The 2024 Wisconsin Science Festival will be held Oct. 14-20. The festival will focus on agriculture, aiming to showcase its profound impact on our world and illustrating the interconnectedness of agriculture with our state’s economy, society and well-being, and the overall future of humanity.

Events will be held throughout the state, and a full list of events can be found on the Wisconsin Science Festival website.

Below is a compilation of events featuring CALS-affiliated faculty, staff and students.

DC Smith Greenhouse Open House
Monday, October 14 – Friday, October 18, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. daily
DC Smith Greenhouse, 465 Babcock Dr., Madison, WI
Explore plants in the DC Smith Greenhouse on the University of Wisconsin – Madison campus.

Weaving Tradition: Menominee Basketry and the Legacy of Ash
Monday, October 14, 5:45 – 6:30 p.m.
Discovery Building, Room 1145, 330 N Orchard St., Madison, WI
Join an immersive, hands-on workshop on traditional Menominee basket weaving led by Sherri LaChapelle-Corn (Pitapanukiw), where you’ll learn time-honored techniques passed down through generations. Additionally, gain insight into the ecological challenges posed by the emerald ash borer insect, which threatens the very materials essential to this craft. Stop by the interactive gallery featuring intricate woven works of art. The workshop also features Nan Li, associate professor of life sciences communication.
Registration is required. Capacity is limited, so please contact event host to notify of any registration cancellations.

Crossroads of Ideas: Wisconsin’s Role in Shaping the Future of Agriculture
Monday, October 14, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Discovery Building, 330 N Orchard St., Madison, WI
This engaging panel discussion will take a deeper look into the innovation and tradition of Wisconsin agriculture and the opportunities and challenges we face at the leading edge of sustainable systems. Moderated by Glenda Gillaspy, dean of CALS, and featuring researchers who are helping establish Wisconsin as the leader in agricultural advancement and innovation.
This is a free event, but registration is required to ensure adequate seating.

Big Ideas for Busy People: Fields of Wonder
Tuesday, October 15, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Majestic Theater, 115 King St., Madison, WI
Join the Wisconsin Science Festival and friends for a celebration at the intersection of art and science with flash talks, performances, hands-on activities, prizes and more.
Doors and bar open at 6:30pm, event takes place from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Badgers on Tap: Wisconsin Agriculture at Badger State Brewing
Tuesday, October 15, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Badger State Brewing, 990 Tony Canadeo Run, Green Bay, WI
Join for a pint and a night of learning, activities and good cheer at Badger State Brewing. Listen to engaging 15-minute flash talks and participate in trivia, bingo and more.
This event is in-person, and no registration is necessary.
Tom Zinnen: Changing Colors in the Spectrum of Biotechnology & Food
Jennifer Gaddis: Farm-fresh school meals for all
Kevin Walters: Getting the Sunshine In – Vitamin D and WARF, 1923–1944

Badgers on Tap: Wisconsin Agriculture at Amorphic Beer
Tuesday, October 15, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Amorphic Beer, 3700 N. Fratney St., Milwaukee, WI
Join for a pint and a night of learning, activities and good cheer at Amorphic Beer. Listen to engaging 15-minute flash talks and participate in trivia, bingo and more. This event is in-person, and no registration is necessary.
Michaela Hoffelmeyer: LGBTQ+ Farmers
Shelby Ellison: Collecting Cannabis through Citizen Scientist Collaboration
Caitilyn Allen: A History of Women in Agriculture

Virtual Badger Talk: Wisconsin’s Busy Bees
Wednesday, October 16, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Bloomer Public Library, 1519 17th Ave., Bloomer, WI
Honey bees and bumble bees are common and recognizable, but Wisconsin is home to a diverse array of nearly 500 bee species. This presentation will take a close look at the daily lives of Wisconsin’s many busy bees and the roles they play in the ecosystem.
Presenter Patrick (PJ) Liesch is a statewide entomology specialist and director of the University of Wisconsin Insect Diagnostic Lab (IDL).
This virtual event will be hosted by the Bloomer Public Library. Attend via Zoom, or by visiting the library’s community room in-person and watching the Zoom stream there!
Register for the Zoom.

MadPrompts: Creativity Unleashed
Wednesday, October 16, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Discovery Building, 330 N Orchard St., Madison, WI
MadPrompts is a live event – presented by WARF and the Data Science Institute – where contestants use text-to-image software to show off their prompt skills and create beautiful and captivating visuals from generative AI tools. The event is a game show format with contestants competing for the judge’s and audience’s vote for best images in a series of challenges. The evening also features top entries from a competition that challenged the greater community to use generative AI to transform text into dynamic videos.

Science on the Square
Thursday, October 17, 5:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Madison, WI
Back for its seventh year, the ever-popular Science on the Square event is again fusing with the Madison Night Market to create a unique way to explore hands-on science activities while also supporting local businesses and vendors. Outdoor STEM-themed activities will mix with vendor tents throughout State Street. Indoor locations will showcase interesting exhibits, talks or menu/product specials for you to check out as well. Stop by the top of State Street (near the capitol) to see physics demonstrations, rock out with iHeart Radio/Madison Z104, and create a fun glowing design on a giant Science Brite. Then make your way down to Lisa Link Peace Park (400 block) for live music.

Badgers on Tap: Wisconsin Agriculture at Delta Beer Lab
Friday, October 18, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Delta Beer Lab, 167 E. Badger Rd., Madison, WI
Join for a pint and a night of learning, activities and good cheer at Delta Beer Lab. Listen to engaging 15-minute flash talks and participate in trivia, bingo and more. This event is in-person, and no registration is necessary.
Adam Borger: Food Microbiology: The Good Microbes, The Bad Microbes and the Ugly Microbes
Jerry Clark: Malting Barley Research for the Craft Brewing Industry
Kevin Myers: A Wild Strain of Brewer’s Yeast Engineered to Make Biofuel

SoundWaves: Developing Ideas – Part 1
Friday, October 18, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Discover Building, 330 N. Orchard St., Madison, WI
SoundWaves is exploring how ideas, trends, plans, viewpoints, projects, materials and sounds develop. Join us for a new four-part series as we dive into how we got to where we are now and where we might be headed in the future. Each event revolves around a theme, exploring it first from many scientific angles and then through the lens of music. The program concludes with a live performance of music related to the evening’s theme.
This event will take place in the DeLuca Forum in the Discovery Building. This is a free event, however registration is requested to ensure adequate seating.

Discovery Expo – Community Day, Presented by Morgridge Institute for Research
Saturday, October 19, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Discover Building, 330 N. Orchard St., Madison, WI
The Discovery Expo – Community Day invites learners of all ages to the Discovery Building to experience dozens of interactive, hands-on exploration stations that feature STEM activities ranging from virtual reality to health and medicine, chemistry, physics demonstrations and more. Explore the activities at your own pace and interact with scientists, STEM professionals and students from UW-Madison and beyond. The Expo event will conclude with a special edition of Science is Fun: Celebrating the Joy of Science and the Arts with Bassam Shakhashiri and Friends at 1:00 p.m.

Wisconsin Weather Festival
Saturday, October 19, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Wisconsin Energy Institute, 1552 University Ave., Madison, WI
The Wisconsin Weather Festival is a fun and free event for all ages. Join the Wisconsin weather community to learn more about our state’s weather and climate. Scientists from UW-Madison, the National Weather Service and the rest of Wisconsin’s weather community will help you get hands on and learn more.

WI Book Festival Author Event: Feed the Planet (George Steinmetz)
Saturday, October 19, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, WI
Presented in partnership with the Wisconsin Book Festival and hosted by CALS photographer Michael King.
In Feed the Planet: A Photographic Journey to the World’s Food, acclaimed photographer George Steinmetz documents the global effort that puts food on our tables and transforms the surface of the Earth. Do you know where your food comes from? To find out, Steinmetz spent a decade documenting food production across thirty-six countries on six continents, twenty-seven US states, and five oceans. In striking aerial images, Steinmetz captures the massive scale of twenty-first-century agriculture. He takes us to places that most of us never see, although our very lives depend on them.

Science to Street Art Mural Celebration
Sunday, October 20, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
State Line Distillery, 1413 Northern Ct, Madison, WI
Celebrate the Unveiling of the 2024 Science to Street Art Mural. Join us at State Line Distillery for the debut of this year’s stunning mural, brought to life through a collaboration between Exact Sciences and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery’s Illuminating Discovery Hub. Meet artists Sonya Sankaran and Richie Morales as they share the inspiration behind their mural (including research by CALS’ Randy Jackson), which explores regenerative agriculture in vibrant detail.