On Saturday, the University of Chicago campus became a place where families could meet science through questions and hands-on activities. The fifth annual South Side Science Festival drew thousands of children and adults to Hyde Park, WBEZ reported from the event. More than 130 demonstrations and activities in fields including biology, aerospace and physics gave visitors ways to play games, conduct experiments and ask professional scientists how things work.
The university’s Office of Civic Engagement listed the festival for Oct. 3 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and described it as free and open to all ages. Its advance program invited visitors to join scientists for hands-on demonstrations, challenges and a sub-zero science show. WBEZ’s event-day reporting confirmed the gathering took place and that activities spanned campus. UChicago News said in advance that more than 600 students, postdoctoral researchers, staff and faculty planned to present.
WBEZ traced the festival’s model to Germany’s Long Night of Sciences, when universities and research labs open their doors to the public. Founding organizer Maanasa Raghavan told the station that Chicago’s version was shaped to connect researchers with South Side communities. The idea was to give visitors a chance to ask questions and see science as something people can take part in.
Researchers met visitors at the point of curiosity
For Ph.D. student Michelle Bessiake, the festival was a familiar way to bring her work outside the lab. WBEZ reported that she had led demonstrations for three years and helped visitors play a board game she developed with colleagues. The game was one of many hands-on ways the festival invited visitors to explore science.
Bessiake described the public-facing work as useful to her own research life, too. She told WBEZ that after long stretches of research and experiments, meeting visitors helped her see what mattered to them and grounded her work. She valued the moment when people began to understand why scientists do what they do. The festival gave researchers a chance to hear those questions while sharing what they had learned.
The university’s September preview described demonstrations involving robots, fossils, live jellyfish, liquid nitrogen and art activities using conductive ink. Those details were advance plans, not observations from WBEZ’s report. The preview also profiled a planned demonstration by graduate student Madhumitha Prakash: children might expect yellow and blue streams to make green, but fluids at a tiny scale do not necessarily behave like paint. She planned to show how geometry could alter laminar flow and introduce turbulence. The examples showed how an unexpected result could become a question to investigate.
A father brought his four-year-old to explore
Raghavan told WBEZ that seeing thousands of people engage with the festival reminded researchers why their work matters. Another organizer, Luke Dyer, said the event was also created in response to fears and distrust in medicine that followed the initial COVID-19 outbreak. He described it as a chance to welcome people in and answer questions directly.
Nijel Mottley brought his four-year-old son, Remy, whose interests include mixing things and watching science shows online. Mottley told WBEZ that his son was enjoying the event’s hands-on format. He said experiences like the festival can help children see how science is applied and why communities need more scientists.
That family visit gave the event’s all-ages invitation a specific shape: a parent could bring a preschooler to follow a curiosity, while university researchers and students shared the work behind their fields. The university’s event listing made the invitation practical as well as welcoming: admission was free, and the program was open to all ages.
The South Side Science Festival returned for a fifth year by making expertise something people could approach together. The reported moments were person-sized: Bessiake sharing a board game made with colleagues, and Mottley bringing Remy to explore. Visitors did not need to arrive as specialists. They could start with a question, an experiment or a child’s interest and meet scientists ready to explain.
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