SciTech Festival comes to West campus, Feb. 25

The Arizona SciTech Festival comes to Arizona State University’s West campus, Feb. 25 for a day of free activities, demonstrations and displays designed to enlighten and entertain visitors of all ages.

The West campus event is dubbed Ex-STATIC (Excellence in Science, Technology And Team-based Interdisciplinary Creativity). It is presented by ASU’s New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, the core college on the West campus at 4701 W. Thunderbird Road in Phoenix. Event partners include Liberty Buick, Sands Chevrolet and the city of Glendale. Ex-STATIC will be held in the University Center Building from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Among the highlights of Ex-STATIC is an exhibit focusing on the Spirit of St. Louis, the legendary airplane that carried Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic Ocean. “Flying Over Time” will be on display from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the La Sala ballroom. It is the brainchild of Nova Hall, the grandson of Donald A. Hall, the plane’s designer. Nova Hall, a New College graduate, describes “Flying Over Time” as “like nothing one has ever seen; it is part museum exhibition, performance space, corporate events venue and educational workshop.”

Hall said the exhibit is designed to teach art, history and science through the inspirational story of the Spirit of St. Louis, which made the first-ever non-stop flight from New York to Paris and earned Lindbergh the Orteig Prize, a $25,000 award offered by New York hotelier Raymond Orteig to the first allied aviators to make such a trans-Atlantic crossing.

Tying in with the aviation theme, a Paper Airplane Contest will be held in partnership with the Challenger Space Center in Peoria. The contest runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in La Sala.

A Rubik’s Cube tournament will pit teams of K-12 students against one another to see who can collectively solve 25 Rubik’s Cubes in the shortest amount of time. The competition runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the second-floor cafeteria area of the University Center Building.

Ex-STATIC also will feature poster and multimedia presentations showcasing the state-of-the-art research and creative endeavors of New College students. The students are involved in research in collaboration with professors through the New College Undergraduate Inquiry and Research Experiences (NCUIRE) program. NCUIRE provides a rare opportunity for undergraduate students to work on research projects with full-time faculty who are nationally known experts in their fields. NCUIRE presentations will take place from noon to 2 p.m., in rooms 265 and 266 of the University Center Building.

Fans of musical styles from electronic music to rap to rock will want to spend time in the Kiva Lecture Hall between noon and 5 p.m. New College faculty member Barry Moon has organized an eclectic program including live performances, DJs, VJs, and live painting.

Ex-STATIC also will serve as host to the Arizona Middle School Science Bowl, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event kicks off on the Fletcher Library Lawn, with competition rounds taking place in the Sands Classroom Building. Teams of middle-school students from across Arizona will compete in this quiz-bowl event. Participants will be tested on their knowledge of science, technology and mathematics. They also will display model cars that they designed and built.

The models aren’t the only cars that will be on display; Sands Chevrolet from Glendale and Liberty Buick from Peoria will bring new-technology vehicles to campus.

An additional Ex-STATIC partner is the city of Glendale, which will host displays from its water conservation, water services and transportation departments showcasing “green” technologies.

Ex-STATIC is a signature event of the Arizona SciTech Festival, the largest-ever Arizona celebration of innovation. More than 250 organizations have worked in partnership to showcase the state’s leadership in science, technology and innovation.

For more information about Ex-STATIC, contact NCEvents@asu.edu.