On October 23-24, 2010, 500,000 people flocked to Washington D.C. to celebrate science and engineering innovation and inventions at the inaugural USA Science and Engineering Expo. Staff from Indiana University, UChicago, Blue Waters, NICS, NCSA, Shodor, and students and educators from the DC area, joined together in reaching out to young people to get them interested and engaged in science and technology. The effort was supported by a supplemental award from OCI. The team extends its appreciation to Irene Lombardo and the OCI office for their support. Pervasive Technology Institute employees from IU volunteered in a booth co-sponsored by the TeraGrid and Blue Waters projects.

Thousands of educators, children and their parents filled the TeraGrid tent non-stop for two days. They took the time to check out a 3D movie as well as the “LittleFe” cluster computer. iPads loaded with animated scientific visualizations and photographs of supercomputers were a huge draw for little fingers which wanted to explore the easy-to-use screens.

“It was great, because when the kids asked ‘What is a supercomputer?’ we were able to show them pictures of the Data Center at Indiana University and the new Blue Waters facility at NCSA at the University of Illinois and also let them see LittleFe,” said IU-TeraGrid Outreach Coordinator Robert Ping. “LittleFe is like a baby supercomputer. It’s portable and is able to be used for training and doing demonstrations to show the computational power of a supercomputer,” he said.

Educators loaded up their bags with NCSA coloring books and posters about supercomputing as well as publications like the TeraGrid EOT Highlights and Science Highlights. They were thrilled to have tangible items they could take back to their classrooms to start discussions about computer science, supercomputing and the many fields of study it touches.

The EXPO was conceived in response to the Obama administration’s desire to encourage more interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers by exposing children and families to new technologies that are strengthening communities, building careers, and stimulating economic growth.

The Pervasive Technology Institute’s Advanced Visualization Lab (AVL), part of the Data to Insight Center created the stereoscopic video shown in the booth. It is centered on real-world applications of computational science and features current research that utilizes the TeraGrid. The stereoscopic video allowed kids and parents alike to don 3D glasses and get a glimmer of what it might be like to be a scientist working in the area of climate and weather.

Animations of whirling wind turbines, swirling tornadoes and inching inch-worms combined with real-world research to show the study of climate isn’t just about the weather. It is useful in other areas of research and study like hydrology and agriculture as well. By using the NSF funded Linked Environments for Atmospheric Discovery (LEAD) project as the topic the public was also able to find out how their tax dollars are put to valuable use both as research tools and as ways to get kids interested in science and technology.

Mike Boyles a volunteer from IU and manager of the AVL said, “It doesn’t really matter what the subject matter is of the video. The way the kids eyes lit up, their thoughtful questions and their expressions of “wow” and “whoa” were the real value we created by showing the 3D scientific movie.”

This wasn’t the first time masses of people gathered on the National Mall to express their concerns and interests, but it was the first time that so many came to share their passion for science, engineering, and technology.

“This expo is a chance for institutions like D2I and IU to show children that science and math aren’t the scary subjects they’re sometimes thought to be, and are actually a lot of fun,” said D2I Director Beth Plale. “Reaching out to young people and getting them intrigued in science and technology will be critical in the coming years in order for the U.S. to be competitive in the global scientific and economic landscape.”