Family Science Day
Presented by the Division of Science of The City College of New York
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Marshak Science Building
160 Convent Avenue at 138th Street
1:00pm – 4:00pm
Featured Speaker – Professor Michio Kaku
Physics Department
"Time Travel, Black Holes, Hyperspace, and a Theory of Everything"
2:00 PM – MR-2 (MR = Marshak)
General information
Welcome to the Family Science Day at The City College of New York! We are proud to host this year's New York City Science and Engineering Fair, under the auspices of the City University of New York and the New York City Department of Education. We believe that the Fair embodies the spirit expressed by Townsend Harris, one of the founders of City College, who urged us to "open the doors to all." The Science Fair is an opportunity for high school students from around the City of New York to display their enthusiasm for science and technology and to demonstrate that excellence in the sciences, as in all areas of endeavor, "know(s) of no distinction save that of industry, good conduct, and intellect."
City College is in its 162nd year as the first public college in the United States. The college is a nationwide leader in educating undergraduates in all fields, ranking in the top 3% of all schools in the number of our graduates who go on to earn the Ph.D. Eight of our graduates have received the Nobel Prize, seven of them in the Sciences, and over 75% of our pre-med majors are accepted to medical school on their first try. We are delighted to host the Science Fair, and we invite you to explore our facilities and programs, and meet our faculty, through this afternoon's tours, displays, and special presentations. Thank you for joining us as we continue our tradition of educational excellence at The City College of New York.
Laboratory Visits, Demonstrations and Shows
Ultrafast Lasers – MR-203N
Dr. Mohammad Al-Rubaiee
Open Lab – 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm (limited to groups of 10 people at a time)
Ph.D. students in physics will conduct demonstrations showing the laser in operation – light show (nonlinear processes, supercontinuum, etc).
Build a Molecule! – MR-1102
Professor David Gosser, Chemistry
Open Lab – 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Meet undergraduate science students who are peer leaders (students who are helping other students to learn) and participate in a molecular model-building workshop. Build simple molecules and discover how they are left and right-handed!
Plus: Demonstration of computer molecular modeling.
Bio-Organic and Molecular Biology Lab – MR-1303
Professor Kevin Ryan – Chemistry
Open Lab – 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm (limited to 5 people at a time)
Come look at a multidisciplinary lab working in areas ranging from organic synthesis to cell biology.
Bugs in the SEM – MR-505
Dr. Jorge Morales – Biology
Open Lab – 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Have you seen a fly or a wasp a thousand times bigger than usual? The scanning electron microscope (SEM) will be used to view these and other bugs at one hundred to one thousand times their normal size. These insects are very special since they have been coated with a very thin layer of pure gold. This thin layer of metal prevents the accumulation of charge as the SEM scans the bug with a beam of electrons. Come and see the latest fashion in the bug world.
Glass Blowing Demonstration – MR-1211
MR. Hugo Schimatz – Chemistry
From 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Come see the expert in glass blowing! He might let you take a sample home or do your own glass blowing.
X-ray Rock Lab – MR-924
Professor Jeffrey Steiner – EAS
Dr. Elizabeth Rudolph – EAS, and DanGranovsky & Stacey St John
Open Lab – 12:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Think only Superman can see into a solid rock? Guess again! The x-ray laboratory in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences lets ordinary mortals analyze the interior of rocks.
Fire and Ice: Extreme Chemistry – MR-2
Professor Glen Kowach – Chemistry
Show: 3:00-4:00 pm
Just how extreme can it be? Watch what happens to various objects when subjected to temperatures around -200 degrees Celsius! Then, we will heat, melt, and explode molecules and materials at temperatures over 2000 degrees Celsius! Now…that's EXTREME!
Planetarium Show – MR-010
MR. Sébastian Cormier – Physics
Shows at 1:00 pm and 2:00 pm. The show will last about 40 minutes.
"Why is the study of the universe interesting? Why is the study important? What has been learned and what is there yet to learn?"
What Makes People Near-Sighted? – MR-727
Professor Joshua Wallman – Biology; and Alan Busby, O.D.
Open from 1:00 pm-3:00 pm
The people in our laboratory study how the eye grows, and try to understand what makes some people near-sighted. We study this in young chicks, which grow up wearing eye-glasses that change their vision.
Contact Numbers
For more information about the Division of Science at City College, please contact…
| Dean of Science | Prof. Marilyn Gunner | 212-650-6850 |
| Assistant Dean of Science | Prof. Laurent Mars | 212-650-6580 |
| Biochemistry | Prof. Michael Green | 212-650-6034 |
| Biology | Prof. Ralph Zuzolo | 212-650-6588 |
| Chemistry | Prof. Balogh-Nair | 212-650-8340 |
| Earth & Atmospheric Sciences | Prof. Jeffrey Steiner | 212-650-6984 |
| Mathematics | Prof. Joseph Bak | 212-650-5157 |
| Physics | Prof. Frederick Smith | 212-650-6963 |
| Program in Premedical Studies | Belinda Smith | 212-650-7840 |
| Freshman Program in Science | Prof. Millicent Roth | 212-650-6768 |
