Space Day a big success

Update from Dr. Leah Bent (Associate Professor, Human Health & Nutritional Sciences)  who conceptualized and championed the day:

"The theme of Space Day was able to bring together research, demos and  displays from across 5 different colleges/schools on campus. The public was extremely enthusiastic about all things space, and our attendance is estimated at over 500 people throughout the day, including over 100 at the research talks. The speaker's panel in the afternoon fielded questions on climate changes, control of the Mars rover from earth, the effects of microbes on plants in space, and the benefits of human space research to forward our understanding of diabetes and heart conditions on earth. People were genuinely excited and appreciative of such an opportunity to visit and learn about the work going on right here at Guelph.

We received some wonderful feedback from the public regarding the diversity of the events; how excited people were to get a tour of the observatory and how they were able to peek inside the 'cool' CESRF building to learn about growing plants in remote places, how they enjoyed stories of the far north including polar bears eating laboratory equipment, the opportunity to listen to the history of space, their awe at how our bodies actually do change in space and how neat it was to sit and try out an experiment that has been run on Astronauts. I heard very few comments about having to wait despite the lines at many of the demos. The mission to mars was certainly popular (!) and the Rover display was beyond impressive.

Overall a big congratulations goes out to the teams from all departments and colleges, and a sincere thank you to all of our sponsors for making Space day a reality."

-- Dr. Leah Bent