Due to the ongoing renovations at the St. Joseph County Public Library's main branch, the 28th annual Science Alive was held at the Jordan Hall of Science on Notre Dame's campus.
Science Alive serves many purposes, such as bringing the community together and creating enthusiasm for science and engineering. It is a unique opportunity for people of all ages to interact with high-level researchers and learn about innovative projects taking place in the South Bend area. The presenters benefit from the opportunity to practice the “soft skill” of distilling their knowledge into everyday language and concepts.
Slinkies, slime, Sudoku puzzles, Legos, Alka Seltzer, balloons, and a plasma globe were some of the items used to demonstrate the basics of research involving nanoparticles, catalysis, polymers, and plasma. Each group had a poster to connect the hands-on activity to the work in the lab. During the six-hour event, questions of all kinds came from four year olds to retired professionals.
Along with members of the Student Energy Board, participating ND Energy affiliated faculty members in this year's event included: Peter Burns, Alexander Dowling, David Go, Amy Hixon, Prashant Kamat, Svetlana Neretina, Jennifer Schaefer, William Schneider, Emily Tsui, and Jonathan Whitmer.