Appearances By Science Celebrities, Performers and Entrepreneurs Will Take ‘Star Gazing’ to Another Level Duri

Appearances By Science Celebrities, Performers and Entrepreneurs Will Take ‘Star Gazing’ to Another Level During the USA Science & Engineering Festival

WASHINGTON – February 21, 2012 — The USA Science & Engineering Festival hosted by Lockheed Martin will set the stage for attendees to meet some of the biggest celebrities in the science world on April 28 to 29 in Washington, D.C. Whether you’re a fan of Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, hosts of the Discovery Channel’s hit TV series the MythBusters , Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Big Bang Theory or the many entrepreneurs who are leading the charge in the Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) fields, the stars will be out in full force at the Festival – the nation’s largest celebration of science and engineering.

“The Festival is extremely fortunate to have very strong relationships with some of the most famous science celebrities, performers and entrepreneurs who will join us for the festival this year,” said Larry Bock, Executive Director of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. “We believe that these high profile personalities of the science world have a profound impact on increasing the knowledge of, and interest in, science for both adults and children, and we’re proud to have so many fantastic ambassadors.”

Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman – hosts of the Discovery Channel’s hit TV series MythBusters – are scheduled to perform at the Festival. During their performance, Adam and Jamie will talk about their favorite myths in the world of science, technology, movies, the Internet, history, news stories and other topics they’ve tested on the show.

“The Festival gives us a great opportunity to bring our take on science into an arena where everyone can truly appreciate and enjoy it,” said Adam Savage. “To be able to bring our show in front of a live audience adds extra energy to what we do, which further convinces us that science is indeed cool and meaningful.”

Mayim Bialik, the talented actress-scientist who plays the brainy Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS TV hit comedy The Big Bang Theory will also perform during the Festival. Now a married mother of two, the actress who played the title character on NBC’s Blossom, has not only made a name for herself in the entertainment industry, but she has also earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has written a book on parenting based on the science of hormones involved in parent-child bonding that is scheduled for release later this year. She is also conducting her research toward her Ph.D. in neuroscience at UCLA that focuses on obsessive-compulsive disorder among people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare condition in which the hypothalamus malfunctions.

“As an actress, scientist and parent, I feel that I bring a unique perspective to the Festival,” said Bialik. “I look forward to discussing my experiences and accomplishments with children to inspire them to reach their potential and get excited about science and STEM fields.”

Festival favorite, Bill Nye the Science Guy, will demonstrate the Passion, Beauty and Joy – or, as he calls it, the P.B. and J. – of Science by talking about our planet’s place in the cosmos. “This is our second year of involvement at the USA Science & Engineering Festival,” said Nye. “We want to get kids excited about science, especially space exploration and understanding the Earth as a planet. We want the U.S. to be able to compete on the world stage, address climate change and improve the quality of life for people everywhere We need creative math and science students, and especially, we need engineers.”

The Festival will also feature appearances from several science entrepreneurs, veritable rock stars in the business world, including:

• Elon Musk – co-founder of PayPal, SpaceX – a company recently contracted by NASA to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station and Tesla
• Richard Garriott – renowned video game developer and the sixth private citizen to travel to space as a self-funded tourist
• George Whitesides – President and CEO of Virgin Galactic – the pioneering U.S.-based space tourism company
• Anousheh Ansari – the first female space explorer and the first astronaut of Iranian descent and the fourth private citizen to visit space.

New to the Festival this year is a Book Fair, where attendees can meet 36 award-winning featured authors who have helped bring science to the public through carefully crafted books, and in some cases, have even made their way to The Big Screen.

• Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys, a story based on his life as a young kid in West Virginia who wanted to learn about rockets and encouraged his school administrators to teach he and his classmates Calculus, became the hit movie October Sky. The inspirational educational film continues to be shown in schools across the country as a way to inspire youth to learn and soar to the stars. Hickam continued his love of education and writes novels geared toward middle school students, like his new series Helium-3, which will launch at the Book Fair.

• Robin Cook, who became famous for his book Coma in 1977, saw his book transformed into a blockbuster movie in 1978 – helping to change our view of the medical profession from Marcus Welby, MD to ER . Cook, one of the Festival’s featured authors, produced several medical thriller books over three decades and will be featured in a special segment during the Festival – “Science Stories in Society & School; Using Narrative to Bridge the Gap – on Saturday, April 28.

The USA Science & Engineering Festival and Book Fair is a free, family-friendly event that allows kids and adults to participate in over 2,000 hands-on activities and see more than 200 live performances by science celebrities, explorers, best-selling authors, entrepreneurs and world-renowned experts.

About the USA Science & Engineering Festival:

The USA Science & Engineering Festival is the country’s only national science festival, and was developed to increase public awareness of the importance of science and to encourage youth to pursue careers in science and engineering by celebrating science in much the same way as we celebrate Hollywood celebrities, professional athletes and pop stars. Lockheed Martin is again the presenting host of the USA Science & Engineering Festival and is joined by many other Festival sponsors and partners. The USA Science & Engineering Festival is a grassroots collaboration of over 500 of the United States leading science and engineering organizations. For more information on the USA Science & Engineering Festival, visit the Festival website, www.usasciencefestival.org/.

Sponsors and Media Partners:

Lockheed Martin is again the presenting host of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. Lockheed Martin is joined by other Festival sponsors and partners to date: K&L Gates, Northrop Grumman Foundation, EE Times, New Scientist, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Scientific American, Technology Review published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S. Air Force, Weather Underground, AT&T, C&EN, the news magazine of the chemical & related sciences, ENGINEERING.com, National Science Foundation, ResMed Foundation and Farrell Family Foundation, Lawrence and Diane Bock, National Institutes of Health (NIH), ABC7/WJLA-TV, American Scientist, CrazyEngineers.com, Dow, Forbes/Wolfe, Illumina, Inc., The Kavli Foundation, Life Technologies Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, The Epoch Times, WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio, LEGO Education, MedImmune, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, PBS Kids, Physics Today, The Planetary Society, SchoolTube, Sigma Xi, Washington FAMILY Magazine, 3M, American Nuclear Society, Amgen, Applied Physics Laboratory, Association of Science-Technology Centers, Baxter International Inc., Celestron, Center for America, Center for Biotechnology Education at Johns Hopkins University, John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Northern Virginia Technology Council, Project Lead the Way, Purdue University, Raytheon, The Scripps Foundation for Science and the Environment, Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP), Vertex Pharmaceuticals, The Rubik's Cube, U.S. Army RDECOM, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Xconomy, Academy of Model Aeronautics, American Mathematical Society, Biogen Idec Foundation, Children’s National Medical Center, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., Destination DC, Draper Laboratory, FEI Company, Genentech, Macaroni Kid, M.Y. Voice, for Maryland Youth, National Girls Collaborative Project, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), SERVO Magazine, Nuts & Volts Magazine, T&L Publications, Inc., SGT, Inc., SpaceX, University of Massachusetts Lowell, UMBC, U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics in Schools, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Workman Publishing, Aerospace Corporation, Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA) Belvoir Chapter, Aldebaran Robotics Inc., American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA), American Society of Agronomy, American Society of Civil Engineers, Atlas Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, Big Kid Science, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute, Central Intelligence Agency, Constellation Energy, Consortium for Ocean Leadership, Crop Science Society of America, Data.gov, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Chemical and Biological Technologies Directorate, DeVry University, EurekAlert!, George Mason University, Georgetown University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Idaho State University, James Madison University, Johns Hopkins University, Undergraduate Neuroscience Program, Making Neuroscience Fun Program, Kurion, Inc., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Michigan Tech Mind Trekkers, National Museum of Health and Medicine, North Carolina State University, NumbersAlive!, Rice Space Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, San Diego State University, SMU Caruth Institute for Engineering, Society of American Military Engineers, Soil Science Society of America, The American Society for Microbiology, The George Washington University, The George Washington University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), The KidWind Project, The Mars Society, The Pennsylvania State University, The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Thirty Meter Telescope Project, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Tumblehome Learning, Inc., United States Naval Academy, University of Connecticut, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Rochester, Vanderbilt University, VCU School of Engineering, Wellesley College, West Virginia University, Wind Energy Foundation, WTOP | 103.5 FM | 107.7 FM, American Elements, and Wolfram.

The USA Science & Engineering Festival is a grassroots collaboration of over 500 of the United States leading science and engineering organizations, including:

• Professional Science & Engineering Societies including the National Academies, AAAS, American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, IEEE, Association for Women in Science (AWIS), Society of Hispanic Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, and many more.
• Universities/Colleges/Research Institutes including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Georgetown., Johns Hopkins, U.S. Naval Academy, J. Craig Venter Research Institute, Carnegie Institute of Sciences and more.
• Government Agencies and Federal Laboratories including NIH, NASA, USDA, EPA, Office of Naval Research, Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Fermi Accelerator Facility, U.S. Geological Survey and many more.
• Corporations including Lockheed Martin, Life Technologies. Amgen, Baxter, ResMed, Hitachi, and many more.
• Informal Science Outreach Organizations including the Smithsonian, American Museum of Natural History, The Franklin Institute, Koshland Museum, and many more.
• Community Organizations including FIRST Robotics, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and more. ■