Science Fairs to the Extreme

Last March, revelers in San Diego celebrated science at the first annual San Diego Science Festival. Now, the fun is going national.

Last month, the University of California, San Diego, received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to take the idea of a citywide science festival to the extreme, with year-round activities and annual fairs across the United States. To do this, the university if partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Museum, The Franklin Institute (Philadelphia) and UC San Francisco.

When San Diego ran its fledgling fair this year, 50,000 people attended opening day. That made Expo Day the largest one-day science celebration in the nation.

If all goes as expected, a new National Science Festival Network will build even higher interest in science. The idea is to create a Web portal and networking resources, develop year-round science education opportunities and run similar festivals on both coasts.

This is no small idea. If expectations become a reality, the consortium says, this will be the launch of a new "decade of science" in the United States!

Photo courtesy of Chris Radcliff, via Flickr