Community Outreach
Hands-On Engineering Design Activities
By participating in hands-on engineering design activities, children learned engineering concepts through constructing paper airplanes, gumdrop towers, aluminum foil boats, and straw cantilevers.
Science on Saturday
Science on Saturday events are fun, free science demonstrations at Lincoln Laboratory and are given several times each school year by our scientists and engineers. All local community K–12 students, their parents, and their teachers are welcome to attend these events.
Parental/adult escort is required for all children. Electronic devices are not allowed in the facility. Pre-registration is required for these events. For directions to Lincoln Laboratory, please see the Map and Driving Directions page.
Some previous Science on Saturday events have focused on cryogenics, electricity
and magnetism, acoustics, chemistry, optics, ions, hands-on engineering, and
mathematics.
Upcoming Events
Cold Science
December 5, 2009
Speaker: Dr. Richard Williamson, Lincoln Laboratory
9:00–10:30 AM, 10:45 AM–12:15 PM
Lincoln Laboratory Auditorium
What is cold? What is the coldest temperature possible? What happens to various objects when they get very cold? Come see a liquid nitrogen cannon, watch frozen pennies shatter, and volunteer to help with other demonstrations on stage. Two identical shows will be presented.
Session 1: 9:00 AM–10:30 AM THIS SHOW IS SOLD OUT
Session 2: 10:45 AM–12:15 PM THIS SHOW IS SOLD OUT
How to Talk to Your Computer
February 6, 2010
Speaker: Robert Dunn, Lincoln Laboratory
9:00–10:30 AM, 10:45 AM–12:15 PM
Lincoln Laboratory Auditorium
How is human speech produced? How can we make computers speak? Can we make computers understand what people say? Come see or volunteer to help with on-stage demonstrations of speech production, digital speech processing, voice modification, and automatic speaker and language recognition. Two identical shows will be presented. Online registration will begin in January 2010.
Recent Events
Hot Science
October 3, 2009
Speaker: Mark Hanson, Lincoln Laboratory
Lincoln Laboratory Auditorium
What is heat? How is it measured? How is it transferred from one object to another? How can it be used to run an engine? How can you keep heat out of your house during the summer and keep heat in during the winter?
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Principles of Acousto-Electric Musicology
June 6, 2009
Speaker: "Richard Pianiopolis, PdB. Hz."
How do musicians describe different sounds? How do electrical engineers describe the same sounds? Come and find out how music, voices, or any sound can be seen and explained both from the musical side and the engineering side. Listen to and watch your voice and music; hear and see all the different ways sounds can be altered.
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Slime and Flubber
April 4, 2009
Speaker: Dr. Andrew Siegel, Lincoln Laboratory
How do you make sticky, green slime? Would you like to mix up some flubber to make bouncing balls? Polymers are more than just plastics—they are formed naturally within the earth. They are also "grown" by living things like plants and people. We can synthesize some of them in laboratories, form others in furnaces, and even grow slimy ones in the back of refrigerators (Yuck!). Ever seen a non-Newtonian fluid in action? Come learn about rheology, and see all of the strange things that plastics and polymers can do.
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Lightning, Tornadoes, and Storms
February 7, 2009
Speaker: Robert Hallowell, Lincoln Laboratory
Can you make lightning? How do tornadoes form? What causes fog? How does air pressure affect weather, and how can you measure it? Come see our demonstrations and find out.
This review of the demonstration describes what happened during the Lightning, Tornadoes, and Storms Science on Saturday event.
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Asteroids — Fact or Fiction
December 6, 2008
Speaker: Dr. Grant Stokes, Lincoln Laboratory
What are asteroids like? Where did they come from? What happened when large asteroids hit the earth in the past? How can we detect and prevent large asteroids from hitting the earth in the future? Come and find out!
This review of the demonstration explains each topic discussed during this Science on Saturday event.
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Rockets and Flight
October 4, 2008
Speakers: Curtis Heisey, Jessica Olszta, and Dr. Mykel Kochenderfer, Lincoln Laboratory
How do rockets work? How about airplanes? How can you build and launch your own rockets safely? Come see our fun demonstrations and find out, or volunteer to help with them on stage.
This review of the demonstration itemizes each activity performed and its importance to understanding rocketry.
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Archaeology
June 7, 2008
Speaker: Dr. Steven A. LeBlanc, Director of Collections at Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
What do we know about the mysterious objects and places featured in the Indiana Jones movies? What is it like to be an archaeologist? How old are the artifacts that have been found? The presentation is given by real archaeologists who have done excavations at the same places featured in the movies.
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Robotics Demonstration
April 5, 2008
Speakers: Professor Kenneth Stafford of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Tom Indelicato of Bishop Guertin High School's FIRST Robotics Team
You’ve seen robots in movies, but what can real robots do? What kinds of robots can you buy now? How can you build your own robot? Participants met world-champion robots in person and controlled their movements!
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Math for Fun, Profit, and World Domination
February 2, 2008
Session 1: John Peach, Lincoln Laboratory
Session 2: Art Gelb, Four Sigma Corp., and TASC
In Session 1, Mathbusters, John Peach demonstrates how math can be fun for all ages. In Session 2, Why Study Mathematics?, Art Gelb discusses the applications of math and careers for mathematicians.
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Science on Saturday Archives
Information about the Science on Saturday events presented prior to 2008 is available through the following clickable links.
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