Science Rendezvous, the marquee event kicking off Science Odyssey week, will take place this weekend on the St. John’s campus.
Representatives from the faculties of science, engineering and applied science, and humanities and social sciences will present exciting and interactive exhibits and activities for people of all ages.
In addition to the departments in these faculties, Bricks 4 Kidz, Paradigm Hyperloop, the Newfoundland Labrador Archaeological Society and Let’s Talk Science will also be on hand.
Record attendance
Highlights of the event include a chemistry magic show, robots, virtual reality games and a ship simulator.
Visitors will be able to make their own chia pet, find out how to extract DNA at home and check out the full-size prototype of a hyperloop pod, in addition to many other exciting hands-on experiments.
“Last year we had a record attendance and we are hoping to increase those numbers this year,” said Lisa Breen, chair of the Science Rendezvous committee at Memorial.
“Our participation in Science Rendezvous 2018 will help showcase science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a fun and entertaining way to people of all ages.”
Arts, science celebrated
This year’s event takes place on Saturday, May 12, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
“We are very excited to be adding arts to our event this year to highlight the intermingling of arts, science, and technology,” said Ms. Breen. “By celebrating science and bringing researchers together with the general public, we hope to help foster a strong culture of science in this province, as well as across Canada.”
Every year Science Rendezvous partners with research and community organizations to give the public exciting hands-on and unprecedented access to Canadian research.
Top research
This year, the 11th annual festival will see more than 300 free events take place in partnership with 40 of Canada’s top research institutions and more than 120 community organizations across 30 cities.
Events span from Vancouver to St. John’s and take place in venues ranging from small community centres to university campuses and large public parks. More than 300,000 people attended Science Rendezvous events across Canada last year and even more are expected this year.
This year’s activities take place at the start of Memorial’s Research Week 2018: People and Their Environment. Find the full schedule of Research Week events online.
Science Rendezvous is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Memorial University’s Faculty of Science, SHAD and Starbucks.
