ASME Section Helps Celebrate Family Day in Washington D.C.

ASME student members from the Washington, D.C., area show young Family Day participants how to create a growling bear out of card stock, paper cups, string and tape.

On Saturday, Feb. 22, members of the ASME Washington D.C. Section took part in Discover Engineering Family Day 2014 in Washington. Hosted at the sprawling National Building Museum, Family Day is a festive event that annually draws thousands of children, parents and educators and features a wide variety of fun and thought-provoking hands-on activities designed to introduce young people to engineering and science concepts. Nearly 10,000 people attended this year's Family Day.

The Washington Section's booth featured an interactive exhibit that focused on the subject of waves and wave phenomena. The exhibit, "Sound Waves," was led by ASME member Thomas Beutner and consisted of a series of short hands-on experiments exploring wave phenomena in various mediums, including sound, light and mechanical waves. Nearly 1,500 Family Day attendees — children and adults alike — stopped by the ASME section's booth to learn about the science of waves and construct a plastic cup telephone or a growling bear using card stock, a paper cup and string.

A total of 18 ASME members from the Washington D.C. area — two students from Howard University, seven students from Catholic University of America and nine members of the ASME Washington senior section including Vice Chair Kaykham Sysounthorn — participated in the day-long event. The ASME exhibit was sponsored by the ASME Foundation, with staff support from the ASME Washington Office.