The Department of Defense is participating in the 5th USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo, on Apr 5-8 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in DC.  The expo is designed to inspire the next generation of inventors, creators and innovators.  It is a free, family-friendly expo that allows kids and adults to participate in thousands of exhibits, experiments, and stage shows.

The DoD will again be a premier supporter at the 2018 USA Science and Engineering Festival. The Department of Defense (DoD) has been participating in the USA Science and Engineering Festival since 2012. “We’re excited to participate in our fourth USA Science & Engineering Festival and to showcase the many talented STEM professionals within the DoD and their accomplishments,” says Dr. Jagadeesh Pamulapati, director, Laboratories Office within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

The hours of operations are Apr 7 from 10a.m. to 6 p.m. and Apr 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The grand finale of the Festival’s year-long science celebration is Apr 8.  The Festival Expo features over 3,000 hands-on activities showcasing how STEM Can Take You into the deep blue, into cyberspace, inside the human body, into nature, into outer space and beyond!  In all, the Festival Expo expects to draw more than 350,000 people.

Within the Defense Pavilion, the audience will have the opportunity to interact with STEM professionals and mentors within the DoD through a variety of activities including a “Ray Optics Laser System” demonstration, navigating a drone, taking a Virtual Reality Tour, and hearing Lightning Talks to learn about the experiences of DoD Scientist and Engineers. 

The Festival features science celebrities, explorers, astronauts, physicists, inventors, and experts in fields like oceanography, climatology, robotics, medical research, neuroscience, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and more.  Participating celebrities include:

o TV host and Ocean Explorer Danni Washington o Explosive Science’s Dr. Kate Biberdorf  o World Champion of Magic Jason Latimer  o America’s Science Teacher Steve Spangler o Fox TV Xploration Outer Space host, Emily Callandrelli

Featured Lightning talks include:

o “The Engineering Path Less Traveled” o “Why Do We Have Scientist and Engineers” o “Do DoD Technologies Behave the Way They are Portrayed in Popular Games?”

To learn more, visit http://dodstem.us/stem-programs/events-map