The University of Chicago’s South Side Science Festival is set to return on Saturday, Oct. 5, following a successful event in 2023 that drew more than 4,500 attendees.
The annual event—co-organized by the University’s Biological Sciences Division, Physical Sciences Division, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and Office of Civic Engagement—aims to bring the campus and broader South Side communities together to explore science in an accessible way.
This year’s festival will offer activities such as creating and commanding robots, revealing secret messages with lemon juice, observing liquid nitrogen demonstrations by Fermilab’s Mr. Freeze, holding a 200-million-year-old fossil, and exploring a 20-foot-long replica of a human colon among other hands-on experiences.
New features this year include a paper airplane design and build contest and the Upgoer 5 challenge where scientists describe concepts using only the 10,000 most common words in English. Attendees can also enjoy local food vendors, photobooths, face-painting, raffles and giveaways, live bands and DJ sets. Information about UChicago resources available throughout the year will also be provided.
Three Science in Your Life panels will be held during the day discussing topics such as artificial intelligence and art, weight-loss medications' impact, and sustainability initiatives.
The festival is part of UChicago's Inclusive Innovation initiative in partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermilab. The initiative aims to engage local students, educators, workers with the city’s scientific ecosystem to generate a diverse talent pipeline in sciences.
“The South Side Science Festival allows for wide-reaching public engagement," said Nadya Mason, Dean of the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering; Robert J. Zimmer Professor of Molecular Engineering; Interim Vice President for Science Innovation Partnerships. "The next generation of innovators may well find their passion from our hands-on science activities... Everyone benefits when science and engineering are inclusive.”
Christian Mitchell UChicago’s Vice President for Civic Engagement added: “This event is a chance for the campus community...to come together...and take advantage of all the incredible STEM resources...Science only gets better when it draws on more perspectives."
“We’re looking forward to our students faculty staff sharing their passion for STEM with attendees,” he continued. “We’re hopeful that...young attendees see science as a place where they can belong.”