Today, Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger joined Roanoke City Mayor David Bowers; representatives from the Science Museum of Western Virginia, the Town of Blacksburg; NASA-Langley; and others to announce the creation of the Virginia Science Festival.

The Virginia Science Festival will be highly visible outdoor event that will provide opportunities for engagement and exchange between children, teens, families, and local scientists. The festival, which will take place on Oct. 4 in Blacksburg and Oct. 11 in Roanoke, will feature more than 100 exhibitors, who will provide hands-on activities, live performances, interactive demonstrations, and family-oriented science entertainment.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine will serve as honorary co-chairmen of this year's festival.

“Virginia Tech is proud to be a partner in this effort to bring science to the people of Virginia through this festival which will provide hands-on, interactive inspiration,” Steger said. “The festival is in keeping with Virginia Tech’s land-grant mission of learning, discovery and outreach, established to bring higher education to the broader society, opening the doors of knowledge to everyone.”

When the festival is held in Blacksburg on Oct. 4, many  interactive displays will take place at Virginia Tech's Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology in the Moss Arts Center, and additional events will be held across campus, offering visitors an opportunity to see various disciplines of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

In 2013 the Science Museum of Western Virginia was one of 12 recipients nationwide to receive a $10,000 grant from the Science Festival Alliance to kick start the project. 

Information about the festival can be found online, and you can follow the festival on Facebook or find the festival on Twitter.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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