The AMS at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival

The AMS was a Palladium Sponsor and Exhibitor at the third USA Science and Engineering Festival (USASEF), the nation's largest celebration of science and engineering, held April 25-27 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The Society hosted a booth at which attendees could stitch approximations to curves by creating envelopes of lines and held the game Who Wants to Be a Mathematician. Roughly 2500 people came by the booth and participated in the activity.

The AMS activities for visitors were led by Susan Wildstrom, Walt Whitman High School, and about a dozen of her students. Mike Breen, AMS Public Awareness Officer, Anita Benjamin, Assistant Director, AMS Washington Office, and Colleen Rose, AMS Membership and Programs, also helped with the activity.

Pushing the Envelope

The curve-stitching activity was a very popular activity and fun for families to do. Below are a video and slideshow of people doing the basic design, an approximation to a parabola, and the more complicated ones, which involved polygons.

 

Created with flickr slideshow.

See more about curve-stitching and the designs used.

Other Activities at the USA Science and Engineering Festival

The USASEF is a collaboration of more than 750 of the U.S. leading science and engineering organizations 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 show business celebrities and professional athletes. The 2014 event drew over 325,000 young people and adults to participate in over 2,000 hands-on activities and see live performances by science celebrities and best-selling authors. Below is a slideshow of pictures of activities at some of the booths.

Created with flickr slideshow.

See the AMS activities at the 2012 festival and at the 2010 festival.

Photos and video by Anita Benjamin and Mike Breen. Text by Mike Breen.