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STEM Expo at the Ohio Science Olympiad State Tournament

The STEM Expo at the Ohio Science Olympiad State Tournament is a free, public event designed to connect local college admissions, industry partners, and Ohio State University faculty with the next generation of problem solvers and innovators. It will feature interactive exhibits, hands-on activities, and opportunities to showcase cutting-edge technologies, initiatives, and educational programs.

This is a free event, open to the public, with paid parking, held on Friday, April 17, 2026, and Saturday, April 18, 2026 at The Ohio State University's Columbus campus. Families are welcome to check out the STEM Expo fun and stay for the magic of a Science Olympiad tournament by watching students compete in Boomilever, Helicopter, Mission Possible, Robot Tour, Scrambler, and more!

 

Register to be a STEM Expo Exhibitor here.


Friday, April 17, 2025

4:30-7:00pm (courtesy team check-in hours)

Recreational & Physical Activity Center (RPAC)- South Gym

Exhibitors List: 

COSI: Center of Science and Industry

Exhibit will feature finch robot programming and robot jousting. COSI (Center of Science and Industry) in Columbus, Ohio, is a premier, 320,000-square-foot science center featuring over 300 interactive exhibits, a planetarium, and a dinosaur gallery. As a top educational hub, it offers hands-on STEAM experiences for all ages. Click here to visit COSI's website for more information!

Math Plus Academy

Interactive STEM activities, puzzles, and math games. Click here to view Math Plus Academy's website.

Ohio Supercomputer Center

Students will disassemble/assemble a computer node. Established in 1987 and based in Columbus, the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) is a statewide high-performance computing (HPC) resource. It provides academic institutions and private industries with massive computational power, data storage, and AI/machine learning capabilities to accelerate research in fields like engineering, medicine, and physical sciences.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

Ohio EPA's STEM Expo exhibit will feature Trashology 101. Everyone needs clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. We want to keep our environment clean, but we enjoy modern conveniences that create pollution, like air emissions from electric plants and automobiles and hazardous waste like leftover paint and cleaning chemicals.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is a state agency whose goal is to protect the environment and public health by ensuring compliance with environmental laws. Those laws and related rules outline Ohio EPA's authority and what things we can consider when making decisions about regulated activities. Click here to visit the Ohio EPA webpage.

OSU CCBBI: Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging

CCBBI will provide activities that teach about the brain:

1. Learn about your visual system: corn hole and optical illusions  

2. Learn about inattentional blindness: attention game  

3. Learn about nerve cells – create a neuron 

4. Ask a brain expert – we will have brain models 

The Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging (CCBBI) stands as an interdisciplinary hub within The Ohio State University's College of Arts and Sciences. Situated in the Department of Psychology, CCBBI is a dedicated research facility with a primary focus on human cognitive, clinical, developmental, and social neuroscience. Click here to visit the OSU CCBBI webpage.

OSU School of Earth Sciences

Students will ID minerals with test kits and more. The faculty and students in the School of Earth Science study the Earth’s interior and surface, its oceans, freshwaters and glaciers, its atmosphere and outer space, and their interactions with each other and with the biosphere. Click here to learn more about OSU's School of Earth Sciences.

 

Saturday, April 18, 2025

11:00am-2:00pm

Recreational & Physical Activity Center (RPAC)- South Gym

Exhibitors List:

BSLI: Buckeye Space Launch Initiative

Pop rockets and sling rockets catered more so for elementary and middle schoolers and recruitment information for interested high school students! BSLI is a student-run organization at Ohio State that participates in various programs, such as the NASA Student Launch Initiative, the International Rocket Engineering Competition, and the Liquid Rocket Systems team. They are a multidisciplinary group of dozens of talented students from various fields of study, working together on these and other fun projects. Click here to learn more about the BSLI student organization at OSU!

COSI: Center of Science and Industry

Exhibit will feature finch robot programming and robot jousting. COSI (Center of Science and Industry) in Columbus, Ohio, is a premier, 320,000-square-foot science center featuring over 300 interactive exhibits, a planetarium, and a dinosaur gallery. As a top educational hub, it offers hands-on STEAM experiences for all ages. Click here to visit COSI's website for more information!

Columbus Zoo & Aquarium

The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium will provide information on Zoo programming for students, schools, and families and provide a hands on activity focused on local wildlife and conservation. The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium is a world-renowned, 580+ acre facility founded in 1927 that houses over 10,000 animals from 600+ species. Welcoming over 2.2 million visitors annually, it features eight distinct regions, including the "Heart of Africa" and "Adventure Cove," along with the 10,000-acre Wilds conservation center.

Math Plus Academy

Interactive STEM activities, puzzles, and math games. Click here to view Math Plus Academy's website.

National Science Foundation HAMMER Engineering Research Center

NSF HAMMER-ERC seeks to develop new approaches to manufacturing. They will teach participants about manufacturing processes through a series of hands-on activities involving Play-Doh. At room temperature, model materials like plasticine and Play-Doh flow similarly to how heated metals flow when being formed, making it an optimal medium to use when teaching about metal forming. Participants will learn about the various forming processes as they interact with Play-Doh. They will be asked to forge, shear, and extrude the Play-Doh. This activity brings together materials engineering and hands-on fun, making it suitable for participants of all ages who want to learn more about metals manufacturing. Participants will be asked to shape Play-Doh into a specific shape to simulate metal forging. Forging involves deforming a material into target shape, either by pressing into a die (closed die forging) or by hammering into shape (open die forging). Participants will be asked to cut Play-Doh to simulate metal shearing. Shearing involves cutting material between two sharp edges. Participants will be asked to push Play-Doh through presses to simulate metal extrusion. Extrusion involves pushing a material through a die to create a new cross-sectional shape. As participants forge, shear, and extrude their Play-Doh, they will also receive information on materials engineering from HAMMER so that they can develop a more nuanced understanding of metals manufacturing.

Click here to visit National Science Foundation HAMMER Engineering Research Center's website.

Ohio Supercomputer Center

Students will disassemble/assemble a computer node. Established in 1987 and based in Columbus, the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) is a statewide high-performance computing (HPC) resource. It provides academic institutions and private industries with massive computational power, data storage, and AI/machine learning capabilities to accelerate research in fields like engineering, medicine, and physical sciences.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

Ohio EPA's STEM Expo exhibit will feature Trashology 101. Everyone needs clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. We want to keep our environment clean, but we enjoy modern conveniences that create pollution, like air emissions from electric plants and automobiles and hazardous waste like leftover paint and cleaning chemicals.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is a state agency whose goal is to protect the environment and public health by ensuring compliance with environmental laws. Those laws and related rules outline Ohio EPA's authority and what things we can consider when making decisions about regulated activities. Click here to visit the Ohio EPA webpage.

OSU CCBBI: Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging

CCBBI will provide activities that teach about the brain:

1. Learn about your visual system: corn hole and optical illusions  

2. Learn about inattentional blindness: attention game  

3. Learn about nerve cells – create a neuron 

4. Ask a brain expert – we will have brain models 

The Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging (CCBBI) stands as an interdisciplinary hub within The Ohio State University's College of Arts and Sciences. Situated in the Department of Psychology, CCBBI is a dedicated research facility with a primary focus on human cognitive, clinical, developmental, and social neuroscience. Click here to visit the OSU CCBBI webpage.

OSU Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Showcase ChemE Car and demonstrate safe reactions and mechanisms used to power the cars. OSU Chemistry & Biomolecular Engineering is one of the oldest chemical engineering programs in the United States and is marked by a tradition of excellence. Click here to keep up with the ground-breaking work done by the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Ohio State.

OSU Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences

Interactive demonstrations of hearing/audiology, speech, language, swallowing, and balance. The Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at OSU offers degrees at both the undergraduate level and graduate level in speech and hearing science, with concentrations in speech-language pathology, audiology, speech science and hearing science. Click here to view the department's webpage for more information. 

OSU School of Earth Sciences

Students will ID minerals with test kits and more. The faculty and students in the School of Earth Science study the Earth’s interior and surface, its oceans, freshwaters and glaciers, its atmosphere and outer space, and their interactions with each other and with the biosphere. Click here to learn more about OSU's School of Earth Sciences.

See Brilliance

See Brilliance is an organization that provides educational programs and services to increase access to and awareness of STEAM for historically marginalized youth. Exhibit will feature acrylics and making necklaces.

Their STEAM program offers youth experiences that show how STEAM is relevant to their everyday lives and encourages the development of a STEM identity. We also provide parent learning opportunities that promote cultural connections to STEAM and encourage parent engagement in STEAM learning. Click here to learn more about See Brilliance.

STEM Solutions, LLC.

STEM Solutions, LLC will provide science demonstrations and hands-on activities that connect basic physics principles to everyday life and beyond.