On October 23, the Appalachian Laboratory opened its doors to local residents as part of a community Open House. The gathering was a satellite event of the national USA Science and Engineering Festival.
The Open House included scientific demonstrations of the 47,000-square foot facility and numerous hands-on activities geared towards children of all ages, including geocaching, build-a-bat, caddis fly case making, a critter corner, water cycle bracelet making, fish prints, and a remote sensing image mystery titled “Where in the World?”.
Students also participated in challenge events including egg drop, paper airplane design, catapult and forensic mystery, on the Upper Quad of the FSU campus. The Laboratory partnered with Frostburg State University and Allegany County Public Schools to host the day's events.
The Inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival aimed to be the ultimate multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States. The festival sought to reinvigorate the interest of the nation’s youth, future scientists and engineers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The first national science festival was based in the nation’s capital and provided more than 500 science and engineering organizations the opportunity to present themselves with hands-on, fun science activities.
