by Karina Guzzi
Daily Lobo
A NASA experiment brought the math and science jamboree at the SUB to a temporary halt on Saturday.
At 12:11 p.m., when participants were at the SUB for lunch, the fire alarm went off. The building had to be evacuated until firefighters arrived and checked the building for safety.
"They were running some kind of experiment that generated steam or gas of some sort," said Frank McKuerry, supervisor of the alarm department at UNM. "Apparently it was enough to set off the alarm."
Michael Hallock, an education outreach manager from NASA White Sands Test Facility Outreach, explained it was gas coming from a pump he was using in one of the experiments that set off the alarm.
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He said he suspects the air circulation was not good. The smoke detectors are very sensitive in the SUB, so as the gases reached the ceiling, the alarms went off, Hallock said.
He said he has been doing these experiments for 10 years, and this had never happened before.
Jay Hollifield was observing the exhibit with his daughter at the time and said there were no visual clues that the smoke detectors would be set off by the experiment.
"There was nothing to be seen at all," Hollifield said.
The experiments were designed to show students the effects of a vacuum and liquid nitrogen to illustrate difficulties of being in space.
"Many students have already studied gas laws, and these are things that we can show them," Hallock said.
Hallock said he was impressed at how effectively everything was handled.
"The students did a fine job at leaving the building," Hallock said. "I don't see it as an unfortunate event. They'll remember we had the experiment and the fair today."
As soon as firefighters declared the building safe, the students ran back in, and lines began forming in the food court.
Pamela Caudill, one of the organizers, said 2,000 students attended the event Saturday. She said it was the organization's 17th annual statewide math and science celebration.
"All the things here are academically focused in some way," Caudill said.
The event included several competitions based on mathematics and science.
Friends Julia Silva from Las Cruces High School and Maya Weisinger from Mayfield High School participated in a neural science competition.
"We had to build a brain and answer questions about neurological diseases," Silva said.
Weisinger said she enjoyed coming to the event at UNM.
"I think it's good, because it gives a chance to explore things that we might want to do in the future, Weisinger said. "Everyone comes from everywhere."
Middle schoolers Ethan Ramsey, Eric Mitchusson and Hedan Zeng built a miniature car powered by a mousetrap. They said they had been working on the project since last fall.
Joanna Lovato, the central region coordinator of the organization, said its mission is to get underrepresented minority groups to graduate from college in the math, science, engineering and technology fields.
She said the goal of the event was to provide students with educational experiences and information because they are pre-college.
"One big thing our students tell us is that if we had never brought them, they wouldn't have come to UNM," Lovato said. "I hear that all the time. They see people like them and think 'I can go to college.'"
The event was organized by the New Mexico Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement, Inc.
