Spectrum - Volume 19 Issue 21 February 20, 1997 - CIMSS organizing Explore Tech 1997

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CIMSS organizing Explore Tech 1997

Spectrum Volume 19 Issue 21 - February 20, 1997

For the fifth consecutive year, the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (CIMSS) at Virginia Tech will again be organizing an educational exposition for area school children.

CIMSS will work with the university community and Montgomery County school officials to create and organize Explore Tech 1997. As in the past, the primary activity being organized for April 17-18 is a comprehensive, hands-on science-and-engineering exposition, and invitations to attend the activities will be extended to all schools and classrooms (K-12) in Montgomery and neighboring counties. Input is being sought from interested teachers, principals, and faculty members to create activities and demonstrations that will be appropriate and meaningful to area school children.

The theme for this year's event will be "Expand Your World." The primary focus of the educational exposition is to promote an understanding and awareness of the diversity of science and engineering. A large and diverse EXPO is anticipated for 1997. Booths and demonstrations will be arranged to highlight the excitement and novelty found in the many diverse areas of science and engineering at Virginia Tech.

Scientists and engineers from many different disciplines will showcase the technologies under investigation at Virginia Tech that also have applications in every-day life and in such things as bullet-proof vests, space structures, canoes, and submarines. Specialists in the fields of human nutrition, agriculture, and other sciences are also being invited to demonstrate elements of their respective fields. Expo hours will be: Thursday, April 17, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Friday, April 18, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Virginia Tech's success in introducing the school children of Montgomery County to the diversity of science and engineering has been the catalyst for an effort to take the expo to other parts of the state. In 1996, Virginia Tech faculty and staff members and students took the expo to Richmond to allow school children in that area to become better acquainted with Virginia Tech and to allow legislators and other state officials to see the breadth of the university's outreach efforts to provide an education to the state's citizens. Because of the success of the expo in Richmond in 1996, Virginia Tech faculty members will present Explore Tech 1997 in both Richmond and Northern Virginia.

Anyone interested in sharing ideas, preparing a demonstration, or providing input to event organizers should contact the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (1-2900 or cimss@vt.edu).