The Inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival will be the country’s first national science festival and will descend on the Washington, D.C. area in the Fall of 2010. The Festival promises to be the ultimate multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States. On this blog, you can keep updated on Festival events and scheduling, and follow along as the Festival's organizers and presenters further discuss the ideas and themes that shape the agenda.
Enter the Great Science Teacher Video Contest
Great teachers inspire students to pursue a higher education in science and engineering. They communicate difficult concepts with ease. And they make science fun. Are you a great teacher?
Can you explain the photoelectric effect so that students really get it? Or have you got the perfect experiment to demonstrate Newton's 3rd Law? Wouldn't it be great to share those lessons with the entire nation? Well, here is your chance.
Simply shoot a video of your lesson and submit it to the USA Science & Engineering Festival. Winners will receive cash and prizes. Winning entries will be shown on the Festival website and on ENGINEERING.com.
You give so much and now we're giving back with
$3,500 in cash and prizes.
To enter, explain one or more of the following concepts on video:
* Projectile Motion
* Circular Motion
* The General Theory of Relativity
* Bohr's Model of the Atom
* The Photoelectric Effect
* Newton's 3rd Law of Motion
* An important science topic of your choice
We are looking for short (2-7 minutes) videos that explain one of these science concepts. Entries will be judged on how well they convey the concept, your communication style including visual aids, and how well you inspire students to learn more.
Be fun, be creative, be you!
Sponsored by ENGINEERING.com, the contest opens on July 1, 2010 and closes on October 21, 2010.
To learn more about this exciting opportunity click here.
Let's face it, we as a society have a limited, even poor, image of scientists and engineers. For instance, just ask the average fifth-grader to draw his or her perception of a scientist and you'll most likely be given a depiction of a white male with wild Einstein-like hair, eccentric habits and attired in a lab coat, coke-bottle spectacles while working in an ivory tower laboratory...some might even describe him as "mad."
Science's poor public image goes even deeper. In a survey conducted in 2007 by the Museum of Science and Industry in which 1,304 American adults were asked if they could name a scientist, 44 percent of the respondents (approximately 9 out of 20) could not. And of those who did respond to the question, the top three answers were: Bill Gates, Al Gore and Albert Einstein
Perhaps even more disturbing, a seminal study by C. Mosely and D. Norris, reported on in 1999 in the journal Science and Children, suggests that teachers themselves often have a distorted view of scientists, thereby helping to pass these biases on to their students.
In the study, Moseley and Norris examined the drawings and verbal impressions of 550 current and soon-to-be K-8 teachers about scientists. Although the researchers found that study participants described scientists as intelligent, hardworking and theoretical, many also described them as impersonal, boring and nerdy. Participants also generally portrayed scientists as stern, bespectacled older white men with unfashionable clothes and unkempt hair, and who worked alone.
A teaching student in the study, after reflecting on her drawings and verbal comments, said, these perceptions are "supplied to us by the movie industry and the media. I remember many times as a child watching cartoons or movies that portrayed a scientist much the same as mentioned above. It may seem like an unfair generalization, but then stereotypes usually are."
The upshot of all this could be that many children may not wish to become scientists or engineers because they view the practitioners as dull and never having any fun, and their work lacking relevance to everyday life, implies Tina Jarvis, a researcher in the School of Education at Britain's Leicester University where she studies stereotypes about scientists.
These examples give us a glimpse into why interest in science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) is waning among students, but the citations also beg the question:
Where are the heroes and role models in science and engineering?
In our celebrity-driven society where youngsters are readily enraptured by Lindsay Lohan's latest public debacle or Kobe Bryant's masterful performances on the basketball court, the work and achievements of scientists and engineers often goes unnoticed by kids, or is deemed uncool and imposing.
If we wonder why there are no heroes for children to emulate in science and engineering, consider this: As a society, we don't celebrate these fields, we don't provide students with adequate interaction with role models in such professions, and we fail to effectively demonstrate to kids how important science and engineering are - namely their roles in saving lives, curing disease, keeping us safe and making our lives richer each day.
If we hope to increase the number our students entering STEM fields, thereby ensuring that America remains globally competitive in technological innovation, these deficiencies need to be turned around - and soon.
The inaugural 2010 USA Science$ Engineering Festival (www.usasciencefestival.org), a major national event taking place in October to attract and motivate the next generation of young innovators, is aimed at dealing with these issues.
In this undertaking, we've identified more than 50 noted scientists and engineers (dubbed Nifty Fifty), and 20 Nobel Laureates, in the country who will serve as role models and "heroes" in their respective fields through exciting, meaningful and personal interaction with students, schools, teachers and the public.
Our premise in the Festival is simple: The heroes and role models in science and engineering are frequently right in our communities and often willing to serve. And with proper guidance about communicating about their work and careers to kids, scientists and engineers can be powerful role models!
I know this first-hand from the inaugural Science & Engineering Festival we conducted last year in San Diego in which we recruited noted researchers and other professionals from the San Diego region to serve as speakers and role models in our Nifty Fifty program. Like most of us, scientists and engineers often don't instinctively know how to talk about themselves and their work to kids, so some of the researchers' initial talks at schools last year were not perfect. But as we gave speakers better guidance, and located more scientists and engineers who had a passion for outreaching to kids and communicating not only through words but via exciting hands-on, interactive activities, we began to really reach and inspire students in meaningful ways.
This year, Festival scientists and engineers -- representing fields ranging from astrophysics and computer engineering to the medicine and science entrepreneurship - will speak at schools in the Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland areas about their work as part of Nifty Fifty. In addition, selected Nobel Laureates (as part of our Lunch With a Laureate series) will interact with audiences over brownbag lunches in these regions.
We often forget that researchers, no matter how lofty their professional status, are first and foremost, human beings who, as youngsters, often went through the same challenges, joys and experiences as most kids while growing up and preparing for a career.
For instance one of our participating Nobel Laureates, Robert Grubbs (who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005) was born in poor rural Kentucky in the house his father built.
Nifty Fifty speaker Alfredo Quinones will tell students his remarkable story of arriving to the U.S. as a migrant worker and persevering to becoming a top brain surgeon at Johns Hopkins.
Astrophysicists Herman White of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Larry Gladney of the University of Pennsylvania and Sylvester James Gates from the University of Maryland will also serve as Nifty Fifty speakers, regaling their young audiences with insight into how atoms are smashed and the physics behind the birth of the universe. Known collectively as the Cosmic Trio, the three African American researchers are well-known for their efforts in inspiring young minorities toward science.
In addition, J. Craig Venter, the founder, president and chairman of the Venter Institute, and a member of the USA Science & Engineering Festival Advisory Board, is an example of another role model - specifically, an innovator and entrepreneur in science who continues to use his fortune and fame to make a difference. Venter and his institute have been making headlines recently for their promising efforts to produce efficient synthetic biofuels - a breakthrough which could yield better energy results than the traditional biofuels ethanol and butanol.
In recognition of his past contributions to science, Venter was last year presented with the prestigious National Medal of Science, receiving it from President Obama in a White House ceremony.
What we as business professionals, decision-makers, teachers, parents and citizens must do is take it as a responsibility to expose our youth to as many positive, interactive encounters with science and diverse scientists as possible. As astronaut Sally Ride says, these encounters - in and outside the classroom -- have a remarkable way of demonstrating to students the vast array of exciting careers that use science, math and technology, and how science relates to other disciplines and everyday life.
Through the month-long USA Science & Engineering Festival -- a series of events culminating in a two-day Expo on the National Mall in Washington, DC on October 23-24 - we hope to take a major step in this direction by engaging students and their families. Expected to attract up to a half a million people, the Festival includes more than 1,000 interactive exhibits and activities by leading scientific institutions and organizations, and give visitors the chance to meet leading scientists and engineers up-close-and-personal.
In putting the situation into perspective, I cite a quote from Shirley Ann Jackson, the outspoken president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (and herself a theoretical physicist), who said: "If you know there needs to be change, and you know there is a lot of ground to cover, you don't waste time."
Our challenge is clear: Let's begin now to do our part to help kids find their science and engineering heroes!
~~written by Larry Bock and reposted from the Huffington Post
Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a USA Science & Engineering Festival Partner, is bringing together some of the best and brightest minds in the STEM community for its 2010 PLTW Innovation Summit. The Summit takes place October 20-22 in Washington, DC, in conjunction with our Festival on the National Mall. PLTW's Innovation Summit is a great opportunity to learn about STEM education best practices and interact with some of the nation's leading STEM educators and advocates.
The Summit will bring together STEM-related industry representatives, public and private educational agencies, philanthropic organizations and a wide cross-section of the greater STEM community to investigate, ideate and ultimately to ignite STEM education through imagination and innovation. The Summit is structured as a collaborative three-day forum, featuring visionary keynote speakers, in-depth panel discussions, hands-on breakout sessions and award-winning student project displays.
PLTW's STEM education program has been extremely successful in engaging students in innovation and preparing them for college and career success in STEM-related fields. As you make your plans for the USA Science Festival in October, consider arriving a few days early for the PLTW Innovation Summit. It will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about how your community can further inspire the next generation of innovators.
For more information on the Summit please click here.
Do you have what it takes to be a Nerd Girl? Do you want to use your engineering skills to make a difference? Do you want to change the way the world views women in engineering? Do you want to be a part of a major movement to provide young girls with positive role models, while building an amazing resume?
The Nerd Girls are now casting for the NEW TV SERIES produced by MPH Entertainment, best known for their Emmy-nominated hit show "Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan." Dr. Karen Panetta, founder of Nerd Girls, has been encouraging young women to change their world through science, technology, engineering and math, all while embracing their feminine power, and she wants you to join her team!
If you think you have what it takes to tell the world, "Hey, I'm a Nerd Girl, and it's awesome!" then submit a video. Join us on our mission to show the beauty of brains. Must be 18-23 years old. Deadline: July 5, 2010
Tell us now and we will turn your answers into a beautiful Word Cloud! Deadline to submit is June 30. See the results in the next newsletter!
Over the next few months, we will create multiple "Word Clouds" aka "Wordles" showcasing your answers to questions relating to science & engineering. On October 23, Satellite Event attendees around the nation will participate in a nationwide Wordle: see it change on our website as people enter their answers!
Wordle.net is toy to create beautiful word clouds from text. The word clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the text. So the name of the scientist or engineer entered most frequently will appear the largest...
Here's what you can do next:
* Submit your answer by June 30 to have it included in the first Wordle!
* Help us spread the word:
- Forward the question and link to your friends or post it on Facebook.
- Collect your students' answers and enter them into the form.
*Have ideas for questions we should ask the nation? Submit them here.
To find our more about Wordles and to create your own word clouds, go to www.wordle.net
"Whatever is worth saying can be stated in fifty words or less" - Stan Ulam, World-Famous Mathematician
If you have been putting off making your video of why you think Science is Cool you have a little more time to spare. The Kavli Science Video Contest has been extended until Aug 31st. Make sure you don't miss the deadline. There are cash prizes up for grabs and a chance to meet the Mythbusters! So...hurry and get filming!
Have you created your video yet about why you think Science is Cool? Kavli Foundation is sponsoring a very cool contest and you have just under a month left to get your video ready for the contest! July 15 is the deadline. Find out more about the contest and how to submit your entry here. What are you waiting for?
Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley said, "By the year 2010, 90 percent of the world's scientists and engineers will live in Asia."
Right now, 85 percent of people being trained in the advanced physical sciences in the U.S. are here on temporary education visas from abroad. Many of them end up going home and taking all that scientific knowledge with them.
It used to be that the "American Dream," American lifestyles, and American opportunities would seduce these brilliant minds from all over the world to stay and contribute their genius to America's growth and advancement. But now these scientific scholars are increasingly being lured by the opportunities, lifestyles and cultural comforts in their native lands, returning home once they complete their education.
Over the past two decades America has lost a significant amount of its ability to innovate. Its hope for the future, and its economic recovery depend upon:
•Supporting top international scholars and somehow motivating them to stay in the United States rather than going home to start careers in their native lands.
•Identifying, exciting, encouraging and preparing large numbers of the best and brightest young American students in the field of advanced sciences, recruiting them into the ranks of an intellectual force that will enable America to become the world leader of technology in the 21st century.
Those of us who are now part of the science and engineering community are searching for ways to identify, attract and motivate the next generation of young innovators to power up our technological future. That's why a grassroots collaboration of business, education, and political leaders across the country, has conceived and orchestrated the month-long USA Science & Engineering Festival -- a series of events culminating in a two-day Expo on the National Mall. The idea is to excite and engage American students and their families in the future promise of these fields. After all, society gets what it celebrates!
Our Advisory Board and our sponsors, including Lockheed Martin, Life Technologies and the Science Channel know that over the past two decades America has lost a significant amount of its ability to innovate. Our focus as a nation must be to rebuild our scientific brain trust, and the process must begin immediately. Otherwise, we will find that we have outsourced innovation -- and with it, our future.
The Obama Administration through its Educate to Innovate program is a major proponent of home-growing the next generation of scientists and engineers. Its goal is to stem the brain drain from departing graduates and encourage more American students to pursue careers in these fields. But we need powerful ways to show foreign and American students that the majority of our future science, technology and engineering breakthroughs will be developed in this country.
Through more than 1,000 activities, the USA Science & Engineering Festival will attract, entertain, educate -- and, we hope, inspire -- up to half a million young, middle-aged, and older people through science. Events will include brown bag lunches for students with Nobel Laureates, more than 100 top scientists and engineers visiting DC, VA and MD public schools, open houses from scientific organizations and much, much more.
To reach the greatest number of people possible, both in Washington, DC and through out the nation, the grand finale of the USA Science & Engineering Festival will be a two day Expo on the National Mall, on October 23-24, 2010. Expo Weekend will compress into two incredible days, the best and most exciting parts of the 30-day festival, including hands-on exhibits, science demonstrations, magicians, comedians, and stage shows. More than 75 satellite events across the country will link together science communities throughout the United States.
It is our sincerest hope that the tangible, interactive nature of the Festival, combined with the inherent human curiosity about the physical world around us, will spark our next generation of pioneering scientists. The hopes of the new administration, and, indeed, the future of our fine nation, are resting squarely on the emergence of these "tech-saviors."
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a massive effort to ignite a passion for science and engineering in middle and high school students, the USA Science & Engineering Festival will send more than fifty top scientists and engineers into local schools this October 10-24, 2010. The hope is that meeting scientists and engineers who love what they do, will help students embrace these disciplines and consider careers in them.
The Nifty Fifty, as they are called, were carefully chosen from hundreds of applicants for their differing fields, talents, divergent backgrounds and ages, and ability to convey the importance of science to our nation's future.
Supported by festival host Lockheed Martin and sponsor Life Technologies Foundation, the scientists and engineers include high technology entrepreneurs and financiers, policy makers, actors, journalists, educators, researchers, explorers, video game developers, spies, alien hunters, astronauts and brain surgeons.
Here are some of the stories they'll be sharing:
* Conversations among bacteria. Do bacteria really talk to each other? What do they say? MacArthur "Genius" Bonnie Bassler of Princeton University will tackle the importance of communication at the most basic level.
* How a migrant worker became a top brain surgeon. Alfredo Quinones Hinojosa of Johns Hopkins will discuss his journey and work removing the most complicated and life-threatening tumors.
* How 3D interactive games are used by Lockheed Martin to train the military for combat. David Smith, Lockheed Martin's chief innovation office, and a pioneer of 3D gaming, will discuss advances in the field since the launch of his first groundbreaking game 25 years ago. He'll explain how games are used in entertainment, training and military defenses. Richard Boyd, the head of Lockheed Martin's Virtual World Labs, will show how the military uses 3D technology to prepare pilots for the dangers of war.
* How an auto accident led to a career at Life Technologies. While recovering from an auto accident at age 12, Chris Linthwaite of biotechnology giant Life Technologies, became fascinated by how bones break and repair themselves. Today, he helps develop life saving drugs and therapies at this leading biotechnology company.
* How bionic body parts and the Guitar Hero video game can save lives. Robert Armiger of Johns Hopkins University will talk about helping rebuild the lives of veterans injured on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan with bionic body parts.
* The physics of NASCAR. Diandra Leslie-Pelecky through research supported by the National Science Foundation will address questions such as: What is it like to drive a couple hundred miles per hour and how do race cars go at such high speeds?
* The politics of scientific research and discovery. Francis S. Collins director of the National Institutes of Health discusses discoveries made by the Human Genome Project. Alan I. Leshner CEO of AAAS talks about influencing science policy in the nation's Capital and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will talk about research to develop a vaccine for HIV/AIDS.
* The invention of the Big Bang Machine. How atoms are smashed, the workings of particle physics and the birth of the universe, explained by Herman B. White of Fermi National Accelerator Lab, Larry Gladney from the University of Pennsylvania and Sylvester James Gates from the University of Maryland, collectively referred to as the Cosmic Trio.
* From abstract math formulas to how they affect real life. Mario Livio, astrophysicist and bestselling author, will discuss how math can help unlock the secrets of the universe and help some relate better to God.
* How an engineer that helped create tougher toilet paper became the manager of U.S. Education at the corporation which invented the first microprocessor. Carlos Contreras of Intel Corporation tells his story.
* The chemistry of Thanksgiving dinner. Connecting chemistry to her students' own experiences has helped Diane Bunce of Catholic University engage and excite her students about the field of chemistry.
* The physics of superheroes. James Kakalios of the University of Minnesota will talk about the physics behind development of unique characters for movies such as "The "Watchmen" and others.
The Nifty Fifty Scientists were selected from entries submitted by more than 100 professional science & engineering societies, including The National Academy of Engineering, AAAS, the American Chemical Society, IEEE and American Woman in Science; 100 universities and colleges such as Harvard, MIT, Princeton, University of California at Berkeley, Johns Hopkins and the U.S. Naval Academy; 50 federal agencies and laboratories including the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Department of Energy, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; 75 informal science outreach organizations including the Smithsonian Museums, the United States Botanic Gardens and the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academies; and more than 25 corporations, many of which are Festival sponsors.
The USA Science & Engineering Festival is hosted by Lockheed Martin and sponsors include Life Technologies Foundation, K&L; Gates, Clean Technology and Sustainability Industries Organization (CTSI), Larry and Diane Bock, ResMed Foundation, Farrell Family Foundation, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Amgen, Celgene Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, National Institutes of Health, Illumina, The Kavli Foundation, Intel Corporation, You Can Do the Rubik's Cube, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., Genentech Inc., MedImmune, Sandia National Laboratories, Project Lead The Way (PLTW), Baxter International, Celestron, Cisco, NuVasive Inc., FEI Company, Case Western Reserve University, Biogen Idec Foundation, LifeStraw®, Microsoft Corporation, Draper Laboratory, Silicon Valley Bank, Bechtel Corporation, SpaceX, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Research in Motion and the Thirty Meter Telescope Project.
Current media partners include Discovery Communications, Popular Science and Science Illustrated, New Scientist, EE Times Group, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, POPULAR MECHANICS, ScienceBlogs, Technology Review published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Epoch Times, "WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio," C&EN;, the newsmagazine of the chemical & related sciences, Forbes Wolfe Emerging Tech Report, Career Communications Group, Engineering.com, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Career Communications Group, FAMILY Magazine, Sigma Xi, SciVee, Inc., SchoolTube, LLC.
About the USA Science & Engineering Festival
The first USA Science & Engineering Festival from 10/10-10/24, 2010 creates a new model for celebrating science in the nation's capital. Two weeks of science events across VA, MD and D.C. include 50 of the area's top scientists visiting local middle and high schools, brown bag lunches for high school students with Nobel Laureates, science open houses, events such as the science of wine and chocolate, a Kavli Science Video Contest, a You CAN Do the Rubik's Cube contest, and a Sustainable Dreamhouse contest. A two-day Science Expo on the National Mall will feature more than 500 science and engineering organizations, and most of science's best and brightest. www.usasciencefestival.org
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