Saturday, April 25, 10:00am-6:00pm

Sunday, April 26, 10:00am-4:00pm

The Expo will be held inside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C.

801 Mount Vernon Place, NW
Washington, DC 20001

We strongly recommend that you use public transportation!

By Metro:  The Convention Center is easily accessible by the following Metro Stations:  Mt. Vernon Sq/7th Street/Convention Center Metro Stop, Gallery Place – Chinatown and Metro Center.  View the interactive Metro map here.

By Car: Traveling by car or van, you will need to park at one of the public parking facilities surrounding the Convention Center.  Car and van drop offs are not permitted at the Convention Center. Please park your vehicle first and then walk to the Convention Center from your parking location.   To access a list of public lots click here.

Parking: To reserve your parking spot, visit the USA Science & Engineering Festival SpotHero Parking Page and book a spot near the Washington Convention Center with rates up to 50% off drive-up.

New to SpotHero? Click here to download the SpotHero app.

By Bus: Bus drop-offs are permitted at the Convention Center in designated areas only.  Buses are not permitted to stage at the Convention Center during the event.  If you are planning on traveling by bus, Festival planners will contact you to coordinate drop-off and pick-up details.

Parking

We recommend booking convenient and affordable parking in advance through SpotHero, the nation’s leading parking reservation app.

To reserve your parking spot, visit the USA Science & Engineering Festival SpotHero Parking Page and book a spot near the Washington Convention Center with rates up to 50% off drive-up.

New to SpotHero? Click here to download the SpotHero app.

Strollers are permitted but due to the large crowds, NO student backpacks will be permitted inside the Convention Center. Small cinch packs and lunches are acceptable for students. Adult chaperones may carry a standard backpack.

Please note there will NOT be a secured location to leave any personal belongings. All attendees are responsible for their own belongings. Strollers will not be available for rent at the venue. There is no place to store personal belongings at the Convention Center.

With fun, interactive activities and stage shows, there is more than enough variety of topics and activities to excite attendees from toddlers to adults, from science professionals to just the curious.

No! There are exhibits for all ages and scientific knowledge, from the science professional to just the curious.

No. Pets are not permitted inside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, unless they are a service animal. Service dogs must have proper identification (vest, documentation, etc.) to enter.

As you walk among the booths, you’ll find over hundreds of different hands-on activities, experiments, and lots of scientists and engineers to talk to. Most hands-on activities will take about 15 minutes to complete. This is not show and tell… it’s show and do! And don’t miss the exciting stage shows!

Concession carts will be available inside the Convention Center offering a wide selection of food and beverage options for purchase. All food must be consumed in the designated lunch areas and attendees must dispose of their own trash. If you have any food allergies or special dietary restrictions, we recommend you bring your own packed punch to avoid any on-the-day issues.

There are also numerous restaurants in the immediate surrounding area. Explore the Shaw Neighborhood Map to see restaurants close by.

Your curiosity!!!

The USA Science & Engineering Festival has partnered with onPeak to provide you with affordable hotel options for your trip to Washington, DC.  Available only through the official hotel reservation page, rooms are limited and available on a first come, first served basis.

Click here to view the official hotel reservation page. 

Warning:  We have received reports that other companies are posing as official travel vendors for the USA Science and Engineering Festival. They are NOT affiliated with the Festival in any capacity. For your own protection, we ask that you exercise caution when making your hotel and travel arrangements. The Festival only guarantees hotel room rates or availability during the show dates for reservations made through onPeak, the official hotel provider.

If you choose to book with a vendor not endorsed by USA Science & Engineering Festival, we strongly encourage you to verify their credentials before doing business with them, and then independently confirm that your reservations have in fact been made and will be honored by directly contacting your chosen hotel.

Visit our media kit here.

Contact Shawn Flaherty directly for media questions, [email protected].

Yes, there are ATMs located inside the Convention Center.  Look for the ATM signs or check the map while at the Festival.

Send it to [email protected].

There will be all kinds of exhibits, from flight simulators, virtual reality environments and surgical robots to making virus structures with marshmallows and toothpicks. The Expo is not a Science Fair static poster session but rather a dynamic, hands- on, interactive, fun and entertaining set of activities, displays and demonstrations. There is more stuff than you can do in one day so plan to come for both days as there will be different stage shows on each day.

Coming soon is this year’s line up!

Past celebrity performers have included They Might Be Giants, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Mike Rowe, Apollo Robbins, the expert panelists from hit shows The Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad and many others! 

In addition, several exhibitors will have stages set up in their exhibit areas and will feature interactive games, Q&A with scientists and engineers, and other cool science demos. 

Either search the exhibit page on our website or ask at one of the information booths at the Expo. The long list of exhibits is searchable by organization name or keyword on our website. Once you find the exhibit you are interested in, make note of its booth number and then locate it on the Expo map. To make it easier for you to find your way around, we have divided the Expo area into different sections. The individual booths are numbered within each section.

Expo maps and schedules will be available on site at information booths and from Festival Representatives who will be placed throughout the Expo grounds.  You can also download an Expo Map (Click here) or you can build your own Exhibit List via our website. Simply go to the Exhibits page and select the exhibits you are interested in. Then print your personal schedule.

Many of the 500 plus participating organizations exhibiting at the Expo will be prepared to talk about internships, scholarships, mentorships, after school programs and clubs, university programs, job opportunities and much more. Also, they can visit the Career Pavilion designated for high-school students. There you can find out about colleges, scholarships, internships and meet scientists and engineers to get all your career advice.

Send it to [email protected].

Upon entering the Washington E Washington Convention Center, guests will undergo appropriate security-based screening. These procedures help ensure all guests have a safe and enjoyable event experience.  We recommend guests only carry small personal bags (i.e. purses, baby or diaper, etc.) These items are subject to inspection entering.

Bags larger than 12″ x 12″ x 12″ are discouraged.

Please make sure that ALL students have their school and contact information with them at all times.

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center has several protocols in place to handle incident management. The building is equipped with monitored surveillance cameras and an in-house security firm, which provides officers at the main entrances and throughout the building. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) are on site to assist with emergency situations. The Convention Center also has a 24-hour manned Control Center in direct communication with the Department of Homeland Security, Division of National Fusion Centers, Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies and DC Fire EMS. 

For the 2020 Festival, additional crowd management and access control staff will be present throughout the building, as well as, at main entrances. An Event Command Center will also be in place to monitor activity.  Representatives from MPD, DC Fire EMS, Security, Office of Public Safety and Transportation, as well as, Festival management will be present in the Event Command Center during Festival hours.

All lost children should go to an Info Booth where attempts to contact family will be made. All lost children will be escorted to the Lost Child Waiting Area should immediate attempt to reunited prove unsuccessful. Should you find a lost child, or lose a child, please contact the nearest Info Booth to radio for assistance.  Maps will be available on site which identifies the Info Booth locations. Parents/Guardians will be required to show ID when identifying a missing child.

We also offer the following advice and tips to prevent being separated from your group:

• We recommend one adult chaperone per ten (10) child attendees.
• Fasten your name and cell phone number to the clothing of any child aged 7 or younger; this can be anything from a sticker to a small card they have in their pocket.
• Determine a meeting place and communicate that location to your children in advance, in the event that you/they are separated from your group.
• If you plan to split up the group, be sure to pre-plan and communicate meet up times and locations.

Yes, items can be taken to, or found at, the Info Booth in Hall A.

For minor emergencies, please take the sick or injured person to an Info Booth or first aid location, in each Hall. Maps will be available on site which identifies the Info Booth and First Aid locations. For major emergencies, please send someone to the nearest Info Booth or alert a staff member, wearing a Festival t-shirt. Each staff member has a radio which connects them to emergency personnel. Please try to relay as much information about the situation as possible.

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center is committed to accommodating the needs of individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A curbside drop-off for wheelchairs and sidewalk curb cut-outs is located at each corner of the Convention Center perimeter. There are also ramps leading from the 9th Street and 7th Street corners to the doors at the Mount Vernon Place entrance. Automatic doors are located at the Mount Vernon Place, L Street and Metro (7th and M Streets) entrances. Inside the Center, meeting rooms, exhibit halls and public areas are all served by conveniently located elevators. Telephones, drinking fountains and restrooms throughout the building are wheelchair accessible. The taxi curbside cut-out located at Mount Vernon Place is available for wheelchair drop-off/transfers. ADA ramps are accessible from either end of Mount Vernon Place.

For more information click here.

Send it to [email protected].

There are lots of ways to join the fun right now!

Follow us on social media and join the conversation! We are on Facebook and use @USAScienceFest for Instagram and Twitter. Our hashtag is #SciFest (and #XSTEM for the X-STEM Symposium and #NiftyFifty for the Nifty Fifty Program). 

You can also join our Volunteer Outreach Team to spread the word about the Festival.

Thank you for your interest in volunteer at the Festival Expo. Click here to learn more about our volunteer outreach program. Groups and students are welcome!

Send it to [email protected].