As a child growing up in the Ohio Valley, Jaq Seifert would find fossils in their backyard. When the school science fair came around, they worked tirelessly on their entry—a study of local fossils.
They won their school’s science fair, then the district-wide science fair. Then at the state level, the unthinkable happened—they lost to a baking soda volcano.
“I lost to something you could find at a game store,” they said.
Inspired by the curiosity and nostalgia of the school science fair, Seifert, now an event producer, is bringing back that experience for grown-ups. The Windy City Science Fair brings together enterprising would-be scientists to showcase their experiments and engineering projects at Color Club in Irving Park on Saturday, May 4.
For Seifert, Chicago is the perfect place to launch an adult science fair, citing the vast array of museums, nature parks, zoos and botanical gardens.
“We had a World’s Fair Expo all about science and engineering,” they said. “We just need people who remind them, ‘Oh I can do this. I don’t have to just watch a documentary; I can actually do an experiment.’”
For the collaboration, Seifert brought in Dr. Mika Tosca, a Chicago-based climate scientist and founder of The Solarpunk Project, to assist with organizing, promoting and mentoring the competing would-be scientists. Other partners include The Chicago Council of Science and Technology, The Insect Asylum, The Illinois Science Council, The National Society of Black Engineers - Chicago Professionals, and Mindworks.
“I think it’s really cool to see people who otherwise feel like they might be shut out of the science world or think they’re not smart enough to be able to do quote-unquote ‘real science’ get really engaged about these projects that they think are really cool,” Tosca said. “The science world has become really exclusive in this way I don’t like. You can participate in science; we’re all real scientists.”
Making science more accessible is a core component of Tosca’s work with The Solarpunk Project, an initiative where she collaborates with artists, storytellers, communicators and scientists to increase access to climate information and encourage conversation about solutions to the climate crisis.
“Art and storytelling are really important when we’re dealing with big problems that are difficult to conceptualize,” Tosca said. “These big unwieldy problems tend to make people shut down. Using art as a vehicle for maintaining that interest and fervor towards solutions, I think that’s where the most potential lies.”
Through the Solarpunk Project, she’s using art and storytelling to encourage people to think about the climate crisis through projects including an upcoming “eco-rave” this summer with sound artists, climate scientists and DJs to use sound as a catalyst for conversations about how to solve climate change, and a campaign called “Charismatic Megaflora,” a tongue-in-cheek initiative highlighting plants that are threatened by climate change in the style of “Charismatic Megafauna” ads about the plight of polar bears. What she’s perhaps most known for, though, are her daily text-message reports, where subscribers get a breakdown of the weather and climate in Chicago, explained in plain, easy-to-understand language.
Seifert agrees that art and science are bound together.
“Let’s say we book a performer who does sword swallowing,” they said. “What she does is science because she has to work her body in such a way that she can put a sword down her esophagus. There’s a science in our ability to do things like that.”
Eight scientists created experiments for the inaugural fair, and Seifert and Tosca worked to pair each with a mentor working in science, technology, engineering and math to be available for questions and guide them through the scientific method.
Seifert also researched a group in Utah that hosts adult science fairs and used their guidelines for participants to ensure entries followed the scientific method, and were safe, legal and ethical.
“You can’t force your friends to drink Malört if they don’t actually like Malört,” they said.
For as authentic of an experience as possible, entrants must display their experiment on a tri-fold display board or present an engineering prototype. There is one other hard and fast rule: no volcanoes.
But these experiments are a far cry from Seifert’s cursed childhood memories. Some of their favorites include a survey of animals at Chicago parks at night—including the various creatures they see with their night vision camera—and a survey of the public to determine what is the best-tasting flavor of lube, and based on that qualitative data, the recreation of a lube that is universally appealing.
“We have one person who is doing an engineering project to teach their cat to use the toilet,” Seifert said. “They’re engineering the best kind of bridge to build over the toilet so their cat has something to balance on.”
Some entrants are tackling more serious matters in their experiments. Dannielle Geneus is conducting an experiment on the process of coral bleaching, synthesizing her research and what she has learned about coral reefs and the impact of climate change. She said she’s excited about the experimental process of the project—she’s using small rocks in place of the coral and a paint that reacts to different temperatures to demonstrate how coral loses its color in the bleaching process.
“People will be able to understand how the process is like for corals and the traumatic experiences that they’re going through with climate change and temperatures rising,” Geneus said. “I’m hoping it will have the benefit of people leaving wanting to make a change and do something that can help.”
And the entrants aren’t just competing for blue ribbons and bragging rights. Prizes, which are given to the top three entrants and audience favorite, include an annual membership to the Insect Asylum, a gift certificate to the American Science and Surplus Store, and goodies from the Museum of Science and Industry and, of course, Malört. In addition to observing the experiments and chatting up scientists, guests will be able to enjoy food from a local vendor, drinks from the Color Club bar and a live DJ spinning for the afternoon.
Both Tosca and Seifert say they hope people who attend the event leave more excited about science and thinking about it in a new way, and that the event serves as a reminder that science is something everyone with a question about the world and a desire to try new things can participate in.
“I’m 41 and my science fair project was on paleontology, and I still love dinosaurs and nature documentaries,” Seifert said. “If I had been encouraged to explore science as a viable career, I might have done it. But you can go and do a science project whenever you want.”
The Windy City Science Fair will be held on Saturday, May 4, from 11am-3pm at Color Club, 4146 N Elston Avenue. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online here.