MILWAUKEE – Dive into Lake Michigan without getting wet, learn the secrets of glow-in-the-dark microbes and see how Iron Age people made ale (and get a taste) when the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee hosts the Wisconsin Science Festival in Milwaukee Oct. 21-23.
The statewide festival is produced by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, UW-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research. In Milwaukee, UWM is the featured partner, offering 11 entertaining and interactive public shows targeted at older students and adults. All the programs are free.
“This is a festival for grown-up kids. These programs offer a brush with the spectacle of science, and the thrill of learning something interesting in a hands-on, celebratory environment,” said Phyllis King, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.
The programs are not strictly limited to science topics. Instead, the festival has a “STEAM theme,” displaying the wonders of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.
The signature program on Saturday night at Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Schwan Concert Hall is a perfect example. Think of “Big Ideas for Busy People” as “speed dating with research” – an all-star, interdisciplinary faculty cast will present a series of provocative ideas that have surfaced in research so the rest of us can understand the amazingness. But here’s the hitch: Each speaker has only five minutes to tell you and just five minutes for follow-up questions before it’s on to the next hot topic. It’s a night of knowledge nuggets – from black holes to green energy.
To recognize the 50th anniversary of UWM’s first doctoral degree program, festival programming will include two shorter “Big Ideas” programs at area coffeehouses that feature some of the university’s doctoral students. They will present their “big ideas” in a variety of fields – in only five minutes, with five minutes of follow-up questions.
Also on tap is a show held at SC Johnson in Racine that features a multimedia show about Frank Lloyd Wright’s early inspirations. That show includes a tour of the SC Johnson campus where Wright designed two of the company’s office buildings.
Back at the UWM campus, don’t miss a special show at the Manfred Olson Planetarium that blends theater performance with viewing of the night sky; tours of the Zilber School of Public Health labs where scientists probe things in the environment that can make you sick; workshops on the internet-connected world; and more.
See the full lineup of UWM program offerings at uwm.edu/sciencefest.