As part of the American Chemical Society’s Chemistry Week, University of Texas Permian Basin will host STEAMFest from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 30) in the Science and Technology Building foyer.
It’s also meant to be a way to promote the Science and Engineering Fair coming up in February.
“We’re going to have two main events in the classrooms. We’re going to have chemistry and science demos, so we’re going to have demonstrations … explosions and things like that,” said Milka Montes, associate professor and Department Chair of Chemistry.
Montes said the event is geared to children from third through 12th grade for the science fair.
One room will have people talking about the upcoming science fair, what the requirements are, what students can do, how they can make it better and more.
“… We’re going to have tables and on those tables, we’re going to have people from all the different disciplines of STEM — engineering, math, physics, chemistry, biology, geology. We’re also going to have health sciences, people from sociology. Everybody’s going to have some kind of demonstration on how we do science in our specific disciplines,” Montes said. “This is also to give the kids and their families, their parents, ideas on what they can do research on. It’s going to be a display of what the faculty and the students do here, but also a display of what real-life research situations are like.”
Associate Professor of Art Chris Stanley will have a new kiln outside to create art.
“… It will be geared toward kids, to children and their families, to the community,” Montes said.
They want anyone interested in science or STEAM to visit.
“… It is the day before Halloween, so if they want to bring their costumes, they’re welcome to. We’re going to have the stations — each table is going to be a station — and we’re going to have a bingo card or like a Mexican Lotteria. When the kids finish their round, then they get a treat. They’re going to get a bag with swag …,” Montes said.
The children will be able to build something and take it home.
“It’s a community learning event,” she said. “… It’s the first big event prior to the Science and Engineering Fair because it’s we’re coming out of COVID. It’s going be the biggest event right after all of the being at home right before the science fair. We want people in the community in the Permian Basin to come and see what we have and give them ideas and have fun,” Montes said.
The Science and Engineering Fair will be in February, but they don’t have an exact date yet.
STEAMFest will serve as an orientation for the fair.
Don Bonifay, a local engineer who promotes the science fair, UTPB faculty, non-faculty, people from Ector County ISD and community people will be on hand.
“It’s a collective group and we call ourselves the Permian Basin STEAM coalition,” Montes said.
“… We’re just people who love science and engineering and we want our kids to learn about it. We want our community to be very well prepared because we are in the middle of oil and gas and technology and our community needs to raise our kids knowing and being aware of science and technology and the fields that there are. But you cannot take away art because the creativity needs to be there, too, so that we can come up with solutions to the problems that we have,” Montes said.
