A New Platform to Discover Science Experiences Anytime, Anywhere.

Science Near Me is a free mobile-friendly website featuring thousands of interactive, local events and programs open to the public.

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ScienceNearMe.org

Jan 28, 2022, 14:32 ET

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A growing network of organizations across the country are excited to announce the launch of ScienceNearMe.org, an innovative web and mobile platform connecting families and the general public with opportunities to explore, experience, and engage in science from anywhere.

"Millions of people are seeking opportunities to act upon issues they find interesting or concerning," says Darlene Cavalier, founder of SciStarter, a leading platform for citizen science, and a Science Near Me co-founder. "While there are many resources for people to learn about science, we're creating a place for people from all backgrounds and interests to easily find ways to interact, because when everyone is engaged in science, we all win."

Science Near Me makes it easier for people to connect with the right opportunity across a spectrum of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics and venues, and helps accelerate research on science engagement and learning in the process.

With a broad roster of national and regional partners, and funding from the National Science Foundation, Science Near Me is uniting traditionally separate offerings from museums, science festivals, citizen science, science policy forums, after-school programs, maker programs, astronomy clubs and more. Science Near Me aggregates thousands of STEM events, projects, and programs hosted by a wide range of organizations across the U.S.

The mobile-friendly website includes simple, embeddable tools like the Opportunity Finder, which lets people efficiently search a rich, distributed network of partner organizations' databases to identify programs, events and projects by location, age levels, topic, type of engagement and more. Now, in one place, the public can quickly discover an event at a local museum, an astronomy talk at a local pub or a science policy forum open to the public online.

"Science Near Me is doing something long dreamed about in STEM, but never before executed to this extent," says co-founder Martin Storksdieck, Director of Oregon State University's STEM Research Center. "Science Near Me provides the first convenient tool to find all types of science-related engagement activities, both in-person or online, in one place while providing insights to inform future projects aimed at creating more equitable and inclusive science engagement."

With a suite of creative features, ScienceNearMe.org is providing not only a singular destination to discover opportunities to participate in science, but also catalyzing new research about how diverse audiences engage with science.

"There's no shortage of opportunities to learn about and participate in science," Cavalier says. "Science Near Me will help make it easier for people from all backgrounds and with all kinds of interests to connect with the right opportunity in ways they find useful — because when everyone is engaged in science, we all win."

Find more information at ScienceNearMe.org.

About:

Science Near Me, a subsidiary of SciStarter.org, aggregates a diverse array of opportunities for the public to engage in science. Science Near Me is made possible through a federal grant from the National Science Foundation, and developed in collaboration with core partners include Oregon State University's STEM Research Center, COSI's Center for Research and Evaluation, the Association of Science and Technology Centers, the MIT Museum's Science Festival Alliance, The Connectory, Discover Magazine, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Science Near Me also includes a broad and growing group of nationwide cohort pilot partners who are contributing to the development and testing of this innovative resource with their communities: