Welcome to the 2021 STEM Festival!

Flying Friends and Foes: Pollinators and the Spotted Lanternfly

Susan Parker, WV Dept. of Environmental Protection, Youth Environmental Program

Kristin Wickert, WV Dept. of Agriculture

Kaitlyn Deskins, WV Division of Forestry, AmeriCorps

Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Birds, and Bats are all amazing pollinators. Learn how pollinators complete their important work of transferring pollen from plant to plant. Pretend to be pollinators and use your fling

Supplies Needed – Cheetos, Cheese puffs/balls, or Doritos (only one handful of each needed), 3 empty bowls

Creating insect friendly habitat is an important part of supporting pollinators. Create bug friendly bug hotels out of recycled materials to happy homes for these insects to thrive.

Supplies Needed – A small box, paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, or other cylinder paper roll, cardboard scraps, twine or yarn, Leaves, pinecone, sticks, two pieces of scrap paper, scissors and tape.

The Spotted Lanternfly is a beautiful but harmful pest to important trees and plants of West Virginia. Learn how to identify and report any sightings of these pest to help save the day! Learn the colorful characteristics of the adult Spotted Lanternfly by creating it through Origami.

Supplies Needed - One sheet of plain white paper, ruler, markers or crayons, scissors

Replay - YouTube

Paper Rockets

GB Fertig, Aerospace Design Engineering Manager, Northrup Grumman

Take your first step to becoming a rocket scientist! Listen in as aeronautical engineers from Northrop Grumman gives a 5-10 minute presentation on rocket motor physics followed by a Q&A session. Then participate in a hands-on activity building your own paper rocket.

Supplies Needed – Construction Paper, Plastic Straws, Scissors, Tape

Replay - YouTube

Girls in Engineering

Cindy Riley, Manager Engineering, Electrical, Northrup Grumman

Meagan Murphy, Electrical Engineer, Northrup Grumman

Leah Jankowski, Electrical Engineer, Northrup Grumman

Join women engineers from Northrop Grumman as they discuss their experiences from high school, college, and as they joined a dynamic aerospace company. Short presentations by recent graduates just joining the work force and those who have progressed within the engineering ranks will be followed by a Q&A period. Learn about the challenges and rewards of pursuing a career in engineering.

Replay - YouTube

Snakes Aren't Slimy, They're Cool!

Jim Fregonara, WV Department of Natural Resources, Outreach

Snakes are not to be feared and they are an important part of our environment. Learn to identify common WV venomous and nonvenomous snakes and their natural history. Learn how to “hear” like a snake and imitate the sound a rattle snake makes.

Supplies Needed – Metal coat hanger, string, scissors, handful of popcorn kernels and plastic or paper cups.

Replay - YouTube

Frog Calls - Frogs and Toads of WV

Sheldon Owen, Wildlife Specialist, WVU Extension Service

Each frog and toad has a unique call and we can identify them by their call. Learn about the natural history of our frogs and toads and how to identify common West Virginia frogs and toads by their call

Replay - YouTube

Journey to Mars

West Virginia Science Outreach Team (WV SPOT)

Sarah Long, Ambassador

Madison Sites, Ambassador

Gabriel Abreu-Vigil, Ambassador

Sophie de Saint Georges, Coordinator

Discover lessons learned and successful missions that paved the way for the recent NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover and Mars' first helicopter, Ingenuity. Find out the unique and critical ways West Virginia scientists and engineers help get these missions off the ground, through the vacuum of space, and safely onto the Martian surface. What are these instruments looking for? What have we discovered so far? Why is Mars red? What extreme sports could we do on Mars? When will humans land on Mars? Find out the answer to these and so much more during this exploration of engineering marvels.

Replay - YouTube

Ask Real Paleontologists!

Riley Black, Author & Writer

Ashley Hall, Museum of the Rockies

JD Hodnett, Dinosaur Park

Evan Johnson-Ransom, Oklahoma State University

Nathan Van Vranken, WVU Potomac State College

Dr. Julia McHugh, Museum of Western Colorado

Cameron Muskelly, Paleo Educator

Does your child really dig dinosaurs? Do they have burning questions about dinosaurs and other fossil life? Participants will be able to ask questions from seven expert paleontologists who also dig dinosaurs! Our panel includes writers and authors, museum educators and serious fossil hunters! Thanks to Zoom you will “meet” paleontologists from all over the country – from Dinosaur Park in Maryland all the way to the Museum of the Rockies in Montana!

Replay - YouTube