ASU’s Night of the Open Door powered by STEAM innovation
Bring the family and 'nerd out' with hundreds of hands-on experiences, performances, tours and more on five Valley campuses
Searching for new ideas and unique experiences with the family in 2017? Does your New Year’s resolution include medieval knights and chain mail, international culture, new-age cars, space exploration or Teotihuacan pyramids? What about discovering the newest career fields or meeting the brainiacs heading labs at the No. 1 most innovative university in the country?
Arizona State University hosts the Night of the Open Door on its five campuses across metro Phoenix. Each offers adults and children the opportunity to “nerd out” and celebrate the power of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) with more than 360 hands-on experiences, tours, performances, creative activities, demos, games and design challenges.
- Feb. 3 — Downtown Phoenix campus, 4–9 p.m.
- Feb. 11 — West campus, 4–9 p.m.
- Feb. 17 — Polytechnic campus, 4–9 p.m.
- Feb. 18 — Thunderbird campus, 4–8 p.m.
- Feb. 25 — Tempe campus, 3–9 p.m.
Get free tickets in advance online and enter to win a gift package. Tickets also function as an express pass to collect the free glow wand and event programs at the registration booths once on campus.
With so many activities to consider, Night of the Open Door also offers an app through Devils on Campus (Android or iOS) to help visitors choose activities in advance and navigate each campus. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for highlights of upcoming events.
In its sixth year, Night of the Open Door is a top signature event of the Arizona SciTech Festival. Each campus offers performances and activities tailored to its own unique character. For example, chart an evening at Downtown Phoenix to experience cooking and health demonstrations, Native painting activities and community arts exhibits. Come tour PBS studios, meet ASU Public Service Academy students or compete in sustainability, law and health learning games. Kids can even get their junior reporter press badge working with veteran journalists and vintage typewriters.
Exploration of West campus gets visitors thinking about black widow spiders, forensics and the neuroscience of chocolate. Try to beat a lie detector test, build electronic circuits or experience ASU students’ research in cancer, aging and drug development. There’s Minecraft, Angry Birds, art shows, design, dance and much more.
At ASU Polytechnic and Thunderbird campuses, imaginations can take flight, literally. The Polytechnic campus is home to robotics and STEAM machines, the Superstition Review Literary Magazine, Sun Devil Racing Development and a professional flight simulator. The ASU Thunderbird School of Global Management adds an international flair with arts and culture from around the world, including movies, sports, dance, festivals and food, from Peru to the Middle East and China.
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Cronkite anchor Troy Lynch explains the TV set and cameras to a tour group in the Cronkite School and Arizona PBS Tour at the Downtown Phoenix campus. The Night of the Open Door is an open house to be held on that campus Feb. 3 featuring events and interactive activities in mathematics and natural sciences, humanities, arts, social sciences, education and business.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Four-year-old Noah Weisenberg of Mesa plays with Minecraft building blocks on the West campus in Glendale. Night of the Open Door at West is Feb. 11. Activities range from forensics to student research in cancer, aging and drug development, art shows and much more.
Photo by ASU
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Professional flight junior Justin Frenes shows organizational psychology junior Beatriz Mendoza around the workshop during Night of the Open Door at Polytechnic campus. This year the Polytechnic open house is Feb. 17. The campus is home to robotics and STEAM machines, the Superstition Review Literary Magazine, Sun Devil Racing Development and flight simulators.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Julian Britt learns how to write Chinese characters at the "Rice Paper Calligraphy" display at last year's Night of the Open Door at Thunderbird. The event will be at that campus Feb. 18 this year. Come experience arts and culture from around the world, including movies, sports, dance, food and the Chinese Spring Festival.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Taylor Celle tries out her black painting artistry at the Mary Lou Fulton blacklight poster painting during Night of the Open Door. The Tempe campus hosts more than 150 activities in arts, sciences, engineering, space exploration, bioscience, humanities, math and the arts. This year's Tempe event is Feb. 25.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Jai Reddy (left), with Swapna Patlolla, listens to baby Josephina's heartbeat in the nursing simulation experience at last year's Downtown Phoenix Night of the Open Door. This year's event features activities in law, health, journalism, student life, humanities, public service and the sciences.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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At Night of the Open Door at West campus, displays such as black widow spiders draw in a large web of viewers. The open house features events and interactive activities in mathematics and natural sciences, humanities, arts, social sciences, education and business.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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At Night of the Open Door on the Polytechnic campus, events range from robotics to humanities and aeronautics. Sophomore automotive engineering major Coleman Cookston shows Logan Clemson the Baja car, one of the many exciting hands-on activities and tours offered by student volunteers.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Jessica Gutierrez poses for a photo at the "Experience the Middle East and North Africa" display at last year's Night of the Open Door at Thunderbird. The Thunderbird School of Global Management event offers a global flair with food, displays, demos, dance, games and more.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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At the Night of the Open Door on the Tempe campus, visitors can roam from the Biodesign Institute to the Institute for Human Origins, where students share their discoveries and research about our early human ancestors.
Photo by Margaret Coulombe
ASU’s Night of the Open Door winds up on Feb. 25, with more than 150 hands-on arts and sciences activities, lab tours and demos on the Tempe campus, including the ASU Sustainability Solutions Festival (#Sustival) and, new this year, the futuristic arts exposition “Emerge.”
Emerge events bring to life how our creations are changing what it means to be human, exploring the theme of “Frankenstein” in celebration of the upcoming 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s classic novel. In addition to Victor Frankenstein’s Workshop for kids, Emerge events for adults are hosted at ASU’s University Club and include artists, virtual reality experiences, neurocomics and immersive environments. Consider the future with “Tomorrow's Monster,” a lab space designed for the year 2047 that features beautifully crafted, customized organs, enhancements and spare body parts. What are the implications of commodification for the future of medicine, artificial intelligence, robotics and what constitutes life itself?
Whether your interests are in language lessons, math or cybersecurity, ancient bones, meteorites or live snakes, Night of the Open Door events have something for everyone, fueled by more than 2,000 undergraduates, graduate students, staff and superstar-faculty volunteers from 150 academic groups.
“I’m impressed by the energy that our volunteers pour into Night of the Open Door each year,” said Darci Nagy, ASU special events manager. “It’s grassroots. Their enthusiasm makes visitors’ discoveries in sustainability, medicine, journalism, language, sciences and engineering more personal and exciting.”
“Coming to ASU for Night of the Open Door, touring the campuses and meeting the world-class people who teach and do research gives people of all ages and from all walks of life the chance to experience and imagine the future they want,” said ASU staffer Margaret Coulombe.
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