Tech Fairs at Universities: Imagine

Imagine

Today Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival 2026 was held, mostly indoors with driving rain outside. Imagine is the tech fair of my university, and today had more than 400 exhibits and 3000 exhibitors. On a fair weather day, there are about 10,000 attendees; I am not sure there were that many today, though I had to circle around for a quite while to get parking. Some editions (not today's) run into two days and generally I find the number of exhibits so large and interesting that I cannot finish even using the entire 10am-5pm slot. Today I was able to get it all done, probably because the crowd was thinner.

There are typically all kinds of exhibits ranging from the deadly serious (cyberhacking cures), to the technically amazing (giving your room the acoustics of Carnegie Hall), to the purely fun (liquid nitrogen ice cream and couch-on-wheels with remote control). Today was no exception. I saw a moon driller being prototyped for SpaceX (burrows underneath the lunar surface to create spaces protected from radiation for human habitation), a recycled motorized shopping cart, an emergency cervical stabilization device, printed heart valve prosthetics, stock analysis using AI, etc.

Of course, there was a special place in my heart for the physics displays, some of them being handled by students I had taught. There was an ideal gas law display with a lot of crumpled coke cans next to it (I did not have time to explore why), and a rotational physics set with spinning wheels and rotating platforms to demonstrate conservation of angular momentum (I got on with dumbbells in my hand and was spun around; when I drew my arms in I began rotating so fast I got dizzy).

I also enjoyed the imaging science exhibits, which had water quality sensors, a motion sensor ("Dinosaur Detector") that would set a T-Rex (model) screaming if you crossed it too fast, digitization technology on papyrus manuscripts and cuneiform tablets and - fun - a drone-flying experience (imaging scientists use drones extensively to gather data about e.g. town planning and crop diseases).

A lot of the exhibits had little children (nitrogen ice-cream, marshmallow architecture, Monster Tea Time game, jigsaw puzzles, etc.). There were several performances as well, by the Latin Rhythms club, the Dance Collective Open Workshop, Juggling Club Workshop (all of which I missed) and the Drumline percussion ensemble (which I heard; the bass drum was too loud).

There were a good number of food trucks parked around campus, with interminable lines even in the drizzling rain around them: Middle-Eastern, Italian, burgers, you name it.

Did I say entrance was free?

Takeaways

Attending Imagine each year always gets me thinking about the general idea of outreach to the public using the mighty resources of large institutions. Events like Imagine prove to me all over again the fascination and drawing power that science and technology exert upon the general public (which in this case comes from the city of Rochester and surrounding areas).

I think this power could and should be harnessed along the lines of models employed by the football (NFL) and basketball (NBA) organizations in America (and analogous institutions in other countries). There should be stadium-filling science demonstrations and tech shows which travel cities across the country, if not the world, sponsored by universities.

With some creative thinking, compelling storytelling, and appropriate use of technologies and personalities, these could be big draws for the public (like the World Science Festival or even Cirque du Soleil). They would serve as visible reminders to the public as to the value of science and technology (much needed nowadays) as well as revenue generators (yes we should print T-shirts and car stickers and sell bobble-heads). The revenue is much needed, as federal funding for scientific research is always precarious (as currently).

But for this to happen, scientists have to step out of the ivory tower (even if it is not raining).