The Maine Science Festival
is a program of
MSF Trivia
Wednesday, March 25 | 6:30pm-8:00pm
Seasons (Downstairs) - 427 Main Street, Bangor
Join fellow trivia players for a night of science trivia created especially for the Maine Science Festival! This is a don't-miss night of fun!
Please note! If you'd like to order food, please come at 6:00 so you don't miss out on any questions!
Event type: trivia
Moderator: Conor Thompson
Recommended Audience: high school and up
Science on Tap
Thursday, March 26 | 6:30pm-8:00pm
Mason's Brewing Company, Brewer
Details to be announced soon!
Field Trip Day (2026 FTD is full)
Friday, March 27 | 9:30am-12:30pm
Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Our Field Trip Day is for 7th & 8th grade students from schools in Maine, with the day’s programming specifically designed for this age group.
These events are limited to those schools that sign up in the preceding months. If you are interested in learning more about the 2027 Maine Science Festival Field Trip Day or would like to be notified when sign-ups are open, please send an email to schools@mainesciencefestival.org. The Field Trip Day is provided free of charge to the schools that attend.
2026 FTD is FULL.
Field Trip Day is presented by the
Teen Tech Night: App Challenge Hackathon
Presented by Project>Login
Friday, March 27 | 4:30 pm-7:30pm
Maine Discovery Museum, 74 Main Street, Bangor
This is a hands-on event for students ages 13+ to design, build, and prepare an app for submission to the Maine App Challenge. Through guided stations, participants will brainstorm ideas, build an app, create a short submission video, and enjoy pizza!
SIGN-UP REQUIRED. Click here to secure your spot!
Event type: workshops
Audience: middle and high school students
Taproom Tales
Friday, March 27 | 7:00pm
Stage Door, 131 Main Street, Bangor
An evening of storytelling where personal stories meet the world of science! In the relaxed atmosphere of Stage Door, we’ll hear from storytellers who will share one of their most memorable, touching, or surprising experiences with science. A look at how science has impacted their lives, showing the human side of science.
Event type: Storytelling
Audience: adult
Exploration Stations:
Engage, Examine, Experiment
Saturday, March 28 | 9:00am - 4:00pm
Cross Insurance Center Ballroom, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Roll up your sleeves and learn through various hands-on activities from scientists and practitioners around the state. Make sure to stop in and visit each activity and discover that science is everywhere!
Event type: Hands-on
Recommended Audience: all ages
Maine Mobile BIOLAB
Saturday, March 28 | 9:00am-4:00pm
Upper parking lot, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Event type: hands-on
Presenters: Educate Maine
Recommended Audience: all ages
Forests: Sanctuaries for Dark
Saturday, March 28 | 9:00am - 4:00pm
Presentation on how the images are created at 1:30pm
Meeting Room C, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Many of us have marveled at the glittering view of the cosmos from our favorite isolated spot. But one local man took his passion for stargazing to the next level and constructed an astrophotography lab to observe and record deep space objects. Forests: Sanctuaries for Dark is a celebration of his breathtaking images and a reflection on why Maine, with its millions of acres of undeveloped, unlit forests, remains a haven for dark skies on the East Coast. Hosted by the Forest Society of Maine.
Event type: Exhibit
Presenter: Forest Society of Maine
Recommended Audience: all ages
Maine Invention Convention
Saturday, March 28 | 10 AM - 2:00 PM
Prefunction Area, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
The Maine Invention Convention (a program of the Maine Discovery Museum) is a statewide competition that promotes innovative problem-solving and inventing by Maine students. Students work with their peers and teachers to identify and solve problems using the Innovation Engineering process. At this event, students from each participating school compete for the top invention awards and for the chance to represent Maine at the National Invention Convention at The Henry Ford Museum in June.
Our student inventors will be available from 10am-noon to answer your questions but the boards will be viewable from 10:00am until 2:00pm.
Event type: Poster Session
Moderator: Rachael Smith, Maine Discovery Museum
Recommended Audience: all ages
Thermal Radiation and Quantum Materials
Saturday, March 28 | 9:30am-10:30am
Meeting Room D, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
This workshop starts with a dynamic 20-minute mini-lecture discussing the science of thermal radiation and its real-world impact—from everyday technology to cutting-edge research. Along the way, you’ll get a glimpse into the fascinating world of quantum materials and discover how these materials can be engineered to control thermal radiation in surprising ways.
For the final 40 minutes, attendees will participate in a hands-on experiment in which they fabricate carbon quantum dots and compare the behavior of these quantum materials to their conventional bulk counterparts. By the end, they’ll have seen how quantum effects can dramatically reshape a material’s properties.
This session can accommodate 10 participants and will require sign-ups.
Check back on March 3rd to sign up!
Event type: Workshop - space is limited
Presenter: Sheila Edalatpour, University of Maine, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Recommended Audience: middle school and up
Seeing Sound: The Visual Tools of Audio Engineering
Saturday, March 28 | 10:00am - 11:00am
Meeting Rooms 1&2, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
This presentation will introduce the fundamental physics of sound, and explore the tools audio engineers use to visualize the invisible. Technologies such as meters, oscilloscopes, and spectrographs will be introduced and audio engineering workflows such as auto-tuning, waveform editing, and equalization will be demonstrated.
Event type: Workshop - space is limited
Presenter: Eric Ferguson, Husson University
Recommended Audience: all ages
Fire & Ice
Saturday, March 28 | 10:00am-11:00am
Meeting Rooms 3&4, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Foggy dry ice storms and safe and fun fire demonstrations. Kids and parents alike are amazed by sizzling science, combustion and bubbly showers!
This session can accommodate 75 participants and will require sign-ups.
Check back on March 3rd to sign up!
Event type: Workshop - space is limited
Presenter: Sean Tucker, Mad Science
Recommended Audience: all ages
Observing the Sky - from Constellations through Telescopes
Saturday, March 28 | 11:00am-12:00pm
Meeting Room A, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Learn the basics of observational astronomy from finding constellations in your backyard, to choosing and using binoculars and telescopes for a closer look at the universe. Find out what to look for when considering optical instruments, how cameras work differently than our eyes, and why stargazing is for everyone.
Event type: Talk
Presenter: Shawn Laatsch, Versant Power Astronomy Center - University of Maine; Brenda Jones, graduate student; John Meader, Northern Stars Planetarium
Recommended Audience: all ages
From soil to cheese: pH and microbes in dairy production
Saturday, March 28 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Meeting Room 1&2, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Dive into the science of dairy! This session will take participants on a journey through the science involved in dairy production, from soils and grass through cow physiology to cheesemaking, with an emphasis on pH and microbiology at every stage. We will show off the tools of soil fertility analysis and discuss the chemistry and biology of soil health in the context of pasture grazing and participants will have the chance to touch soils of different qualities. We will play a musical sonification of grazing data during a drought year. Participants will see how cow digestion works with a model rumen and we will mention the many science-trained roles that go into dairy rearing (e.g veterinary medicine, breeding, engineering). Finally, we'll explain the chemistry of milk with a cheese-making demonstration.
Event type: Talk
Presenter: Kate Turcotte, Sr Manager of Farmer Education at Wolfe's Neck Center and Maine Education Coordinator for the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program; cheesemaker/owner of creamery
Recommended Audience: all ages
Fish Printing
Saturday, March 28 | 11:30 and 12:15pm
Meeting Room D, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Bring your favorite cotton shirt/canvas bag or use our rice paper to make some fish prints while learning about what makes fish so cool!
Each session can accommodate 25 participants and will require sign-ups.
Check back on March 3rd to sign up!
Event type: Workshop - space is limited
Presenter: Christina A Murphy, USGS Maine Cooperative Research Unit / Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology University of Maine, University of Maine American Fisheries Society student subunit; Glenn Schumacher, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine, University of Maine American Fisheries Society student subunit; Greg Kronisch, School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, University of Maine American Fisheries Society student subunit
Recommended Audience: all ages
Simulating Climate Futures with En-ROADS
Saturday, March 28 | 1:00pm-2:00pm
Meeting Room A, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Peter Dugas, En-ROADS Climate Ambassador and State Coordinator of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, will offer a brief demonstration of the climate policy simulation tool En-ROADS. During extensive Q&A, participants will explore the impact of dozens of policies to lower greenhouse gases – like electrifying transportation, planting trees, increasing energy efficiency, pricing carbon –on hundreds of factors like temperature, air quality, sea level rise, and energy prices.
Event type: Talk
Presenter: Peter Dugas, State Coordinator of Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL) and En-ROADS Climate Ambassador; Gerry Gross, Bangor co-chair of CCL; Kimberlee Hammond, Bangor CCL co-chair and retired science teacher; Michael Howard, UMaine Professor Emeritus, Philosophy and Climate Change Institute; Pauline Pare, retired scientist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Recommended Audience: all ages
Sport Science: Fun with Forces
Saturday, March 28 | 1:00pm-2:00pm
Meeting Rooms 3&4, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
An exploration of movement and muscle function to better understand how athletes move to be more powerful, presented by Husson Exercise Science Program.
Event type: Talk
Presenter: Jonathan Houck, Husson University, Exercise Science Program
Recommended Audience: all ages
Wind Power Design Challenge
Sunday, March 28 | 2:00pm-4:00pm
Meeting Room D, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Engineering, collaboration, and design! In the Wind Turbine Challenge, students work together to design and construct turbine blades to generate the maximum amount of energy to power the modern world. This task requires iterative design and communication, and pushes students to create better and better solutions.
This session can accommodate 35 participants and will require sign-ups.
Check back on March 3rd to sign up!
Event type: Workshop - space is limited
Presenter: Eli Davies, The Challenger Learning Center of Maine
Recommended Audience: all ages
New Horizon for Improving Mobility in Older Adults
Saturday, March 28 | 2:00pm-3:00pm
Meeting Rooms 1&2, Cross Insurance Center, 515 Main Street, Bangor
Many community-dwelling older adults without diagnosed neurological disorders exhibit abnormal gait patterns that increase the risk of falls, fear of falling, and loss of mobility. Although gait training can improve walking function, conventional rehabilitation relies heavily on frequent clinic visits and continuous therapist supervision. The healthcare system is not designed to allow sufficient training time with physical therapist supervision, thus making effective home-based training critical. Moreover, most existing gait interventions focus primarily on lower limbs and overlook the essential contribution of arm movements during walking. The overarching goal of our laboratory is to develop smart wearable robotic systems to address these two limitations and enable individualized, regular, and whole-body gait training in home and community environments. In this talk, I will present our novel wearable haptic feedback system that supports home-based motor learning in older adults with gait deficits.
Event type: Talk
Presenter: Babak Hejrati, University of Maine
Recommended Audience: all ages
5 Minute Genius™ - 2026 MSF Headliner
Saturday, March 28, 2026 | 7:00pm
Penobscot Theatre, Bangor
5 Minute Genius™ features short, sharp talks by some of Maine’s finest scientists with 5 minutes per talk, plus 5 minutes for questions. Presenting a sprint through some of the most remarkable, cutting-edge science in Maine - you will feel like a genius in no time! Want more? Stick around for a reception after the event in the lobby.
Presenters:
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Julia Brown, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
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Jason Bubier, The Jackson Laboratory
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Sheila Edalatpour, University of Maine
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Ryan Gordon, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
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Chuck Lubelczyk, Maine Health
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Emily Spaulding, MDI Biological Laboratory
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Karyn Sporer, University of Maine
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LeAnn Whitney, Maine Maritime Academy
Sign up for (free) 5 Minute Genius tickets!
Event type: Presentation
Moderator: Kate Dickerson, Maine Discovery Museum
Recommended Audience: high school and up
5 Minute Genius™ is sponsored by Maine Technology Institute
Downtown Bangor Scavenger Hunt
Sunday, March 29 | 11am-1pm
Maine Discovery Museum
A downtown science scavenger hunt! Pick up your sheet/ information at the Maine Discovery Museum, and go find the business that the science related clues lead you to. Once done, return your signed slip back to the MDM. The top finisher receives a prize, and all who finish will be entered into a drawing for a goodie bag. The hunt has to be completed between 11 am -1 pm.
Audience: all ages
