With the cancellation of the 2020 MSU Science Festival due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Festival team took this opportunity to develop alternative programming.
There will now be live digital presentations by MSU faculty, graduate students and community partners; web-based resources; and other activities you can do at home.
"Science really does play an important role in our lives, and the COVID-19 pandemic is reminding us of that every day. It's so important to stay home, stay safe, and diminish the spread, so we are putting MSU Science Festival online to help bring interesting and fun learning opportunities to audiences of all ages," said Roxanne Truhn, MSU Science Festival coordinator.
The Science Festival digital presentations will begin Saturday, April 4. There will be three programs: Saturday Morning Science, Science After Dark and Partner Presentations.
Every Saturday morning in April, the Science Festival team will conduct presentations and demonstrations across the STEAM disciplines, appropriate for all ages. Some topics include the basics of a virus, ancient astronomy and how plants feel gravity.
Science After Dark is an opportunity to pour a glass of your beverage of choice for an evening of talks and demonstrations to wind down your day. These talks were previously scheduled as a part of the Science Cafe and Pub Series, and may be geared towards an older audience. The talks explore the Lansing night sky, a propagation lab and the evolution of stars.
Partner Presentations link the MSU Science Festival with organizations such as Women in Science through a Wikipedia-edit-a-thon, and National Parks through a virtual tour of the beautiful parks.
"It is a quick pivot to cancel a popular annual event that attracts more than 20,000 attendees and then arrange presenters and guests for online offerings, but we are doing just that with help from a great team of MSU faculty, staff, students and awesome community partners. Come check it out," said Truhn.
Check out the MSU Science Festival website for more information, activities and presentation schedules.
