Join Us for Maryland Day on Saturday, April 28!

CMNS will host 35 events

Join us for the 20th annual Maryland Day to explore our world of fearless ideas on Saturday, April 28, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Maryland Day is an exciting opportunity for prospective students and area residents to learn more about the University of Maryland.

Maryland Day offers 400 festivities including exhibits, workshops, hands-on demonstrations, performances, cross-campus tours, lectures, petting zoos and athletic events.

Maryland Day will be held rain or shine. Admission and parking are free. A campus map can be found here.

We hope you’ll join the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences on Science & Tech Way for the 35 events listed below! To view the full day’s schedule, please visit the Maryland Day website.

Biology-Psychology Building

• Maryland Wildlife Quest – Outside, all day
• Explore the wildlife of Maryland and contribute to a Chesapeake Bay and Appalachian Mountains mural.

Bioscience Research Building

• Chemistry Magic – Front Entrance, all day
• Have fun watching the chemists of Alpha Chi Sigma play. Can you shatter a rubber ball? Make putty? Will you see magic or chemistry? This looks to be one explosive event.
• Chemists Celebrate Earth Day – Front Entrance, all day
• The UMD student chapter of the American Chemical Society hosts activities to tell visitors all about green chemistry.
• Microbe Madness – Atrium, all day
• Join UMD microbiologists in making your very own, one-of-a-kind microbe button. Pick out your favorite microbe template and color it in, then watch as it turns into a unique and wearable pin.
• Race to Recycle – Front Entrance, all day
• Race to separate a bunch of clean waste products into trash, recycling and compost. It's a fun and educational activity on our green campus.
• The Everyday Extraordinary – Front Entrance, all day
• Students of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology demonstrate how common household items reveal important scientific phenomena.

Chemistry Building

• Chemathon – G. Forrest Woods Atrium, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Watch 300 high school students from across the Washington, D.C. area compete in teams on lab work, posters, written classwork and trivia under the theme of “Project Chemistry Runway: The Chemistry of the Fashion Runway.”

Computer Science Instructional Center (CSIC)

• Algorithms and Coding with Balloons – Lobby, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Kids of all ages can learn the definition of an algorithm and how to “program” computer science volunteers to inflate and decorate balloons.
• Coding Games with CompSciConnect – 2nd floor, all day
  • Come ​discover computing with middle school students in UMD's CompSciConnect​ ​program and learn how to program LEGO Mindstorm robots, create games in Scratch and explore number systems and cryptology. Virtual reality and Scratch games created by students will be on display.
• Explore Computer Science – CSIC 1115, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
  • Prospective computer science students can meet staff to learn about the curriculum and program offerings. Hear from current students about this exciting field and get your questions answered.
• Virtual Reality Club Demonstrations – 1st floor, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • The UMD Virtual Reality Club shares virtual reality experiences and applications and answers your questions about the technology and how it can be used.

Geology Building

• Discovering Earth Dynamics – Outside, all day
• Why do earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur? Learn the answers to these and other Earth dynamics questions through hands-on activities, including a demonstration of liquefaction.
• Fossil Dig – Outside, all day
• Dig in the Department of Geology sand pit and uncover millions of years of history. Find fossils up to 400 million years old and, of course, shark teeth.
• Minerals and the Earth: The Stuff of Life – Room 2118, all day
• See and touch pieces of the planet's insides and meteorites, too. These minerals, rocks and gems are the raw materials of life.

Glenn L. Martin Hall

• Ask an Astronomer – Front Lawn, all day
• Astronomy faculty members and students answer your perplexing astronomy-related questions.
• Climate and Life Through Time – Front Lawn, all day
• See rocks, tree cores and corals that tell us about climate and environments in the recent past and long ago at the one-of-a-kind Stable Isotope Laboratory's interactive display.
• Earth System Science and Climate Change – Front Lawn, all day
• Explore our planet with Earth system scientists from the university, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Find out how much water you can "squeeze" from a cloud and learn about lightning and flash-flood safety from NOAA's interactive displays. Science, technology, engineering and math enthusiasts are invited to stop at the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment and Research table.
• Fingerprinting the Universe – Front Lawn, all day
• Each person has a unique fingerprint. Each chemical element in our bodies and the universe also has a unique fingerprint that is encoded in light. Learn how astronomers study the skies using different wavelengths of light and how they decode the light to unravel the mysteries of the universe.
• Maryland’s Weather and Climate – Front Lawn, all day
• Learn about Maryland's weather, how the materials we use to build cities makes where we live hotter and play with a tornado in a bottle.
• Our Neighbor, NASA Goddard – Front Lawn, all day
• Around the corner and around the galaxy: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, five miles away in Greenbelt, builds spacecraft and instruments and invents technology to study Earth, the sun, the solar system and the universe. Discover how its mission affects you.
• Putting Distant Worlds in the Right Spot – Front Lawn, all day
• Two hands-on demonstrations explain how astronomers observe exoplanets. Astronomers use coronagraphs (special cameras that block the light from the host star) to take pictures of planets, while spectrographs reveal what all these worlds are made of by looking at the light through a narrow slit. Both require the target be in the right spot!
• Solar Observing – Front Lawn, all day
• Take a safe look at the big yellow (or red, depending on the filter) ball in our sky through telescopes with observatory staff.

John S. Toll Physics Building

• Can You Move Like a Cell? – Front Lawn, all day
• Will you move collectively or chaotically? Will you move quickly or slowly? Join the members of UMD's Dynamics of Complex Systems Lab and find out as we explore the ways that cells move inside of our bodies, the environment and even in the dirt.
• Cosmic Ray Tour – Front Lawn, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
• Take a virtual journey in this lab where students, physicists and engineers build state-of-the art particle detectors to fly on gigantic balloons in Antarctica.
• Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream – Front Lawn, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
• Bet you haven't had ice cream like this! This homemade specialty tastes great and is safe for all ages. Try it while supplies last.
• Physics is Phun: Catch the Gravitational Wave – Room 1412, 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
• Learn about the discovery of gravitational waves, which wowed the world and won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics. UMD Physics Professor Peter Shawhan and physics graduate student Min-A Cho share highlights from their own research, while other students and staff members present engaging physics demonstrations on this new era of astronomy. Before the program, enjoy amazing physics demonstrations set up outside the lecture halls, see the Can Crusher, take the Inertia Challenge, be wowed by the Liquid Nitrogen Cloud and much more! After the program, participate in the Physics Is Phun Game Show and show off your new physics knowledge to win a prize.
• Physics of Pottery – Lobby, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Get behind the wheel with the Physics Pottery Club. Learn about the physics behind pottery while molding ceramic bowls and figurines.
• Radar Velocity – Front Lawn, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
• Test your throwing ability at the Radar Velocity Detector Station.
• Smoke Cannons – Front Lawn, all day
• Two cannons make for amazing motion when rings collide!
• Think Quantum: Magnetic Levitation – Front Lawn, all day
• See levitating superconductors, cooled by liquid nitrogen, zoom around a magnetic track.

Physical Sciences Complex

• Think Quantum: Lab Tours – Lobby, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• Discover the secrets of the universe as described by quantum mechanics, the physics revolution of the last 100 years. Learn about quantum computers of the future. See ultracold atoms, laser beams, liquid helium cooled superconductors and more. Tours leave from the main lobby.

Plant Sciences Building

• Discover a Swamp – Room 1162, all day
• Capture and observe the small aquatic creatures that are common in nearby wetlands. Learn about their behavior as they swim through water and climb on plants.
• Explore Life Questions with Biology Answers – Room 1164, all day
• Who attacked Testudo? Crack the genetic code with a DNA bracelet. See how fast your brain can think. Explore human evolution by examining fossil skulls.
• Germs! Don’t Get Them! – Rooms 1171 & 1168, all day
• How well do you wash your hands? Are you getting rid of those germs? Learn the truth using a special microscope.
• Insect Petting Zoo – Room 1161, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• Imagine tarantulas, exotic insects, scorpions, bees and millipedes longer than your hand for you to look at and touch—if you dare.

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Media Relations Contact: Irene Ying, 301-405-5204, zying@umd.edu

University of Maryland
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
2300 Symons Hall
College Park, MD 20742
www.cmns.umd.edu
@UMDscience

About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 9,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college’s 10 departments and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $175 million.