Virginia Tech KTU Feb. 22nd hands-on activities!

“Kids Controlling The World with Arduinos”-- Rackspace Hosting, Blackbsburg Division

In this activity booth, kids will hands-on-learn how to use Arduino

microcontroller to:

• Read knobs and buttons... 
• Control lights, relays, motors... 
• Build and program circuits to control the world!

The activity introduces kids to Computer Engineering-ish programming concepts. It shows how to write programs to control the physical world around them by reading inputs (buttons or knobs) and control things like blinking lights, triggering relays, move robotic motors, etc.

Rackspace Hosting is the leader in Hybrid Cloud Hosting, the Open Source OpenStack cloud technology suite and is the home of Fanatical Support. The Rackspace offices here in Blacksburg is a Developer center where our programmers create the cloud technologies that power the Internet and the back end of many of the most popular Apps and Internet technologies. Rackspace believes in Open Source and Fanatically supporting the STEM and tech communities in which they reside. Sharing makes us all smarter.

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Hokie Stone: The building block of Virginia Tech-- Department of Geosciences

Last year, BusinessInsider.com ranked Virginia Tech at #5 on their list of best college campuses in the US. Aside from having unbeatable dining halls, Virginia Tech's campus received this recognition largely based on the beautiful Hokie Stone that covers almost every building on campus. This dark gray stone is limestone that has been infused with magnesium and calcium in the 450 million years since the stone's formation began.

At our booth we will:

-demonstrate a chemical reaction between Hokie Stone and Hydrochloric Acid to illustrate a basic principle in geology

-have on display a Hokie Stone football helmet, worn in last year's victory over Georgia Tech

-hand out Hokie Stone samples to the first 50 visitors

Virginia Tech's Department of Geosciences focuses on research, education, and outreach dealing with the nature of the earth. Our students and faculty investigate earth processes at scales that range from atomic to planetary.

Our undergraduate program offers B.S. degrees with Geology, Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Earth Sciences Education options.

Our graduate program offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in one of our many research areas.

Our outreach program also operates the Museum of Geosciences, open to the public and located in 2062 Derring Hall.

source: http://www.geos.vt.edu/