Science & Engineering Festival coming April 28, 29

4/16/2012 11:10 AM EDT

In less than two weeks, we’ll be unpacking boxes of old iPods and iPhones and setting them out for kids to tear apart. That’s the iPod Autopsy in a nutshell, and it’s just one of the fun activities planned for the Innovation Generation (iGEN) booth in the USA Science & Engineering Festival coming to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC, aApril 28 and 29.

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. 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, please visit the Festival website.

The Festival Expo -- with its fascinating array of hands-on exhibits and stage shows, coupled with up-close interaction with renowned innovators, and top researchers and celebrities in science and engineering -- has rapidly evolved into a must-see event for families, students and others across the country and globe. A free weekend event, the Expo culminates a month-long series of Festival events taking place in April throughout the nation and in various foreign countries to encourage young students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The iPod Autopsy, a highlight of the EE Times / Innovation Generation booth, will be run by Kyle Wiens from iFixit.com and Allan Yogasingam from UBM’s TechInsights. Kyle and Allen will be giving demonstrations of the inner workings of these amazing gadgets and then letting the kids at the Expo take apart and reassemble a real iPod or iPhone so they can see firsthand how it works.

More information about the 2012 USA Science & Engineering Festival

The Mighty Mustangs Cub Reporters from Earle B. Wood Middle School in Rockville, MD, as winners of iGEN's Cub Reporter Contest, will be on hand bright and early Saturday to post reports to the iGEN site live all day and bring readers all the excitement directly from the show. The kids will break into three groups to learn all about journalism from three of our crack UBM editors. Suzanne Deffree from EDN will be introducing the Cub Reporters to photo journalism, Sylvie Barak from EE Times will be helping the students do video interviews, and George Leopold from EE Times Confidential will be giving insider tips into the fine art of interviewing. Ace student blogger Rishabh Mahajani will also be on site to process the Mustangs’ photos and help get their blogs posted right away. Keep your eyes on our site April 28 to see the Mustangs capture all the excitement, live!

See the fun ghe iGEN Cub Reporters had at the 2010 Festival

In keeping with the teardown theme, we’ll also have Brian Fuller, EE Times’ editorial director of EE Life, on hand to show parts from our torn-down Chevy Volt. Brian is on our Drive for Innovation odyssey, a year-long project designed to showcase electronics innovation and automotive system design via a cross-country journey in a Chevrolet Volt electric car. Begun last June, the journey has already logged well over 14,000 miles. Brian will showing off the parts to shed light on the car's fuel efficient technology and driving performance. Kirk Fuller from Fuller Digital Media and videographer on the Drive for Innovation will also be at the show to do the videos of our Cub Reporters.

Everyone at EE Times and Innovation Generation are very proud that we, along with our parent company UBM Electronics, are media partners in this year’s USA Science & Engineering Festival. So if you're at the Festival, come on over to our booth and join the fun or check out our posts on iGEN and EE Times throughout the show – it’s sure to be an exciting ride!