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ORAU Partners with USA Science and Engineering Festival to Help Reignite Excitement in Youths for Scientific Discovery

Neutron scattering research isn’t something most of us think about, but it helps scientists improve the materials we use every day. ORAU is partnering with the Neutron Sciences Directorate at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to make accelerator physics accessible to all ages at the USA Science and Engineering Festival Expo to be held in Washington D.C., October 23-24, 2010. Visitors will learn how neutrons “see” inside materials and have improved everything from medicine to airplanes.

ORAU and a team of experts from the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge, Tenn. will host an exhibit that allows visitors to go inside a model of an “accelerator,” which is a structure scientists use to speed up particles to conduct research. Visitors will race through the accelerator, spin around the “accumulator ring,” emerge to “hit the target” as a proton and free the neutrons!

ORAU is proud to be an Official Partner of the festival, which is a collaboration of more than 500 of the country's leading science and engineering organizations with the goal to reignite the interest of our nation's youth in the sciences. The Expo is the pinnacle event of the inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival to be held in the greater Washington D.C. area, October 10-24, 2010. At The Expo, children, teens and adults can explore all facets of science and engineering through hundreds of fun, hands-on activities and more than 40 science shows on three different stages.

Some examples include activities such as building an underwater robot, chatting with a Nobel Laureate, exploring the science behind the magic of Hogwarts Academy, and seeing a car that drives itself. From bugs to birds, kitchen chemistry to computer games, environmental monitoring to electronic music, the Expo has something for everyone and is completely free of charge.

People across the Unites States are also encouraged to hold satellite events in their communities the same weekend that hundreds of thousands of people celebrate science on the National Mall. For more information on all festival events and how you can get involved, visit www.usasciencefestival.org.