The Texas Science Festival, organized by The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences, takes place from February 18-March 5, with experiences on the UT campus and around Central Texas. They include a variety of events including an open house at Brackenridge Field Laboratory, complete with a “citizen-science” training for volunteer researchers; fireside-style chats with world-renowned scientists; an activity fair at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center; and science-inspired film screenings at Austin Film Society, the Texas Union and the Long Center for Performing Arts. Events also include a planetarium event at Austin Nature & Science Center; special themed tours at the Blanton Museum of Art and Texas Science & Natural History Museum; an event at a local vineyard celebrating the science of wine-making; and the 25th annual STEM Girl Day.
“The Texas Science Festival brings community members together around one exciting idea: discovery,” said David Vanden Bout, dean of the College of Natural Sciences. “With our valuable community partners, campus organizations and science-inspired artists and writers, we’ve put together programming that allows festival-goers of all ages to follow their curiosity and find new appreciation for the wonders science and our natural world.”
The largest event will be Women in STEM’s celebration, STEM Girl Day, happening on Saturday, February 28. More than 10,000 K-8 children will come to campus for hands-on activities, demos and an introduction to the excitement of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
With dozens of events scheduled over the two weeks, most options are free and open to the public, but a few require tickets and/or advanced registration.
Looking for some highlights? Look no further.