‘Discover Science in Your Life’ with 11 N.C. Science Festival events at UNC Charlotte
In North Carolina — a state home to stellar colleges and universities, high-tech and biotech firms, health and energy industries – Carolinians are surrounded by science. And finding science in one’s backyard is the point of the 2016 North Carolina Science Festival, a statewide celebration of science and technology, which, like El Nino, emerging wildflowers and migratory flocks of song birds, is happening again this spring, April 8-24. The statewide festival presents hundreds of events.
Now in its fifth year of participation, UNC Charlotte is part of the seasonal exuberance. In addition to its traditional Science and Technology Expo, UNC Charlotte is offering a four-event science and technology workshop series, a three-event science and society discussion series, a statewide robotics competition with lab tours, and an evening lecture by a prominent visiting astronomer with a late night star party.
The always-popular Science and Technology Expo will remain the University’s grand finale, closing out the festival from noon to 4 p.m., Sunday, April 24. An ever larger set of activities, including robotics, rocketry, virtual people, live animals, lab experiments, explosive chemistry, exotic plants, fire engines, race cars, boats and drones is planned. This event is for the science-curious of all ages, featuring more than 100 hands-on activities and presentations in chemistry, physics, geology, computer science, engineering and biology developed by University personnel and a host of industry and community organizations.
The UNC Charlotte Observatory again will offer a night of expertly guided star-gazing, as it hosts a N.C. Science Festival Star Party on Friday, April 8, starting at dusk. The party will offer the public the chance to use several of the University’s larger telescopes for viewing exciting celestial objects and also offers lots of other astronomy-related activities and displays for the kids. The event is free, but advance registration is required.
Prior to the Star Party, UNC Charlotte’s Department of Physics and Optical Science will present a free public lecture by Heidi Jo Newberg at 7 p.m., April 8, in EPIC Building, Room G256. Newberg, a professor of astrophysics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is a co-winner of the Gruber Prize in Cosmology and the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. She will talk about exciting new findings in astrophysics, including new insights into the structure of the Milky Way, Earth’s home galaxy.
Workshop Series
Back by strong popular demand, UNC Charlotte will offer a number of educational workshops for children, priced at a nominal fee (or free), on topics sure to engage learning. The workshops are all designed to provide age-flexible, high teacher-student ratio learning experiences that kids and parents can have together. All workshops require advance registration.
The first of these workshops, “Do It Yourself Hydroponics” is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, April 9, at the McMillan Greenhouse. This workshop has been designed to teach everyone from children (grades three and up) to adults the fundamentals of horticultural science and provide instruction in hydroponic technology, an advanced plant-growing technique. All participants will get to construct and bring home their own simple hydroponic garden and also receive instruction for building larger and even more sophisticated systems. Advance registration is required – the workshop costs $5 per person (includes lunch), and all registered children must be accompanied by a co-registered adult.
On April 11, the College of Computing and Informatics presents an expanded version of a workshop first offered in 2015, “Computer Programming for Girls,” a three-hour introductory workshop in computer coding, specifically designed for girls between the ages of 7 and 15. Girls are often not encouraged to learn this important skill, said Mary Lou Maher, professor and chair of UNC Charlotte’s Department of Software and Information Systems. “Programming is creative and fun — learning how to program gives you the means to create, and to make the world a better place, “she added. “During this three-hour class, participants will learn how to interactively write code with immediate visual feedback.” The coding workshop will be held at 5 p.m. in Kennedy Hall, Room 234, one of UNC Charlotte’s active learning classrooms, specially designed for collaborative and social learning. At the end of the event, girls will be shown how to learn more about programming as a hobby or career. The workshop is free but space is limited and advance registration is required.
Wrapping up the workshop offerings, on Saturday and Sunday, April 16-17, the William States Lee College of Engineering and the College of Computing and Informatics are hosting two full-day LEGO Robotics Workshops from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the labs of UNC Charlotte’s EPIC Building. The learning workshop (offered two times to accommodate public demand) is the product of past experiments in using the LEGO Mindstorms building kits to teach introductory robotics skills. The events offer kids in grades three to 12 the opportunity to learn robotics with expert guidance in small, multi-instructor staffed, age-appropriate classes. The instruction is designed for children and an accompanying parent and costs $10 per child/parent pair to cover lunch, which is provided. Advance registration is required, and space is limited.
Science and Society Series
Continuing with the goal of making festival offerings engaging, event planners have scheduled another season of UNC Charlotte’s “Science and Society Series” featuring presentations on controversial or newsworthy science and science-related topics that encourage public discussion. People frequently have questions about big issues in science, and these events, led by noted researchers in the field, are designed to get at the answers. All events in the series are free and open to the public.
The first event in this series is an expert panel presentation and discussion on the topic of “Healthy Aging” at 7 p.m., Monday, April 11, in the Bioinformatics Building, Room 105. With America’s enormous “Baby Boom” generation reaching its senior years, people are more and more interested on the latest research into how to extend health and preserve wellness into years when decline is common. Experts in physical and mental health will discuss the latest research in senior health issues; they will include UNC Charlotte faculty Mike Turner, Jane Gaultney, Trudy Moore-Harrison, and Julian Montoro-Rodriguez.
Next is the screening of the recent film “Merchants of Doubt” with a panel discussion following at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 12, in the Student Union Theater. This 2014 documentary about subterfuge in the public presentation of science has drawn a considerable amount of commentary in the professional worlds of science and science journalism, and the topic has been a political issue. A panel of experts in the public communication of science, including UNC Charlotte faculty Ian Binns and Brian Magi, and ClimateCommunication.org Director Susan Joy Hassol, will review the film and invite the audience to discuss the issues it presents. All viewpoints are welcome.
Concluding the series is a discussion of another large, complex and rapidly evolving health issue, “Cancer Biology.” This panel-led presentation and discussion will take place at 7 p.m., Sunday, April 24, in the Bioinformatics Building, Room 105. Biological research into understanding the biological mechanisms of cancer has made rapid progress in recent years, yielding many promising new avenues towards treating or managing this “emperor of all maladies.” Two prominent UNC Charlotte researchers, cancer biologist Pinku Mukherjee and bioinformatician and human microbiome authority Anthony Fodor, will present promising new discoveries in cancer immunology and the microbiome’s role in cancer. They also will field questions.
Campus Explorations
Finally, UNC Charlotte’s N.C. Science Festival lineup includes science and technology events from the University’s regular calendar. Among these is “KEEPING WATCH on Air” an art exhibition presented by the College of Arts + Architecture March 18 through May 25 at the Projective Eye Gallery, Center City Building. The multimedia exhibition is focused on issues of air quality and environmental sustainability.
On Saturday and Sunday, April 9-10 (9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day), UNC Charlotte hosts N.C. First’s Robotics Championship Competition. The two-day event is the final in a series of statewide competitions for North Carolina high school robotics teams. About 2,000 of the state’s best young robotics creators will compete in progressive heats at Halton Arena for top honors. While the competition itself is open only to the invited teams, the event is open and the public is invited to observe. In addition, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, the University will open numerous of its science and technology labs for self-guided tours. A tour schedule will be posted online, and maps will be available at the competition.
Except for the Lego robotics and hydroponics workshops, all events are free and open to the public. Event locations, maps and more information are on the UNC Charlotte Science and Technology Expo website or call 704-687-5743.
All events are sponsored by UNC Charlotte in association with the N.C. Science Festival. Major support is provided by American Airlines and the N.C. Biotechnology Center. University sponsors include UNC Charlotte’s Research and Economic Development Office. WFAE 90.7fm is a media partner. Support has been provided by the University of North Carolina General Administration through a grant administered by the N.C. Science Festival.