Dates: April 26-27, 2014
Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Location
Most of the festival events will take place at the Washington Convention Center at 801 Mount Vernon Place. Special programs will also be held at other locations around the Washington DC area and around the country.
USA Science & Engineering Festival Highlights
- Expo Book Fair - The book fair will focus on authors with significant works in the science and engineering fields geared toward a K-12 level of scientific understanding. More than 30 notable authors will give 50-minute presentations on their books, including a 15-minute question and answer session, followed by a book signing. Authors include award-winning children's science authors Seymour Simon, Joy Hakim, Sean Connolly, Dia Michels, and Bruce Degen. Professional scientists and authors Lisa Randall, Robin Cook, Homer Hickam, Jeffrey Bennett, and Celeste Baine.
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Career Pavilion - Students and adults will have the opportunity to explore tomorrow's careers in areas such as renewable energy, robotics, space tourism, nanotechnology, virtual reality, clean technology, genetics, education, and many other exciting fields. Visitors will have the chance to meet real-life role models; find out about internships, mentorships, scholarships and after-school programs; meet representatives from leading colleges and universities; and meet some of the companies now recruiting STEM-related professionals.
- Science Celebrities - Bill Nye the Science Guy and Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of the MythBusters will appear live during the Expo. Also scheduled to appear are Jeff Lieberman from Discovery Channel's series Time Warp and Apollo Robbins, the Gentleman Thief from National Geographic's Brain Games. Science entrepreneurs participating will include: Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla; renowned video game developer and space tourist Richard Garriott and Kevin Kinsella, founder of more than 60 scientific companies and a Tony Award Winner.
- Expo and Special Events - Special events will include The World's Largest Science Cheer, led by Science Cheerleader, Science for Citizens, and Discover Magazine, a Star Gazing Party hosted by Celestron, Ellipse Day with Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), Kavli Foundation Science Video Contest, The Grand Challenges 60 Second Pitch Contest by Engineering.com, in addition to many nationwide contests and satellite events.
- Speakers Participating in the Nifty Fifty Program - the "Father of Green Chemistry," Paul Anastas; the first female private space explorer, Anousheh Ansari; science Pulitzer Prize winner, Natalie Angier; Human Genome Project leader, Francis Collins; NASA Deputy Administrator, Lori Garver; Titanic exploration leader, David Gallo; original storm chaser, Dr. Josh Wurman; Dr. Karen Panetta with Nerd Girls; and many others.
- Lunch with a Laureate - The "Lunch with a Laureate" program is a rare opportunity for a small group of middle and high school students to engage in informal conversations with 15 Nobel Prize winning scientists during a brown bag lunch. Students will learn first hand about exciting scientific discoveries, hear about the trials and tribulations of fast-paced research, and find out what makes a Nobel Laureate tick. Laureates scheduled to participate include: Dr. Peter Agre, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2003 for his discovery of aquaporins; John C. Mather, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE); and William D. Phillips, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for his contributions to laser cooling.
