Festival

Exhibitors

Volunteer

Attendees

5K

Parking

Funding

 

Running Experiments: Investigating the Science of Life

Join us for the 2nd annual NC DNA Day Science Festival to learn more about the biological and biomedical research going on in the state of NC!  Exhibitors will include scientists from UNC, surrounding institutions, and companies featuring hands-on demonstrations and activities.   All of the interactive DNA Day activities will also be featured! The Festival will take place in the Great Hall of the Student Union on Saturday May 17th from 10am-12pm at UNC and will follow the DNA Day 5K race to raise funds for science outreach.

Some of Last Year’s Exciting Booths Included:

  • Muscle Biology – see how a sarcomere contracts and relaxes
  • Understanding the mysteries of the genome using DNA sequencing
  • Sex Chromosomes and Turner Syndrome
  • The Biology of Eye Development
  • Understanding ketoacidosis
  • Lemurs!
  • Cochlear Implants

….And Many More!!

 

 

Information for Exhibitors:

Science Festival attendees will consist primarily of 5K runners and North Carolina elementary and middle school students.  Exhibitors are asked to develop an interactive booth focusing on their research that explains how their work impacts the attendees’ lives in meaningful ways.  Booths can consist of experimental demonstrations, explanations of how research done in the lab has led to technologies that the public is aware of, or interactive science experiments, just to name a few examples.  Hands-on activities are greatly encouraged, so invite your labmates and friends to help run the booth!

Please email Jessica Harrell at jharrell[at]med.unc.edu if you are interested in having a booth.

Guidelines for Exhibitors:

  • The activity/experiment/demonstration should be appropriate for elementary/middle school students.
  • We want to keep attendees moving through the room.  Please plan your activity so that visitors to your booth will spend 5 minutes or less before moving to the next table.
  • There is no cost to have a booth at the festival, but please be aware that you will need to provide your own supplies for your activity.
  • The exhibit hall will open at 9am for you to set up your booth.
  • We will try to accommodate any requests for power or other needs, but please let us know in advance.
  • We will email you by April 17, 2014 to confirm your participation.

 

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Volunteers

Many people need to be involved to run this event smoothly and make it a huge success.  If you would like to participate in this event, but do not want to sign up to run your own booth, there is definitely a need for volunteers:

    • DNA Day activity tables
    • Booths that need help with their demonstrations
    • Registration table

Please email Jessica Harrell at jharrell[at]med.unc.edu if you are interested in volunteering at the festival.

Thank you!

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Information for Attendees:

This is a free festival, open to the public.  All ages are invited to attend this exciting event, with the understanding that many of the activities will be geared towards elementary and middle school students.

Location:

This event will take place in the Great Hall of the Student Union on UNC’s campus: 3103 FPG Student Union, Corner of South and Raleigh Road, Chapel Hill, NC.

Click here to get specific directions

 

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5K

If you are interested in participating in the 5K event immediately preceding the Science Festival, please visit www.ncdnaday.org/5K for more information and to register.

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Parking

Free parking is available on UNC Campus in close proximity to the Student Union.  Please see the list or click on the map below for more specific parking locations (Highlighted in blue).

    • Cobb Parking Deck
    • Bell Tower Parking Deck
    • School of Government Parking Deck

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Funding

Support for this Festival has been provided by the Biogen Idec Foundation Micro-Grants in Science Education Fund of Triangle Community Foundation.

If you’d like to make a direct contribution to support NC DNA Day, please send checks payable to UNC-Chapel Hill, c/o Josh Hall, Office of Biomedical Graduate Education, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Rd CB#7108, 1105A Bioinformatics Bldg, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.  All proceeds go to support NC DNA Day and science outreach in North Carolina.  For more information about NC DNA Day click here.  THANK YOU!

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Questions?

Questions about the festival? Contact Jessica Harrell at jharrell[at]med.unc.edu for more information.

Running Experiments: Investigating the Science of Life

May 17, 2014, 10am-12pm

Great Hall Student Union, UNC-Chapel Hill