Yearlong initiative to encourage youth to seek engineering careers concludes with special event on June 9

CHARLOTTE – All good things must come to an end, and so it is with Discovery Place Science’s Year of the Engineer. The program, which launched at the beginning of the 2017-18 schoolyear, will draw to a close as the school year ends with a special day of engineering activities and events on Saturday, June 9.

The Year of the Engineer initiative was launched to celebrate the ingenuity and creativity of engineers and to inspire youth to consider engineering and other STEM careers. Discovery Place Science committed to engaging 250 engineers in 2,500 experiences to expose 250,000 guests to the wonders of engineering. Today the Museum announced it had surpassed these goals. During the course of the year, the science center has worked with 426 engineers to deliver 2,816 experiences to 268,000 visitors.

“The future of our economy lies in STEM careers and that future is in the hands of our youth,” said Catherine Wilson Horne, president & CEO, Discovery Place. “We need to do everything we can now to inspire, engage and educate our young people in STEM in order to build a brighter future for everyone.”

The closing event on June 9 is a community celebration that will feature highlights of activities from throughout the year. Partners who participated in the monthly Museum “Takeover Days” will return to Discovery Place Science with their most popular activities. In addition, the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be featured as the last takeover of the program. Visitors to the celebration on June 9 will be able to participate in the following:

• Design and build challenges. Design a bridge using tape and straws and see how many pennies it will hold. Use paper and tape to design and build the tallest tower with the smallest footprint. Or construct a city, tower or other building using cardboard boxes.
• Micropipette art. Use micropipettes to create custom artwork while learning about the tools of biotechnology.
• Car science. Join experts from the NASCAR Hall of Fame to build a race car, check out racing items and experiment with contained science.
• Architect activities. Work with the architects and engineers from Little to experiment with Virtual Reality and build structures to survive the shake table.
• H2O and more. Learn about the properties of water with students from UNC Charlotte’s Lee College of Engineering and design your own water filtration system.
• Parts and pieces. Work with the engineers from Screwmatics of South Carolina to identify materials and learn how to quality test parts.
• Scale up. Join the architects from AIA to build tall structures using PVC pipe.
• Community build. – Contribute to a large-scale mosaic out of shrinky dink tiles. Put one tile in the mosaic and take one home as a keepsake.
• Engineering inspiration. View Dream Big in theIMAX Dome Theatre for its final showings. The film, which tells the inspiring stories of engineers and celebrates the ingenuity and drive of engineers, will be playing throughout the day.

All activities are included with Museum admission. Tickets to the IMAX Dome Theatre are an additional fee.

The Year of the Engineer was presented by Albemarle Foundation. Additional support was provided by Ingersoll Rand, Duke Energy, Bank of America and Lowe’s. Additional program support was provided by Rodgers, Balfour Beatty, Little, Shurtape, Modern Fabric and Two Men and a Truck.

Admission to Discovery Place Science is $17 for adults (14-59); $13 for children (2-13); $15 for seniors (60+); and free for Discovery Place Science Members and children younger than 2, plus tax. Discounts are available for groups of 15 or more. Children age 13 and younger must be accompanied by an adult while in the Museum. Guests can purchase tickets online at science.discoveryplace.org, via phone at 704.372.6261 x300 or in person.

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