2nd USA Science & Engineering Festival
April 2012
Finale Expo: April 28-29
Washington, DC
A FREE PUBLIC EVENT
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Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Center Director for the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, is delivering a series of presentations as part of the 2nd USA Science & Engineering Festival. As one of the Festivals Nifty Fifty (times 2) speakers he will be addressing 1,200 students at Calvert Hall College High School, Towson Maryland on April 24. Jeff will be taking part in the Festival’s Stargazing Party at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Saturday evening, April 28, where he will be conducting tours of the Voyage Scale Model Solar System on the National Mall with Dr. Jeffrey Bennett, and doing presentations in the Museum’s Milestones of Flight Gallery. He will be doing a public performance on stage at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Sunday, April 29.
The Nifty Fifty (times 2) are 100 of the most dynamic scientists and engineers in the United States. They were selected for their unique ability to inspire the next generation of students to pursue careers in the STEM fields. They were chosen from among thousands of candidates nominated by over 500 leading professional science and engineering societies, universities, research institutions, government agencies, STEM education outreach organizations and leading high tech and life science companies.
Read about the Nifty Fifty speakers.
Dr. Goldstein’s Presentations—
Nifty Fifty Presentation
10:00 am, April 24, 2012
Calvert Hall College High School, Towson Maryland
Stargazing Party at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
Saturday, April 28, 2012
6:30 – 7:30 pm, Tours of the Voyage Scale Model Solar System
If you could hold the Sun in your hand, where would you find the planets and other stars? Astrophysicists Jeff Goldstein and Jeff Bennett will introduce you to the remarkable scale of the universe by taking you on a walking tour of the Voyage Scale Model Solar System (located along Jefferson Drive outside the National Air and Space Museum). Tours will last approximately one-half hour, with a total walking distance of less than one-half mile.
8: 45 – 10:20 pm, Human Exploration the Journey Continues
Milestones of Flight Gallery
This is the story of a remarkable journey spanning countless generations. It is about the human need to know, and the need to push the boundaries of our collective experiences. Join Dr. Jeff Goldstein in the Milestones of Flight gallery – a sacred place celebrating human dreams of flight in air and space, in the most visited museum on Earth – and hear a very personal view of exploration on the frontier and the spellbinding, wondrously human stories behind the machines that changed the world.
Performance at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center
3:30 pm, Sunday, April 29, 2012
How Big is Big?
It’s a big, often intimidating universe out there. How do we even begin to fathom objects and distances that dwarf anything we’ve ever experienced? You might memorize all the facts and figures—our galaxy possesses 100 billion stars, our Sun is 93,000,000 miles away. But where’s the learning? The numbers are big, impersonal—even irrelevant. Alternately, you might construct a simple world model with Earth, our Sun, some neighboring planets and stars adrift in an endless ocean of space. But both approaches do a disservice to the majesty of the cosmos.
Earth’s place in space is knowable in a tangible way—even for elementary school students. The secret is placing the universe in a context that is familiar. You’re not convinced? Come and take this magical journey from spaceship Earth to points unknown. I promise when we come back home you’ll feel the words of T.S. Eliot: “…and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
