Bringing learning-focused events to venues all across the city and state, the Wisconsin Science Festival this weekend brought in thousands of children and adults eager to gain insight into the world of science at University of Wisconsin and beyond.
In its fourth year, the festival included topics ranging from how the human brain works to robots and talks on how coffee is made as part of the weekend that featured events at Union South and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery as well as museums and libraries across the state.
The event is non-profit, Mackenzie Carlson, a volunteer at the festival, said, with the purpose of exposing the public to some of the science going on at University of Wisconsin.
“It’s really geared towards everybody … We just like to get everyone excited about science, especially [at a] university that has so much research and technology that the public doesn’t always get to see,” Carlson said. “This is kind of an opportunity to bring some of this out and show people what we’re doing and why we’re all here.”
About 2,500 schoolchildren attended the festival Thursday and Friday, with a few thousand people coming through each of the four days, Adam Erdmann, a volunteer and planner from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation for the festival, said. Ultimately about 10-12,000 visitors attended, he said.
“That’s terrific. That’s right on par with what we’ve done in previous years,” Erdmann said.
Erdmann said this success can be attributed to the multitude of program options at the expo. There was a stronger number of attendance for the adult programs and a steady attendance for the children and young adult programs, he said.
Planning for the event starts in January and February to obtain vendors and non-profit organizations around Wisconsin, starting with those who were involved in previous years, Erdmann said.
“Usually, we rely heavily on other people’s networks for our current presenters and current people who serve on committees to connect us with other people around the state and on campus,” Erdmann said.
One of the vendors involved was EVP coffee, with a demonstration on how coffee is made. Starting with the process of picking coffee beans and ending with a taste demonstration, Sara Tangen, an employee of EVP coffee, explained the process. She included a video of how roasting is done in EVP coffee shops and let everyone sample the different types of coffee the company roasts.
“I absolutely love working where I work,” Tangen said.
Another attraction geared towards younger children was the Robot Zoo, held in a tent on the terrace of Union South. The exhibit contained motorized robots from the College of Engineering’s automotive competition teams.
Inside the tent were tables with posters and pictures of how the robots worked made by groups such as UW Robotics, BadgerBots and the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation.
In regards to future plans for the festival, Erdmann said ideas are flowing but nothing is concrete.
“We don’t have a date yet for next year, we’re still working on that but we’ll certainly be announcing that as soon as we know,” he said.
Erdmann said the festival is an important event that visitors enjoy each year, and the committee looks forward to working on the festival in the future.
