Photo by Kanji Takeno

Saturday morning live

Hackerman Academy sparks imagination of young and old alike with science series

By Stuart Zang

Turn off your Saturday morning television programs. For children of all ages, the show to watch is at Smith Hall.

In January the Hackerman Academy of Mathematics and Science inaugurated the Saturday Morning Science Series, a program of presentations, performances and demonstrations designed to “excite the mind, spark the imagination of young and old, and share modern discoveries in mathematics and science.”

Offered in a large lecture hall at Smith Hall on a roughly biweekly schedule, the first series will run until the end of May. Former NASA astronaut Don Thomas, director of the Hackerman Academy, says community response has greatly exceeded his expectations.

“I thought, ‘It’d be great if we could get 100 people to come to campus on a Saturday morning for the first show—‘The Moon, Mars and Beyond: NASA’s Plans for Human Exploration’,” Thomas says. “I expected to talk to 10 people. More than 200 showed up.”

Focused on encouraging children to study mathematics and science—particularly older elementary and middle-school students—the series has attracted a diverse mix of children, adults and families from all across the Baltimore metropolitan area. The Hackerman Academy has also made concerted efforts to bring in children from Baltimore, providing school buses when necessary.

“Our mission is to get underserved and underrepresented kids out here,” Thomas says. “On each Saturday morning about 80 to 100 kids come in from the city. I’ve told the principals we’d provide buses if they coordinate chaperones and permission slips, and some of the schools have sent students out here several times.” For some students, the Saturday Morning Science Series is their first visit to a university campus.

“We want to show kids that science and math can be fun and interesting, and encourage them to keep up with these subjects through grade school, college and even into the work force,” Thomas says.

Attendance for all shows in the series has remained strong. More than 300 people turned up for the second presentation, “A Visit by Albert Einstein and Cool Physics Demonstrations,” prompting Thomas to offer back-to-back presentations beginning with the third program, “The Science of Chocolate: From the Trees to Your Stomach.”

Thomas attributes much of the program’s success to faculty members from The Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics who generously volunteer their time and expertise. For example, in January, Vera Smolyaninova, Department of Physics, performed levitating experiments after the Einstein show, and in February, Jim Saunders, director of the Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Bio-informatics program, gave presentations on how chocolate is made.

“TU has a lot of great people working in science,” Thomas says. “The Hackerman Academy has tapped into those resources, to the public’s benefit.”

The Saturday Morning Science programs are free, open to the public and suitable for all ages. For more information on this and other science presentations, go to the Hackerman Academy Calendar of Events. To volunteer, contact Don Thomas at x43659.

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