Building on the popularity of Fermilab’s Ask-a-Scientist program, which has offered interactive lectures monthly during the school year, Fermilab Education and Public Engagement recently launched the monthly “Summer Sunday Tour” series. The next Summer Sunday Tour will be held at 1 p.m. on Aug. 22. Registration can be found here.
These virtual tours, presented live over the Zoom platform, are given by Educational Facilitator and veteran tour guide Steve Masters and feature a Q&A with a scientist.
Virtual tour participants view the Booster and Muon Campus during the June Summer Sunday Tour. Photo: Amanda Early
More than 100 people from 21 different states and 18 different countries joined the first hour-long tour on June 27. Lewis Milton used a smartphone attached to a gimbal to follow Masters through Wilson Hall’s atrium, the 15th floor, ground-floor machine shop and linac, and transmitted the video via Zoom to viewers at home. Maureen Hix, Laura Haseltine and Amanda Early facilitated live audience questions and served as tech support.
Throughout that inaugural tour, scientist Bob Zwaska answered participants’ questions about Fermilab, including queries about neutrino beams, the Muon g-2 experiment and, of course, the bison.
One participant said, “It was really cool to see the inner workings of Fermilab. What a fascinating place.”
A second Summer Sunday Tour was held on July 18, with Masters as the tour guide, Alexx Perloff taking audience questions, and Laura Paterno as additional tech support.
The tours have received rave reviews, and participants appreciated the level at which the information was presented.
“I’m 81 without a science background. I am pleased and surprised at how much I can grasp. Excellent presentation. Thank you!” one participant wrote.
Participants were also excited to return to the lab virtually. “I always learn new things whenever I take the tour and haven’t done it in a while,” another said.
Please visit the Fermilab Public Events webpage for more information on other upcoming events.