The College of Science held its two-day event, Vandal Science Days, on April 19 and 20. This was a free event and was open to students, faculty and anyone visiting UI.
“You learn about the stellar science programs and projects at the University of Idaho directly from the professors and students that are doing the science,” according to the Vandal Science Days website.
There were activities such as a fossil dig, free plants, experiments and microscopes that visitors could look through. A raffle was featured for participants who completed the activities.
“With Jazz Fest here they are advertising the College of Science since there are so many job opportunities,” Julia Artle, a work-study student for the College of Science said. “There are booths from every department here and clubs.”
Many booths were targeted to high school students visiting the Jazz Festival such as a dual credit booth encouraging high schoolers to take classes through UI.
Other booths were featuring their clubs, or graduate students on their studies, such as fossils that were displayed and glaciers where onlookers could watch a scale of how they move over time.
On April 19, a virtual reality demo, a geology fashion show hosted by undergraduates and a presentation on “Arsenic for Health and Beauty and Other Dubious Practices” by Claire Qualls, were featured.
Qualls went into depth about different artifacts that the department had been sent from across the U.S. and other parts of the world.
“Archeologists send us artifacts from all over the world when they don’t know what they are, Qualls said. “Sometimes we get things like little bones and sometimes we get coins.”
On April 20, another presentation was delivered by John Anderson on “Virtual Realities for Sustainable Futures: XR Applications in Planetwalking Science”; and another presentation by Melia LaFleur on “From Yellow Powder to Black Powder an Archaeochemical Journey.”
Vandal Science Days also partnered with Jazz Fest and had a presentation on “Gravitational Waves: Jazz from the Cosmos” by Professor Zach Etienne which was the last event.
More events like Vandal Science Days from the College of Science can be found here.
Andrea Roberts can be reached at [email protected].