Scientific meeting 2023 | Queen’s University Gazette

Households from across Southeastern Ontario and particular guests joined Science Rendezvous Kingston on Might 13th.

• From left to proper: Nancy Ross (Deputy Director of Study, Queen’s University), Arthur McDonald (Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University), Brian Patterson (Mayor, City of Kingston), Linda Colgan (Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University), Alejandro Adem (President , NSERC), Dwayne Miller (Chair, Scientific Meeting), Julie Ann Might (Board Member, Scientific Meeting), Katie Miller (Executive Director, Scientific Meeting), and Lisa Mathias (Board Member, Scientific Meeting).

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  The Kingston Scientific Meeting was held at the Leon Centre, in downtown Kingston.

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  Charlie Hindmarch (Medicine) performed a strawberry DNA extraction demonstration on stage.

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  Kingston Fire and Rescue ready a demonstration on the dynamics of property fires and how to extinguish them.

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  The chemical magic show was a single of the highlights of the day.

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  Young guests discovered about animals, plants and other scientific subjects.

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  Participating researchers ready hands-on activities to engage kids in STEM.

What occurs when you bring collectively a vintage fire truck, cutting-edge robots and health-related students performing ultrasounds of their personal hearts? Guests could expertise all this and much more at Science Rendezvous Kingston, Canada’s biggest science occasion.

On Saturday, Might 13, much more than five,300 youth and households visited the Leon Center and The Tragically Hip Way to engage with 50 booths and demonstrations covering subjects from cardiovascular overall health, robotics, and plant science to geology, engineering, and art conservation . A group of more than 430 volunteers, which includes Queen’s faculty members, researchers and students, as properly as representatives from regional museums, schools and neighborhood partners, ready the activities.

“Science Rendezvous Kingston is an critical chance for Kingston and Southeastern Ontario households to interact informally with our researchers, producing and obtaining enjoyable collectively,” says Queen’s Deputy Director (Study) Nancy Ross. “We strongly think that events like this assistance to minimize the gap among science and society, develop trust in science and scientific institutions, and inspire the subsequent generation of scientists and innovators.”

A record of good results

Science Rendezvous Kingston is aspect of the nationwide Science Rendezvous initiative, made in 2008 to engage Canadians in science and engineering. At present, the Science Meeting is the biggest a single-day science festival in the nation and spans 30 cities in ten provinces and two territories.

Queen’s has been the proud host of Science Rendezvous Kingston because 2011. The Kingstonian occasion, a single of Canada’s most productive, has been awarded national awards in 2020 and 2022. This year, the Science Rendezvous Board of Directors chose Kingston as a showcase occasion to market the value and effect of the festival science.

Unique guests for the exhibition occasion have been Alejandro Adem (President of the National Science and Engineering Study Council of Canada – NSERC), Brian Patterson (Mayor of Kingston), Ted Hsu (Member of Provincial Parliament for Kingston and the Islands), Dr. Ross, Dwayne Miller (Founder and president of the Scientific Meeting), Arthur Macdonald (Nobel Laureate and Queen’s Professor Emeritus), members of the Board of Directors of the Scientific Meeting and senior administrators of regional college boards and neighborhood organizations.

Pick your adventure

All through the day, guests have been treated to reside demonstrations by the Queen’s Chemistry Division, the Queen’s Cardiopulmonary Unit and the Kingston Fire Service. 4 major Canadian authors – Helaine Becker, LE Carmichael, Ishta Mercurio and Rochelle Strauss – also study their science stories to the public.

For the initial time, Science Rendezvous Kingston has introduced a Sensory Friendly Science Zone, created to assistance kids with focus deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, social and emotional mental overall health requirements or other sensory or physical disabilities. This pilot project was sponsored by the NSERC PromoScience Supplement and supplied exclusive booths and activities exactly where kids could discover exhibits and interact with researchers in a much more relaxed atmosphere.

“With my background in educational assessment, I know it really is incorrect to say one thing is fantastic, but I honestly consider the highest feasible score for a public education occasion was exceeded on Saturday 13 Might,” says Queen’s Professor Emerita Linda Colgan, founder and co-ordinator Science Rendezvous Kingston. “From Dr. Adem to a 4-year-old ringing the bell on a vintage fire engine, there have been smiles everywhere as informal studying infused the Leon Center and Tragicalli Hip Way.” It was a celebratory neighborhood occasion that will set a new regular for STEM festivals across the country”.

Whilst the in-individual occasion is more than, Science Rendezvous Kingston continues on-line. Librarians at Queen’s Faculty of Education have ready lists of books with recommended reading to complement the activities of the Scientific Meeting, each in English and in French. In addition, booth presenters have created activities for households and kids to do at property or at college, which includes a raisin experiment, an artificial heart craft, guidelines for producing a bird-friendly yard and a balloon rocket.

For these wishing to attend subsequent year, Science Rendezvous Kingston – INNOVATE will take spot on 11 Might 2024. Pay a visit to the site for much more particulars.