(View and download a Science in the City program guide, here)
Science is everywhere – and it’s worth celebrating.
That two-pronged message is a crucial one in Arizona’s centennial year as business leaders and educators alike strive to make a brighter future for the state, said Jeremy Babendure, director of the Arizona SciTech Festival.
A six-week effort featuring more than 200 events statewide, the SciTech Festival aims to highlight the breadth of science, technology and innovation in Arizona and how those areas will drive the state’s next 100 years. With strong aerospace, optics and biomedical sectors, Tucson’s economy is dependent on science and technology.
“Tucson is really looking to emerge as Arizona’s science city and we started talking to people about helping the public understand what Tucson has to offer in terms of science, technology and innovation,” Babendure said.
Science in the City, a series of displays, events and demonstrations, will take place across downtown Tucson on Feb. 18. Sponsored by the SciTech Festival and 2nd Saturdays Downtown, the day is planned to be family-friendly, interactive, and most of all fun, said Sandy Mellor, director of community relations for Providence Service Corporation, which is a sponsor of 2nd Saturdays.
“We’re going to try to show people how science is part of every part of your everyday life,” Mellor said. “We’re not trying to reach people who already love science. What we want to do is reach out and explain to everybody that when you take a drink of water, science is involved.”
Though the schedule of events was still being finalized as of press time, Science in the City will have events spread across downtown, including the Children’s Museum, Main Library, City High School, O2 Modern Fitness and Science Downtown in the Rialto Block exhibition hall, said Mellor.
To see how science is part of the lifeblood of Tucson, consider some of the University of Arizona’s high-profile achievements from just the last month:
• On Jan. 18, an international team of physicists and astronomers convened in Tucson to begin efforts at capturing the first ever photograph of a black hole. The team plans to connect up to 50 radio telescopes, making an Earth-sized virtual telescope to test theories on black holes dating back to Albert Einstein.
• On Jan. 14, the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory began casting the second of seven 8.4-meter mirrors that will make up the Giant Magellan Telescope, which is scheduled to begin operating in 2020 in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile.
• On Jan. 12, a team of astronomers from the UA and Caltech released the largest data set ever collected that documents the brightening and dimming of stars and other celestial objects – 200 million objects observed by the Catalina Sky Survey on Mount Bigelow.
• On Jan. 6, a team of entomologists led by a UA professor published the results of a 10-year study that effectively delays the onset of insecticide resistance in pests that harm a variety of crops.
Achievements like those might draw the world’s attention to Tucson, but Science in the City aims to emphasize science in the context of day-to-day life.
Babendure said the whole idea of the Arizona SciTech Festival is to engage people in science based on what they’re already interested in. Spring training fans can learn the science of baseball. Outdoor lovers can learn about wildlife biodiversity. Other topics include flight, robotics and water.
“There’s a lot of different audiences around science that we’re trying to reach,” he said.
Engaging with science is important for individuals, but also can have a collective impact on Tucson and the state, Babendure said.
“It’s really important to have the locals understand what we do in science and technology and that a lot of the local companies have a national and international reach,” Babendure said. “They’re bragging about what we do and when there are assets like a festival like this it can add another reason for companies to come here rather than chose another location. They can see the public is supportive.”
Visit AZSciTechFest.org for the local, and statewide, schedule of events.
