STEM Fest 2020 ends with a live virtual celebration on Oct. 31, 2020, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., hosted in partnership with NIU’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

This final event takes place in an assortment of online rooms, which you can visit throughout the day for live interactive talks and demonstrations.

• Chat with presenters and experts about fun STEAM topics.
• Explore virtual exhibits created by NIU STEM departments, student groups and our STEM community partners.
• Participate in STEM challenges.

Preparing for STEM Fest

You don’t have to participate in hands-on activities (there are plenty of videos and live sessions to sit back and watch), but these activities are part of the fun! To make the most of your STEM Fest experience and be prepared for hands-on activities, you’ll want to have some everyday items on hand.

• Most of our activities can be done with items you have around the house or can easily purchase at the grocery store. To get the full STEM fest experience, you’ll want to have some supplies on hand, such as 1-3 cans of Pringles, milk or half and half, dish soap, food coloring, a few Q-tips, some notecards, an egg, Diet Coke and Mentos.
• If you’d like to delve deeper into some of our more complex hands-on activities, you might also want to have some more specialized items ready, such as a rain gauge, salt, isopropyl alcohol, coffee filters, rubber bands and a blender.

View the complete list of supplies, divided by activity.

STEM Fest Online Rooms

Each room has live events as well as content you can explore on your own.

• Haunted STEAM Lab – Explore the spooky, slimy, not-so-scary side of STEM with demonstrations, live chats and fun science videos.
• Huskie Hall – Hear how our Huskies are leading the pack in STEM research and exploration. Live and recorded sessions in the Huskie Hall feature the research and artistry happening at NIU and across the region.
• STEM Quest – Connect with STEM experts and organizations. Explore STEM careers, chat with experts and see how STEM careers impact our society and world.
• Live STrEAMed Demos on the Virtual Celebration Stage – STEM Fest is not STEM Fest without our high energy science demonstrations! Don’t miss our livestreamed “Find Your Spark” demo show.

Some of the highlights the STEM Fest team is most looking forward to include:

• Amusement Park Physics (10:20 a.m., STEM Quest) with NASA Education Specialist Susan Kohler.
• Engineering at Home (10:40 a.m., Huskie Hall) with Dr. Christine Nguyen from the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.
• NIU STEM Student Panel (11:40 a.m., Huskie Hall) with current NIU students and recent graduates.
• Esports Chat and Chew (12:10 p.m., Huskie Hall) with the NIU Esports team.
• Math, Engineering and Dreams (12:20 p.m., STEM Quest) with authors Kelly Starling Lyons, Amy Alznauer and Gillian King-Cargile.

Register now for this free event and view a full schedule at go.niu.edu/stemcelebration