Unleash your inner scientist at the Bay Area Science Festival
Oct. 19, 2011 -- SF State is taking part in the first annual Bay Area Science Festival this fall, offering the campus community and members of the public a series of free, interactive science and technology events.
Taking place Oct. 29 - Nov. 6, the festival will include more than 100 events across the Bay Area, providing residents of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to learn.
Local universities, museums and research labs have come together to host the festival in an effort to showcase the Bay Area's strengths in science, technology and innovation.
As one of the festival partners, SF State will host an open house at the Romberg Tiburon Center, a film screening and talk about the search for extra-terrestrial life and a stargazing party at the University's observatory.
Faculty and students will also host booths at the festival's culminating event, Discovery Days at AT&T Park. This carnival of science will include more than 170 science exhibits as well as games, shows and family-oriented musical and theatrical performances.
See below for more details about SF State events during the Bay Area Science Festival.
Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies Discovery Day Open House
Take a behind the scenes look at the marine biology and estuarine research under way at the University's Romberg Tiburon Center, the only academic research facility on San Francisco Bay. This open house will include hands-on science activities for kids and adults, displays, talks, and opportunities for visitors to meet the scientists. Topics will include how humans are impacting marine life in the Bay, climate change, toxic and beneficial algae and ocean currents.
WHEN: Sunday, Oct. 30, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
WHERE: Romberg Tiburon Center, 3152 Paradise Drive, Tiburon
MORE INFORMATION: http://rtc.sfsu.edu/discovery_day.htm or e-mail Erin Blackwood at erinb@rtc.sfsu.edu
"Contact" (the Reel and the Real): Humanity's Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence
Watch the science fiction movie "Contact," followed by a talk by astronomer Jill Tarter, whose work and life were a model for the character that Jodie Foster plays in the film. Tarter will discuss her work at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, where she is searching for radio signals from alien civilizations.
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 6 - 9 p.m.
WHERE: McKenna Theatre (Creative Arts, room 103), San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco. See campus map.
MORE INFORMATION: http://www.bayareascience.org/11/02/are-we-alone-a-special-screening-of-contact-with-jill-tarter/
Bay Area Star Party
Visit SF State's rooftop observatory to view the night sky through telescopes, and take in a show at the University's planetarium. Professional astronomers will be on hand to give viewing tips. In case of cloudy weather, there will be demonstrations and a Q&A with scientists in Thornton Hall, room 411.
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 5, 8 - 10 p.m. Drop in for telescope viewing. Planetarium Shows begin at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. (visitors will not be admitted once shows have begun).
WHERE: Thornton Hall, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave, San Francisco. Observatory is on the 10th floor of Thornton Hall, room 1002; planetarium is on the 4th floor, room 422. See campus map.
MORE INFORMATION: http://www.astrosociety.org/events/starparty.html#l
Discovery Days at AT&T Park
SF State faculty and students will host three exhibits at this science carnival. Students will host a booth with interactive chemistry experiments; Associate Professor of Kinesiology Kate Hamill will share her research on movement analysis; and math faculty will provide hands-on activities with ropes, ribbons and bubbles, enabling visitors from kindergarten through adult to learn how mathematics can help us understand DNA.
WHEN: Sunday, Nov. 6, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
WHERE: AT&T Park, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco. SF State exhibits will be at booths P3 - P5 on the promenade level, which is indoors.
MORE INFORMATION: Check this web page for an updated map of exhibits.
-- Elaine Bible
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