This post was updated Nov. 11 at 11:44 p.m.
UCLA’s Court of Sciences teemed with activity Sunday as about 12,000 people attended the university’s largest annual science fair.
Exploring Your Universe, a volunteer-led event held on the first Sunday of every November, allows the broader Los Angeles community to explore science through 68 booths, 18 scientific discussions and other activities, according to the EYU website.
[Related: Passion for STEM blasts off at Exploring Your Universe Fair]
To kick off this year’s fair, Miguel García-Garibay, the dean of the Division of Physical Sciences, presented the Science and Education Pioneer Award to Terence Tao, a professor in the mathematics department and the James and Carol Collins chair in the College of Letters and Sciences. The award recognizes Tao for his commitment to advocating for science education, according to the Division of Physical Sciences website.
“Science is really like an ecosystem,” Tao said in a recent UCLA Newsroom interview. “It’s not just a few really brilliant people doing brilliant things – it takes a whole community.”
Throughout the day, attendees participated in interactive club and organization booths, which lined the walkways of South Campus. Many children participated in activities such as crafting tinfoil boats, building lava lamps and simulating their own earthquakes.
Ayala Scott, a parent attending the fair, said one of her kids loved the Tin Foil Boat Challenge last year – a booth where participants create boats to learn about buoyancy and density.
Her son “made a beeline” for the activity’s booth this year, she added.
She said the fair was a great way to introduce her kids to the different ways science can be applied to everyday phenomena.
“I hope that they (Scott’s children) don’t look at science as this boring thing,” Scott said. “I hope that they can get excited by it and see that it can solve so many problems in the world and also help them get inspired and maybe want to learn more on their own.”
Julian Fiore, a co-president of InterAxon – a club that teaches science to children from low-income backgrounds – said events such as EYU are especially beneficial for kids, as it allows them to engage with science in a fun, hands-on way. Fiore, a fourth-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, added that the event allowed his club to work with kids directly and build relationships with teachers and parents interested in the club’s mission.
“There’s just so many kids from so many different schools that come here,” he said. “Usually when we go out and present, we present at one school, but this way we can reach so many more kids.”
Hanna Boughanem – another co-president of InterAxon – said she enjoyed seeing parents support their children’s love for science.
“It’s cool to see little kids who are really interested and want to go above and beyond,” said Boughanem, a fourth-year human biology and society student.
Megan Li, the president of EYU, said this year had the event’s biggest turnout ever. EYU expanded this year to provide access to the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, tours of the California NanoSystems Institute lab and an undergraduate internship program for students to help promote the event, she said.
Li, a fourth-year doctoral student in earth, planetary and space sciences, said she and the rest of EYU’s board – composed of 20 students – initially thought the fair would not happen because of the federal funding cuts this year.
The Trump administration froze $584 million of UCLA’s federal research grants in late July, alleging that UCLA allowed antisemitism, illegal affirmative action practices and “men to participate in women’s sports.” A federal judge issued temporary injunctions Aug. 12 in a case brought by UC researchers, which reinstated the bulk of UCLA’s frozen grants for the time being.
“We (the board) had our first meeting, and I just said, ‘We’re going to pretend like we’re going to have an EYU,’” she said. “We’re going to keep pretending until we can’t have it anymore, and magically, it all managed to come together thanks to generous donations from departments and grants that we’ve been applying to.”
She added that the theme of this year’s fair was “funded by you through,” highlighting the role that taxpayers play in funding public science organizations. She added that many of the organizers – who wore neon yellow and orange vests during the fair – donned badges on their clothes with statements such as “funded by you through NASA” and “funded by you through NIH.”
“Scientific research lengthens lifespans; it gave us the internet – university research gave us the internet,” she said. “That is federal funding, and it’s so important to me that the public understands that this is us trying to do what’s good for everybody. It’s their money, and it should go back to them.”
Growing up, Li said she never felt STEM would be for her, so her goal with the event was to create a space where everyone felt represented. She added that she hopes the attendees continue pursuing science following the event.
“EYU is only one day a year, but standing up for science and promoting STEM to society is a year-round thing,” she said.
Natalie Lam, an event chair of EYU and a third-year doctoral student in astronomy and astrophysics, said she hopes young students walked away from the event knowing they should “never stop exploring.”
“We really need to nurture the sense of curiosity,” she said. “There are so many different scientists around this event that look like them, who are from really diverse backgrounds.”
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