Open Laboratory

Release Date: Friday, October 8th 2010

Get ready for the nation’s first national science fair, the USA Science and Engineering Festival Expo, taking place on the National Mall from Saturday, October 23 to Sunday, October 24 at 10:00 am to 5:30 pm. Bring the kids, sample more than 1,500 hands-on-activities, and watch 75 stage shows. This is not your grandma’s science fair!

Billed as a multi-generational and multi-disciplinary event, the expo’s primary goal is to reinvigorate American youth’s interest in science. And with good reason: In 2007, foreign students on temporary visas earned 50% or more of all doctoral degrees awarded in engineering, physics, mathematics and the computer sciences. Sad, but true, according to a recent National Science Board report.

Don’t expect this free event to be stuffy. Besides several hundred exhibits on aerospace, green energy, genetics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics and a broad array of other scientific disciplines, this giant science party will provide fun, interactive activities and opportunities for participants to mingle with some of the nation’s best scientists and engineers. 

Chat with Albert Einstein. Build an underwater robot. Manage cargo in the space shuttle within a virtual reality environment. Need we say more? The opportunities to explore are boundless.

For more information, visit www.usasciencefestival.org.