WALK-UP activities begin at 5:00 PM in the Market Square and College Street
Appropriate for all ages!

Hands-on-activities and demonstrations in various spaces and tents around Market Square. Please note suggested ages for some activities. Adults welcome to all. Activities early on in the afternoon will be geared towards our younger scientists, while activities later in the evening will become more complex.

Tent Frances E. Allen: Computer Science In Action
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM


Learn about the concepts behind the machines and their importance in current industries. Through several activities, you will get hands-on experience in programming from basics, such as binary to advanced concepts, such as augmented reality in HoloLens.  Come and learn to develop your very own algorithms and abstraction. These workshops will be your gateway to Computer Science.

Hosts: Microsoft Philanthropies TEALS program, CS4RI, & Citizens Bank

Tent Jacquelyn Ford Morie: Robots, Rays, and Realities
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

How do scientists and engineers go to places they can’t? They use robots, measuring instruments and visualization techniques to see the smallest and largest objects in the universe, go where no man can go and all from the comfort of your couch. Bring your smartphone along and we'll show you how to turn it into a VR viewer with content from Google, NASA's Chandra Observatory, and R.I. VR content creators.
Explore the high-energy universe with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory!  Learn about X-ray astronomy, write your name in binary, and hold a "dead star" in your hand.  Walk through a supernova remnant and stand at the center of our galaxy through virtual reality.
Rogers High School, Newport RI will be demonstrating their aquatic in-water robots and control systems, which have won regional and   national awards.  The RHS Robotics Club is sponsored by the Providence Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Hosts: Rhode Island Virtual Reality with IEEE Providence Chapter and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Tent Rita Levi Montalcini: Neuroscience in Action!
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

Experience the mysteries of the brain and nervous system through a series of hands-on activities and demonstrations. Build your own neuron! Measure electrical responses from the nervous system! Understand the mysteries behind optical illusions! Explore the anatomy of the human brain! And more! Activities early on in the afternoon will be geared towards our younger scientists, while activities later in the evening will become more complex.

Hosts: The Carney Institute of Brain Science (Brown University)

Tent Ada Yonath: Cool Chemistry
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

These enthralling awesome exhibits will capture your attention and spark an enduring interest in science. Get your hands busy with various chemistry tricks that are sure to keep you wanting more! We have got live demonstrations on acid rain and polymers, virtual reality chemistry competitions, levitating balloons, wind tubes, cabbage juice indicators, and more!

Hosts: Brown University, Chemistry Department

Tent Marie Curie: Spectacular Science!
Time: 5:00 PM-9:00 PM

Spectacular Science!  Hands-on experiments for everyone. Witness strange and amazing phenomena with light, heat, pressure, and some extraordinary materials. Come to explore optical illusions, disappearing beakers, dancing oobleck, swirling patterns, combusting cotton, assorted explosions. Try your hand at the Brazil nut game, exercise your artistic talent at the surface tension paintbox, and test your strength with the Magdeburg spheres.
Hosts: The Science Outreach Team (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)​

Tent Maria Goeppert Mayer: Innovate by merging art with science
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

Awaken your curiosity by interacting with RIMOSA’s  hands-on, open-ended exhibits and activities. Zoetrope: Make your own hand-drawn animation! Draw a progression on the strips of paper provided, place it in this Victorian-era spinner and watch them come to life! Sand Table: Experiment with moving colored sand, Shadow and Light: Using an overhead projector, colored film, and objects. Explore shadow sculptures, transparency, and illusion. 

Hosts: Rhode Island Museum of Science and Arts (RIMOSA)

Tent Joycelyn Elders​: learn about medicine and science Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

Come meet with Brown Physicians Inc., the six foundations and Alpert Medical School.

5:00-6:00 PM Unbelievable Urology!  Join urologic surgeons to to maneuver a scope into the bladder and ureter and travel the waterways of the human body.  Enter into the kidney through a miniaturized opening and try your hand at using the vortex effect to evacuate kidney stones and fix your patient!

Hosts: Brown Physicians Inc. and Alpert Medical School.

Tent Elizabeth Blackwell​: Act like a Physician for an hour Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

5:00-6:00 PM Brown Neurology physicians will be available to administer and interpret Fun Brain Games for adults and children
6:00-7:00 PM Brown Emergency Medicine physicians from the Injury Prevention Center will be on hand answering questions about bike helmet and car seat safety and supervising CPR demos
7:00-8:00 PM Brown Dermatology physicians will be available to answer questions and demonstrate laboratory microscope technology
8:00-9:00 PM University Surgical Associates trauma physicians will focus on an interactive teaching display of their “ Stop the Bleed” program, including Tourniquet kits, practice Dummies and working on volunteers/visitors.

Hosts: Brown Physicians Inc. and Alpert Medical School.

Tent Helen Taussig: Living Heart In Virtual Reality 
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

The Living Heart, developed through Dassault Systèmes’ Living Heart Projet, is the first commercial, virtual model of a human heart.  Coupled with a virtual-holographic platform, this Experience provides a glimpse into the future of medicine where cardiovascular experts can explore treatment options, educate their patients, or study the efficacy of new treatments and predict reliability under real-world conditions.

Hosts: Dassault Systèmes, Brown Physicians Inc., and Alpert Medical School

Tent Grace M. Hopper: Robotics and STEAM Demos
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

Take part in fun and exciting STEAM demos. Learn how parts of our everyday life—things like air, light, and gravity—can behave in unexpected ways. Experience the wonder and amazement that scientists experience each day while conjuring up crazy research ideas and running elaborate experiments! Be a scientist for a day by getting your hands involved in experiments to play with frozen bubbles, fish for ice, create a sound vortex, watch a resonance bowl, play with Newton’s cradles, FM radio, and more.
Watch the Iron Tigers Robotics Team from Oliver Ames High School in Massachusetts demonstrate their robot that competed all over New England this year!

Hosts: Physical Sciences (Brown University), Iron Tigers Robotics Team

Sidewalk Astronomy
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

Get a close look at the planets, stars, and galaxies through powerful telescopes, set up and operated by expert astronomers from Brown University. Learn about telescopes, the planets, and other astronomical topics while seeing the stripes of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, craters of the Moon, and maybe even the spiral arms of Andromeda. We will also have special telescopes set up to look at the details of the Sun’s chromosphere and photosphere before sunset. You will also have the opportunity to learn about other exciting upcoming astronomical events.
Hosts: The Graduate Physics Organization (Brown University)

a-Maze-ing Math
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

Learn mathematics through solving mazes. Since ancient times, humans have been preoccupied with mazes and figuring out how to solve them. Come explore the mazes, challenge your combinatorial skills, and let math point you towards the exit.

Hosts: Anand Heintz and Friends (Wheeler School)

Snap a selfie in front of the 100 meter underground LHC Tunnel, CERN, Switzerland.
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

Come and snap a selfie or have your picture taken in front of the famous LHC Tunnel, which is located 100 meters under the Jura mountains in Switzerland. Imagine yourself running, with speeds close to the speed of light, and with a close-knit team of 100 billion protons in this 27-kilometer long circular tunnel.
Hosts: U.S. CMS  Experiment CERN, Switzerland and the CMS Experiment team at Brown University.

Science of Cooking
Time: 5:00 PM-10:00 PM

Let the kitchen be your science laboratory! In this interactive exhibit, taste the principles of physics, engineering, biology, and chemistry. Learn how to think like a chef and a scientist by exploring the scientific concepts in everyday cooking, observe physical and chemical changes in the food. Join us in Market Square to play with our food.
Hosts: Boston University and EZ Compliments

Art@CMS: View some art pieces from CERN in Switzerland and see the art of science and the beauty of creation in Market Square.

Art@CMS is an education and outreach initiative of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. It strives to promote a lasting dialogue between the LHC community, the art world, and educational groups for a greater appreciation and understanding of particle physics research and its contribution to education and society. They have set up school-based projects and art-science collaborations with a common goal: to reach out to new and larger audiences, different to those traditionally addressed by scientific outreach events, by fostering creative synergies between scientists, students, educators, and artists from around the world.

Illustrating Mathematics Open House
Time: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM, Free | Ticket Required
Location: ICERM, 121 S. Main Street, 11th Floor, Providence

Brown University's math institute, ICERM, is pleased to host a hands-on open house featuring in-residence "Math+Art" artists and their work. Objects created for mathematical visualization are beautiful and attractive in their own right. ICERM's fall "Illustrating Mathematics" research conference brings together artists, makers, and mathematicians seeking to harness the creativity of mathematical illustrations to further the public's understanding of mathematical research. Come engage with these talented artists-in-residence and explore their work. Visualize mathematics through displays of art made using 3D printing, laser cutting, CNC routing, virtual reality, textiles, carving, painting, video, and more!  Create beautiful geometric patterns from simple lines at the “Patterns:  Parabolas and Polygons – Line Drawing” activity with the American Mathematical Society (AMS).   Mingle in ICERM's beautiful 11th-floor space along the river and enjoy a sweeping view of Waterfire. Fun for all ages!

This open-house is made possible with grants from the National Science Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award G-2019-11406.