The New York Power Authority, in collaboration with WNY STEM, will hold a free STEAM Ahead Career Fair on May 19 at NYPA's Niagara Power Vista at the Niagara Power Project, 5777 Lewiston Road, Lewiston.
The event, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will give youngsters a glimpse of careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math through fun, hands-on activities, demonstrations and presentations. Children up to age 17 who visit each station have a chance to win a telescope.
Some of the hands-on fun includes:
•Assisting a NYPA engineer to build a hydro turbine kit. One helper from each group will get a chance to take the kit home. Also, learn about NYPA's Women in Power, Sustainability and Environmental Justice groups and what they are doing to help young people achieve their dreams.
•Getting a glimpse of the Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, stationed at the Niagara Air Reserve Station. The exhibit will display a Humvee, robotics, personal protective equipment and other tools that are used to safely handle harmful explosive devices.
•A tour of the night sky in a portable planetarium (provided by the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State College), and the opportunity to listen to popular stories of the Iroquois Confederacy. This station has hands-on demonstrations and a weather permitting display and view of the sun.
•A chance to hold a real human brain and compare size to rat and mouse brains. Sensory activities coupled with mechanistic diagrams will show how the body receives and transduces messages into the electrical language of the brain. Presented by Michelle Sudyn of the UB Neuroscience Graduate Student Association.
•Learning about glowing rocks with geologist Dino Zack, who will identify fluorescent rocks and mineral specimens from New York state as well as world-known locations. The hands-on interactive will feature a display used to demonstrate many types of luminescence.
•Digging for artifacts at an archeology exhibit. Learn what it takes to be an archeologist and look for artifacts in a demonstrative dig with Dr. Douglas J. Perrelli, director, archaeological survey, at the University at Buffalo.
•A chance to be a TV star when one steps into NYPA's mini-TV exhibit and learn what it takes to work behind the scenes. Or step in front of the camera to see what it takes to be in broadcast media.
•Building a Home Depot project alongside the NYPA IBEW Local 2104 skilled trades. With the construction field and skilled trades a rapidly growing industry, these jobs will be in high demand.
•Learning investigative techniques and taking a fingerprint sample with a crime scene investigator and forensic lab chemist from the Niagara County Sheriff's Department.
•Taking a look at the latest in coding kits with Thimble.io. These kits can be used to teach young people and adults about computer programming.
Power Vista guests can also watch area high school robotics teams demonstrate their robots throughout the day.
Other exhibitors include the New York State Parks interpretive programs, Mission: Ignite Powered by Computers for Children, Girl Scouts of Western New York, Cradle Beach, Barnes and Noble book store and the Buffalo Zoomobile (for a limited time).
Free rides are available on the Discover Niagara Shuttle to and from all stops along its route. For more information on the shuttle, visit
www.discoverniagarashuttle.com.
Visitors are also encouraged to explore the Niagara Power Vista exhibits. For more information about the event, or to register as an exhibitor, call 716-286-6661 or email
[email protected]NYPA is the largest state public power organization in the nation, operating 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. More than 70 percent of the electricity NYPA produces is clean, renewable hydropower. NYPA uses no tax money or state credit. It finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity. For more information visit
www.nypa.gov.
