downtown-salt-lake-city

[Image above] Arial photo of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Credit: Andrew Smith; Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0 

Festivities for Materials Science & Technology 2016, the annual go-to conference and exhibition for all things materials science and engineering, kick off on Sunday. And the agenda for this year’s meeting is jam-packed.

(Still need to register? Do that here!)

This year’s event will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 23–27. Attendees will get the inside scoop on the latest research from some of the world’s top leaders, researchers, scientists, and business people. With thousands of talks, posters, and presentations across a dozen theme areas, the meeting is sure to satisfy wide-ranging materials science interests. Check out the final program for more information.

Your schedule will likely be full attending lectures, sessions, networking events, and perusing the exhibit hall. While you’re planning your week, remember to attend ACerS choice lectures and eventsincluding ACerS 118th Annual Membership Meetingto collect those coveted buttons and #PinYourACerSPride!

But if you build in some downtime during your visit, there are a lot of interesting places to check out in Salt Lake that you might want on your radar.

And because we’re a group of science-and-tech-minded individuals, I’ve compiled a list of a few scientific attractions to catch in between MS&T activities.

1. Hill Aerospace MuseumLocated off Interstate 15 near Hill Airforce Base in Roy, Utah, the Hill Aerospace Museum displays over 90 aircraft from around the world, in addition to a variety of munitions, equipment, auxiliary vehicles, and other items of historical interest. The collection is divided into five exhibits that focus on a specific era in the history of flight—the Beginnings, World War II, Dawn of the Jet Age, The Cold War, and Keeping the Peace—and features among its comprehensive catalog the B-17 Flying Fortress, SR-71C Blackbird, A-10 Thunderbolt II, and one of the first operational F-16 Fighting Falcon USAF 79-0388.

2. The LeonardoRelatively new to the Salt Lake museum scene, The Leonardo—named after artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci—opened in October 2011 and gives visitors the chance to explore the unexpected places and ways that science, technology, art, and creativity intersect. Exhibits explore mind-bending topics like the illusion of reality, which focuses on how our minds manipulate sensory data to shape our views of the world, to an exhibit completely dedicated to the many ways water connects us in science, culture, politics, and daily life.

3. Discovery Gateway Children’s MuseumBringing the kids along to MS&T16? Or maybe you just enjoy a fun, hands-on scientific experience. Either way, add the Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum to your list. It’s an interactive, hands-on children’s museum conveniently located in downtown Salt Lake City that features exhibits like the STEAM Studio and STEAM Lab that shows the fun side of physics. Visitors of all ages can put their engineering skills and knowledge to the test by building structures on the museum’s “earthquake table” to see which designs hold up under stress.

We look forward to seeing you in Salt Lake! Make sure to follow ACerS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and/or subscribe to Ceramic Tech Today for the latest event information.

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