NIU STEM Fest offers fun for all ages Oct. 15

DeKALB – Northern Illinois University will host its annual STEM Fest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, in NIU’s central campus at the MLK Commons, the Holmes Student Center, Founders Memorial Library, Swen Parson Hall and Anderson Hall.

Admission is free. Maps and details are available at the event’s welcome table and at go.niu.edu/stemfest.

This year’s focus is on the role of creativity in STEM and the connections between art and the STEM fields. The event will feature a juried art exhibition, theater tech demonstrations, an artists’ playground and other celebrations of art.

Younger visitors can build with blocks in the Tot Spot in the Holmes Student Center, enjoy story time or play with robots in Founders Memorial Library.

High school students can participate in a free Meta Code Remix workshop. The workshops offer students ages 13 and older a chance to program musical beats using block-based coding in Javascript and share their creations with their community. Registration is required to attend; visit go.niu.edu/MetaCode.

Visitors also can experience old favorites including the Haunted Lab, Chemistry Club Demo Show and NIU Steelband, as well as hear talks by experts from NIU, NASA, Meta, Ferrara and Argonne National Laboratory.

For information, visit go.niu.edu/stemfest.