Science Potpourri to celebrate 15 years

Submitted by Amie Pappas
Phone: 907-474-6714
04/10/08

The UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics will host its 15th annual Science Potpourri Saturday, April 12 from noon - 5 p.m. in the Reichardt Building, formerly the Natural Sciences Facility, on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

The popular science event will feature new activities and longtime favorites. Participants can slice a rock in two, create a flood on a miniature Monopoly town, learn to make slime, investigate mystery beads and watch a robot in action.

This year’s event will also be the last for coordinator Marlys Schneider, one of Science Potpourri’s founders. She plans to retire in May after 33 years at the university.

The event started out as KUAC’s Family Science Day in Wood Center. Once it moved to the Reichardt Building, where departments had easy access to working labs, it grew into an event that draws an average of about 400 people each year.

With that growth came opportunities for funding, Schneider said. "We have been given generous donations from EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), the Alaska Chapter of the Chemical Society and AAAS (American Academy for the Advancement of Science). But I still do some scrounging."

Science Potpourri is free and open to the public. Free parking is available behind the Reichardt Building.

CONTACT: Amie Pappas, CNSM public information officer, at 907-474-6714 or via e-mail at fnadp@uaf.edu. Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at marmian.grimes@uaf.edu.