South Side Science Festival returns Oct. 3

The kids’ minds are blown, University of Chicago graduate student Madhumitha Prakash said, when yellow and blue don’t make green. 

Each year for the last three years, UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) Immunoengineering PhD student has run a science demonstration for children showing off the weird properties of microfluidics and laminar flow. She combines the two colors, asks the children what they think will happen and then enjoys the response when it actually creates yellow, blue and green.

“Usually what the kids are going to expect is you put yellow and blue together, you're going to get green,” Prakash said. “But then we teach them how fluids at the microfluidic scale operate at laminar flow. If you want to make green, you have to introduce these really cool geometries that basically switch up the flow and make it a little bit more turbulent.”

Prakash is preparing to confound and intrigue hundreds of local students and their families at the fifth annual South Side Science Festival, hitting UChicago’s campus on Oct. 3. The 2026 event will feature more than 600 students, postdoctoral researchers, staff and faculty presenting 130 demonstrations and sharing their love of science with the South Side community.

“While this is an incredibly fun event for all of the scientists and volunteers who put it on, I think folks take even more pride in being able to share the joy of science with the South Side and broader Chicago community,” said Chemistry Assoc. Prof. John Anderson, one of the faculty organizers. “Our goal is to make a welcoming and inclusive festival for everyone, including across all age groups and interest levels.”

The hands-on event brings together STEM units across the University. Robots dance near replicas of early hominids, live jellyfish appear alongside fossils that have been dead for 300 million years, and fruit frozen with liquid nitrogen (courtesy of Anderson, a.k.a. “Dr. DiNitrogen”) shatters near arts-and-crafts tables where children paint with electrically conductive ink.

The festival is free and open to all. Registration is optional, but requested.

“The South Side Science Festival brings to life the idea that science is for everyone, giving people a chance to experience being a scientist through hands-on, creative demos and activities connected to their daily lives,” said Human Genetics Assoc. Prof. Maanasa Raghavan, one of the faculty organizers. “I’m especially looking forward to seeing families explore the activities together and enjoy the lively atmosphere that makes the day feel like a true community festival!”

In addition to representing her lab at the festival, Prakash enjoys the process so much that for the last few years she and her partner – also a UChicago STEM graduate student – have created their own additional display, an interdisciplinary demo from an interdisciplinary couple.

“He does lipid nanoparticle work and I do a lot of microbiology work,” Prakash said. “A lot of the demos that we did were about concepts at the intersection of our respective expertise.”

While the festival is a repeat adventure for Prakash, this year’s event will be the first for UChicago PME Asst. Prof. Ruben Verresen. The theorist is designing an interactive virtual demonstration to teach “some of the weirdest aspects of quantum physics.”

“I remember as a kid the sense of awe I would feel when I would learn a new peculiar fact of the universe: gaining such knowledge almost felt mystical, knowing it was a fundamental principle that for some unknown reasons had to be obeyed everywhere throughout the universe,” Verresen said.

UChicago PME Assistant Dean of Education and Outreach Laura Rico-Beck said spurring that love of science takes a “two-fold approach.” Events such as the South Side Science Festival, lab internships for Chicago high schoolers and the No Small Matter Molecular Engineering Fair bring students to UChicago, while off-campus partnerships bring STEM programming to local schools, museums and other community organizations.

“We want people to see that science is something they can be part of, and that it’s already woven into the places, questions and experiences that shape their lives,” Rico-Beck said. “We get to share the science we love with the community we call home, and learn from the curiosity and questions of our neighbors. It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate science together on the South Side.”

“Events like the South Side Science Festival celebrate the curiosity and creativity that exist across the South Side and beyond,” said UChicago PME Interim Dean Stuart Rowan. “It’s an opportunity to come together, share what we’re working on, learn from one another, and experience the excitement of science and engineering.”

• Explore and register for the 2026 South Side Science Festival