Physics Fair draws families, students, faculty

The 9th annual Physics Fair was held all day this past Saturday at the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy. The fair was sponsored by the Department of Physics and Astronomy and featured over 200 active science demonstrations designed to educate attendees about physics in a hands-on setting through a combination of indoor and outdoor activities and competitions, manned by undergraduate students, graduate students and staff. Approximately 700 people of all ages attended the Physics Fair.
"We send information out to about 800 high schools, middle schools, grade schools advertising the event. It was originated as an outreach program to show kids that physics can be fun and in the beginning, the main focus was for the kids. Now, it's just evolved into this mini-Spring Fair [for physics]. It's just grown throughout the years," Pam Carmen, one of the organizers of Physics Fair, said. "We advertise it [for ages] 1 to 100 because we truly have something for everybody."
The Space Telescope Science Institute brought a demonstration to the fair, as it does annually, which sought to teach attendees about the electromagnetic spectrum through hands-on demonstrations. The demonstration included an infrared camera display for people to examine and learn about by looking at their own appearances in it.
"We are used to seeing things through the Hubble Telescope, which primarily looks at things in visible wavelengths of light, so they're things that you can see with the naked eye," Carolyn Slivinski, Education Specialist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, said. "But astronomy works in the entire electromagnetic spectrum which covers everything including gamma rays, x-rays, radio waves and microwaves - all the different wavelengths in addition to the ones you can see. We try to give some hands-on demonstrations to show kids how parts of the light spectrum give you different kinds of information."
Professor Extraordinaire Shows, featuring Professor Peter Armitage, punctuated the schedule of activities, which focused on teaching the audience about the physics of light. Also, throughout the day, there were tours of the building through various research labs to demonstrate the department's advanced research.
The fair featured a scavenger hunt, a balloon rocket contest, sunspot observations with the Morris Offit Telescope, an exhibition from the National Virtual Observatory and many other activities.
The Physics Fair emphasized the importance of teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to young children so that they can adapt to an increasingly technologically-inclined society.
"STEM has gotten more and more of a focus in the public's eye. It's always been a focus for us, so it's nice to see more and more public awareness," Slivinski said.
Undergraduate students also attended, learned from and enjoyed the Physics Fair. Many students also recognized how setting a precedent about the significance of STEM is crucial for the next generation.
"We have come into an age when science has become more complex and more important, and it's based on things that are tougher to understand. . .people are doubting its use and its purpose," freshman Bobak Kiani said. "I think that going forward, we need to teach these kids the importance of science, the importance of engineering, the importance of all these fields that can come together and help us in the future. Innovation is what we need and that comes through science. These things are always good just as long as you can get kids into these things and hopefully gain passion and understanding."
Kiani also emphasized that attending the Physics Fair is worthwhile for people of all ages because of the many interesting aspects.
"It was definitely geared towards younger audiences, but I'm sure there was something everyone can learn out of it and at least go there and be like, 'That was cool.'"