Idaho State University to Host Idaho Science Festival Oct. 23

Released by Idaho State University October 11, 2010
Contact: Linda DeVeaux at deveaux@iac.isu.edu or 282-5661, Caryn Evilia at evilcary@isu.edu or 2823291, Jean Pfau, at pfaujean@isu.edu or 282-3914

Idaho State University to Host Idaho Science Festival Oct. 23;
More than 30 Booths Will Offer Hands-on Science Demonstrations

POCATELLO – Idaho State University’s Pocatello campus is hosting the 2010 Idaho Science and Engineering Festival on Oct 23, featuring more than 30 organizations to host hands-on learning booths from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Pond Student Union Ballroom.
School children of all ages and their families are invited to attend this free event.
The Idaho festival is a satellite event that corresponds with the inaugural national USA Science and Engineering Festival being held in Washington, D.C., Oct. 10-24. The national festival ends with a two-day Expo on the Mall, which will feature 1,500 booths with hands-on activities from more than 500 organizations. There are also concurrent satellite science/engineering festivals taking place throughout the United States, but ISU’s festival is the only one scheduled in the Intermountain West.
“This is our nation’s first national science festival, and we are proud to be part of it,” said Linda DeVeaux, ISU associate associate professor in the ISU Department of Biological Sciences and one of the ISU event’s three organizers. “Eventually, this may be celebrated statewide, but for now we’re looking for strong participation in our area. The goal of the festival locally and nationally is to present hands-on, fun science activities to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.”
Its organizers are billing the national festival as “the ultimate multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States.” ISU satellite festival sponsors include Micron Foundation, ON Semiconducter, Idaho National Laboratory – INL and Simplot.
Besides helping to organize the local festival, DeVeaux will be representing Idaho State University at the national festival in Washington, D.C. DeVeaux will be in a booth that demonstrates accelerator technology, a technology DeVeaux uses to carry out studies on radiation-resistant microbes.
For more information on the ISU festival, visit www.isu.edu/departments/bios/USA_Science_Engineering.shtml or contact DeVeaux (deveaux@iac.isu.edu or 282-5661), Evilia (evilcary@isu.edu or 282-4006) or Jean Pfau (pfaujean@isu.edu or 282-3914). For more information on the national festival, visit http://www.usasciencefestival.org/.
###