involve everything from potato guns and cola geysers to film-canister rockets and…
carlyo | March 30, 2012
By Larry Bock
Founder and organizer, USA Science & Engineering Festival
A visit to Washington, DC in the spring is always exciting, but this season the 'wow" factor in the nation's capital goes up a notch with the 100th Celebration of the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade on Saturday, April 14.
Always a must-see event with its spectacular array of lavish floats, marching bands, performers, giant helium balloons and other festivities heralding the arrival of spring, the Festival Parade this year will add another special highlight to its compendium of excitement: science and…
carlyo | March 26, 2012Attention Festival Fans! The Festival has been awarded spaces for 18 people to march in the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade. We have decided to give our fans the opportunity to win these spaces to march alongside legendary NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the Festival's Mondo Spider and other personalities in the 100th Celebration of the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade, Saturday April 14, 2012 in Washington, DC!
To win a space in this unforgettable festive event, which this year features Buzz Aldrin as Parade Grand Marshall, Katie Couric as co-host and Alex Trebek as parade route…
carlyo | March 21, 2012By Max Kurzweil
When we're at a baseball game or on a picnic we call 'em chips. But when we're cooking up experiments at the Chip Science Institute we maintain in our basement, or at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington D.C., we call the world's most beloved munchie "research material."
For the last five years my dad and I have been using potato chips as a portal into the world of biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics. Who knew thin-sliced, deep-fried tubers could teach us about buoyancy, electrostatics, surface tension, acoustics, forensics, Bernoulli's principle,…
carlyo | March 19, 2012 Innovation Generation has selected the "iGen Cub Reporter Contest" Winning Teams to cover the USA Science & Engineering Festival! Teachers from around the Washington D.C. area applied with teams of students to blog about science on iGEN. The teams selected as the winning team of the contest are The Mighty Mustangs, 7th and 8th graders from Scott Durbin's science classes and students from Donna O'Kieff's journalism class at the Earle B. Wood Middle School in Rockville, MD.
The Mighty Mustangs will receive a $1000 grant for STEM-based learning materials for their school, a $500 grant for…
carlyo | March 15, 2012
By Larry Bock
Founder and organizer, USA Science & Engineering Festival
When searching for a prime, real-life example of how science and technology are making a difference in the world right now, my thoughts lately turn to a small but feisty greentech startup that you may never have heard of: Kurion, Inc.
Based in Irvine, CA with 15 employees, this profitable three-year-old company which specializes in nuclear waste cleanup has quietly and effectively been using its technology at the front lines of Fukushima, the site of what is being called one of the largest nuclear disasters in…
carlyo | March 14, 2012The Festival is thrilled to have Homer Hickam, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Rocket Boys, as a Featured Author this year. Homer's new book Crater, the first novel in his new Helium-3 series for young adults, will be released just in time for the Festival. You have the opportunity to meet Homer at the Teen Book Fair Stage: Fiction on Sunday, April 29th at 10:55 AM with a free book signing after!
Homer will also be a part of USA Science & Engineering Festival Book Fair Featured Author Panel Discussion entitled Science Stories in Society & School: Using Narrative to Bridge…
carlyo | March 12, 2012By Joe Schwarcz PhD, Author, USASEF Expo Performer, AT&T Sponsored Nifty Fifty Program Speaker
Yellowstone National Park's iconic "Old Faithful" geyser is pretty faithful. It can be counted on to erupt every 50-90 minutes. Iceland's "Great Geysir," from which all other geysers get their name is less reliable. It was mostly dormant for sixty five years before it began semi-regular eruptions again in 2000 thanks to an earthquake. But in New Zealand, you can set your watch by the eruption of the Lady Knox Geyser, named after a former Governor of the country. At exactly 10:15 AM every…
carlyo | March 9, 2012This April, Jeff Lieberman, artist, scientist and host of Discovery Channel's "Time Warp", will be performing at the 2012 USA Science and Engineering Festival with his show "Beyond Your Imagination". In "Beyond Your Imagination", Lieberman will give you a tour like no other - a tour of yourself. Using advanced technologies and scientific discoveries, we will see just how amazing you are - beyond anything you could imagine! Lieberman explains that "Science doesn't just tell us about the world outside -- it also reveals a deeper understanding of who we are as human beings, and how we see the…
carlyo | March 5, 2012
By Larry Bock
Founder and organizer, USA Science & Engineering Festival
Encouraging and motivating kids early in science and engineering via exciting, hands-on interactions in discovery may be one of the most important steps to boosting their interest and performance in these fields.
But if you think this job falls to teachers alone, you're wrong. Parents can, and should, play an active and frequent role outside the classroom, especially in creative ways that keep children's innate sense of curiosity and exploration alive.
"Kids love the chance to try experiments, visit zoos, or watch…
carlyo | February 22, 2012Our mission is to re-invigorate the interest of our nation's youth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by producing and presenting the most compelling, exciting, educational and entertaining science festival in the United States. In addition to the celebration, throughout the year we work to sustain the Science Festival's impact through year-round programming and curriculum development and a content-rich, interactive website. We strive to establish ourselves as a resource for everyone in the STEM community and especially our future STEM leaders.
One of the ways that we hope…
carlyo | February 17, 2012This week's "Featured Fan" is Felicia Reed! Felicia is a Festival Volunteer, she runs a great community outreach organization and is a proud mother to a future STEM leader! We thank Felicia for her Festival contributions and ongoing support!
Read all about our "Featured Fan" Felicia Reed below:
I am a HUGE fan of the USA Science and Engineering Festival! I work full time as a Quality Management Specialist. In my spare time, I operate Kids Getting Out (KGO) a community-based organization that sponsors activities, promotes process learning and performs community services. KGO also holds…
carlyo | February 1, 2012"The periodic table is the universal catalog of everything you can drop on your foot"
--Theodore Gray
You have the amazing opportunity to hear from best-selling author Theodore Gray at this year's USA Science and Engineering Festival Book Fair! Gray will be speaking at the Teen Non-Fiction Festival Stage at 11:50 am on Saturday, April 28th. His newest book is Theodore Gray's Elements Vault: Treasures of the Periodic Table with Removable Archival Documents and Real Element Samples - Including Pure Gold! Gray's other books, The Elements and Mad Science, are international bestsellers, as is…
carlyo | January 30, 2012
By Larry Bock
Founder and organizer, USA Science & Engineering Festival
Tinkering -- that hands-on, garage-based tradition which sparked inventions ranging from the airplane and electric light bulb to the Apple computer -- is making a comeback among average Americans, promising to change our lives for the better on several fronts.
Known by such monikers as DIY (Do It Yourself) and the Maker Movement, its resurrection, fueled by the current economic downturn and the falling cost of high-tech tools and materials, stands not only to boost innovation and change how science is taught in the…