Campus news

Media Advisory: UC Berkeley to join national celebration of science and engineering

By Media Relations

Contact: Robert Sanders, Media Relations
(510) 643-6998
rsanders@berkeley.edu

ATTENTION: Science, engineering and health reporters, editors and producers

WHAT

The Cal Science & Engineering Festival, one of hundreds of hands-on events nationwide that are linked to the two-week USA Science and Engineering Festival, which concludes Oct. 23-24 with an exposition on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The University of California, Berkeley, event will feature activities for the entire family, including a unicycle basketball team, a chemistry magic show, the Banana Slug String Band, an inflatable planetarium and a four-inch search-and-rescue robot.

WHEN

10 a.m. 2 p.m., this Saturday, Oct. 23

WHERE

UC Berkeleys Spieker Plaza, located east of Haas Pavilion near the intersection of Bancroft Way and Dana Street.

WHO

More than 20 organizations from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, plus KQED Quest and the Lawrence Hall of Science, will provide hands-on demonstrations.

DETAILS

The first USA Science & Engineering Festival was organized this year in Washington, D.C., by venture capitalist and entrepreneur Larry Bock, who encouraged every state to host satellite festivals that would inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. Ten satellite festivals, including UC Berkeleys, are planned in California.

The stated purpose of the festivals is to re-invigorate the interest of our nations youth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

At UC Berkeley, the Berkeley Revolution, a local unicycle basketball team heading later this year to the world competition in New Zealand, will show off their physics skills; nanoengineers will demonstrate their 4-inch, half-ounce, six-legged biomimetic running robot developed for search-and-rescue and remote-sensing operations; and UCSF scientists will display real organs as part of a basic anatomy tour. Solar telescopes, earthquake demonstrations, plant and fossil displays, and a challenge for kids to power appliances with solar energy are among the many activities planned.

The event is made possible by donations from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute, Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science (E3S), Center for Science Education at the Space Sciences Laboratory, Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS), Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) and the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC) at UC Berkeley; The Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS).

For details on Saturdays events, link to science@cal. For more details about the main event in Washington and other satellite events, link to usasciencefestival.com.