Metro Atlanta is embarked on a weeklong celebration of science at its inaugural Atlanta Science Festival. This eight-day festival features more than 100 free events across 30 locations showcasing our strength in STEM: science, technology, engineering and math.
These interactive events allow people to explore science and see how science and technology connect to their lives — from the science of sleep and sound to interactive exhibits with robots.
In addition to exhibits, workshops and lectures, the festival includes behind-the-scenes tours of the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the Georgia Aquarium and laboratories at Georgia State and Emory universities. There is something for everyone. For a list of events, visit http://atlantasciencefestival.org/events.
The festivities conclude 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday with a “big bang” at the Exploration Expo at Centennial Olympic Park. Free and open to the public, this is the largest interactive science event in Atlanta’s history.
Modeled after similar science festivals in Philadelphia, San Diego and Boston, the Atlanta Science Festival aims to spotlight Atlanta as a “science city” and demonstrate how science contributes to education and the economy.
Emory University, Georgia Tech and the Metro Atlanta Chamber are founding partners of the festival. Each knows the importance of science and technology to the region and state. Georgia’s health IT sector employs more than 30,000 people. Georgia’s bioscience industry supports more than 94,000 jobs and delivers an annual economic impact of $20 billion. Nationally, metro Atlanta is the No. 3 metro for the number of engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded.
A strong science educational foundation will help our students get quality, high-paying jobs in the future. A recent study found Atlanta has the second-highest technology salaries in the nation, according to TriNet, a company that provides cloud-based human resource services. Technology-related workers here earn an average annual salary of $103,000.
When children are introduced to STEM learning at a young age, they tend to do better in school and become aware of different career and educational paths in high school. The potential impact on our future workforce is tremendous.
Metro Atlanta companies have showed their support by partnering with the festival. The organizing committee has secured more than 80 partners including Mercer University and Mercer Health Sciences Center, the National Science Foundation/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution, Delta Air Lines, AT&T Mobility, Cancer Treatment Centers of America and Georgia State University.
Let’s shine a spotlight on science. Support the Atlanta Science Festival. Follow it at Twitter at @ATLSciFest.
David Hartnett, vice president of economic development, bioscience and health IT cluster at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, is chair of the 2014 Atlanta Science Festival.
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