News

Pasadena, CA –  The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) presented its first in-person Exploring Your Universe (EYU) science fair in three years on November 6, 2022. About 12,000 visitors of all ages and backgrounds came to UCLA from the greater LA community.

 

The goal of this family-friendly event is to share the excitement of science through hands-on learning and to inspire the next generation of scientists. This 14th annual science fair included science booths for hand-on science experiments and exhibits, science presentations, “ask a scientist” panels and nighttime astronomy observation events -- amateur telescopes were made available on the roof of the planetarium building to experience the beauty of the night-sky above Los Angeles.

 

Visitors learned about emerging methods for studying the cosmos and technologies involved in the making of the next generation of telescopes. TMT’s booth included a virtual-reality experience of the Observatory, and demonstrations to show how mass deforms space and how gravity works around black-holes with our gravity well. Kids were encouraged to experiment with sunlight radiation using color-changing ultraviolet sensitive beads and learned how a large telescope like TMT works using the brand-new 3D model of the Observatory.

 

“It is really rewarding to see the happiness and astonishment of the visitors” said Yvonne Chen, who recently joined TMT as Assistant Project Control Analyst. “Judging by the number of participants, this event is clearly a great success. We look forward to coming back next year!”

 

Made possible by UCLA staff, EYU is a student-run, volunteer-led science initiative to provide a day of free science exploration to the public. EYU is the largest science outreach event on campus bringing together thousands of participants from the LA area every first Sunday in November. Its mission is to provide a hands-on learning experience each year for all backgrounds.