Several colleges and universities sponsored interactive tabletop exhibits where people were invited to learn about careers in science as well as have their questions answered by experts and volunteers convened by AAAS. The community science showcase was free to the public and geared mainly toward students in grade levels 6 to 12.
Arshad Kudrolli, professor and chair of the Physics Department, and Jan and Larry Landry University Professor, organized the Clark University contingent, along with Mark Turnbull, professor in the Carlson School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Also planning and/or attending the event were Ranjan Mukhopadhyay, associate professor of physics and assistant professor of physics Michael Boyer.
“It was wonderful to see so many young children who still had that sense of wonder that makes everything special,” said Turnbull, who counted more than 150 visitors – including a couple of Clark alumni—at his team’s table in just the first few hours. He applauded the “fantastic enthusiasm” of the Clark undergraduate and graduate students who spent time on campus in preparation and in Boston helping to staff the Clark booth. Demonstrations included hands-on displays of a Cartesian diver, magnetic liquids, a parabolic “true images” reflector, and floating matter to exhibit what is known as the “Cheerios effect.”
“These Clark students dragged themselves out of bed early on a Saturday morning to go to Boston and set up a booth to show kids how much fun science is,” Turnbull remarked. “Although the target age group was probably 5 to 12, some of our most fascinated ‘little kids’ were the college-age ones and the parents. Their enthusiasm made it more than worth anything that we invested in the event.”
Along with Kudrolli and Turnbull, the following members of the University’s science community assisted with Clark’s participation in the AAAS Family Science Days:
Julien Chopin, post-doc, Physics