Jackie Conciatore

A local woman pumps water at a JGI-installed water pump. Photo: Jackie Conciatore/JGI

A child at the University of Pittsburgh's exhibit "Creepy Crawly: Spend a Day in a Spiders (Many) Shoes" at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival learns what life is like living as a spider in a web. Spiders are one of the most diverse groups of organisms in the world. In addition to learning about their behavior, ecology and sensory systems, visitors also participated in a spidery quiz show and tested spider aggressiveness. You can view a video of the exhibit Here. The exhibit was one of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) exhibits and stage shows at the festival that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 25-27.

At the "Engineer Your Own Racebot" exhibit at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival, teams of players take on the challenge of programming robots to complete an obstacle course with help from engineers from The University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Players learned that engineering can be a team effort as they programmed robots to make their way through an obstacle course and across the finish line using the fewest commands and in the shortest amount of time--no programming experience required! The UT Austin exhibit was one of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) exhibits and stage shows at the festival that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 25-27.

representative at the University of Wisconsin Madison's exhibit "How the Cranberry Was Crowned Jewel of the Bog" at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival educates visitors about growing, harvesting, processing and storing cranberries, and how their acidic properties give them an abundance of functions. Although a bog is a foreboding place for many species--cold and acidic with little oxygen in the soil--cranberries thrive there. Researchers are using genomic science to study how we can preserve and improve this "jewel of the bog" for future generations. The exhibit was one of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) exhibits and stage shows at the festival that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 25-27. NSF was a partner in the festival, the nations largest celebration of science and engineering, where visitors eagerly engaged in hands-on activities and were amazed by the breadth of research and education projects supported by the agency. The festival expo provides an opportunity for NSF to showcase the innovation the agency supports throughout the U.S. and the projects and programs selected to represent NSF benefit from the opportunity to demonstrate the value of their activities and outcomes to a large national audience. The goal of the festival is to reinvigorate the interest of the nations youth in science, technology, engineering and math by presenting these areas in an exciting, compelling, educational and entertaining manner. Now in its third year, the festival attracted an estimated 320,000 attendees.

At the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival, National Science Foundation (NSF) Director France A. Córdova listens as a representative from the University of Minnesota (U of M) College of Design's "Fashioning the Future" exhibit discusses their display. The exhibit demonstrated how scientists are creating wearable gadgets and accessories that will help protect people such as firefighters, and can help patients recover from an injury. Visitors to the exhibit could see how e-textiles are sewn, learn how science and engineering (S&E) principles are used to create winter clothing, and how the geometry of 2-D pieces of fabric become 3-D garments. In addition to the exhibit, U of M also participated in the Wearable Technology Fashion Show, a stage show that provided a glimpse of clothing and wearable devices that monitor, respond to and/or communicate with the wearer. The exhibit was one of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) exhibits and stage shows at the festival that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 25-27.

Children at the Mobile Area Education Foundation's (Mobile, Ala.) exhibit "Keep Your Eye on Engineering to Solve Real-World Problems" at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival design a device to catch blood clots in a model human circulatory system, one of three challenges they could participate in to get engaged in engineering to help people and the environment. Others challenges were to create and test a barrier system to prevent pollution of streams and waterways or design the fastest and scariest roller-coaster ride--called "The Dare Devil." The exhibit was one of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) exhibits and stage shows at the festival that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 25-27.

Visitors at the Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electrical Energy Transmission Networks' exhibit "Powering Today and Tomorrow" designed their own energy circuits at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival. Visitors also learned how solar panels are used to collect, store and use the sun's energy for electricity needs, and raced solar-powered cars using different types of solar panels. The exhibit was one of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) exhibits and stage shows at the festival that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 25-27.

These future scientists at Colorado State University's "Little Shop of Physics" exhibit at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival try their hand at an experiment to learn about clouds. Visitors at the exhibit could find answers to general scientific questions--Is a cloud warm or cold? Why are you able to see your veins through your skin?--by exploring, experimenting and touching. It included dozens of different experiments designed to learn how the world works. The exhibit was one of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) exhibits and stage shows at the festival that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 25-27.

Visitors at Colorado State University's "Little Shop of Physics" exhibit at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival could find answers to general scientific questions--Is a cloud warm or cold? Why are you able to see your veins through your skin?--by exploring, experimenting and touching. The exhibit included dozens of different experiments designed to learn how the world works. The exhibit was one of NSF's exhibits and stage shows at the festival that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 25-27. See other images like this in NSF's Science360 for iPad app. To download the Science360 for iPad application for free, visit the Apple iTunes store. General Restrictions: Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial