Activities

Explore UT is open to the general public with online programming that is accessible to all. Activities specifically designed for K-12 students include an indication of a suggested grade level, denoting the difficulty of the concept or activity presented. Some programs will require participants to join virtual platforms (Zoom, Brazen, etc.). Children who are participating in these programs must be monitored by an adult chaperone (parent, guardian or a teacher) in order to join the virtual platform. Some may require verification that a chaperone will be present in order to register for participation.
 
Anytime

Protecting the Texas Coast from Plastic Pollution

Learn about nurdles, tiny plastic pellets that frequently turn up along the Texas coast and endanger wildlife, from whales to sea turtles. Jace Tunnell, Director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, will also tell you how you can help by doing a nurdle survey and reporting your findings.

College of Natural Sciences Science
Anytime

Choose Your Own Nature Tour

This virtual nature tour of the UT campus and around Austin utilizes the format of a choose-your-own-adventure game. Players can choose where to go, what to see, and with which systems they want to interact. Along the way, adventurers can discover the variety of ecosystems that exist and the organisms that inhabit them.

College of Natural Sciences Science
Anytime

Explore UT’s Public Art Collection

Enjoy the Landmarks collection using your smartphone, computer or tablet to access self-guided tours, audio guides, artist videos, Spotify playlists, and more. Open the app and share your experience.  During your visit, take a picture and tag Landmarks on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter (all @landmarksut) with the hashtag, #LandmarksUT .

College of Fine Arts Arts, Design and Media
Anytime

Urban Safari

This video tour, an Urban Safari of the UT Austin campus, explores the natural world of our urban spaces and includes common – and not so common – organisms that can be found on campus.  It highlights challenges facing urban nature and spotlights areas where there has been success in encouraging plants, animals and microbes to flourish.

College of Natural Sciences Science
Anytime

Light and Crystal: Floating Zone Single Crystal Growth of Materials

Material scientists have a lot of techniques in synthesizing novel materials, and floating zone single crystal growth is one of the most versatile and effective method of single crystal growth. In this demonstration, we will show you what is it like to grow single crystals in using the floating zone method.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
Anytime

¿Qué se está cocinando?

Toma el cuestionario "¿Qué trabajo de nutrición se adapta mejor a tu personalidad?" y descubre profesiones nutricionales que te interesan. Después, ve el video que corresponde con el resultado del cuestionario para ver entrevistas con futuras Nutricionist.

College of Natural Sciences Science
Anytime

Clean Energy for a Cleaner Tomorrow

Sustainable energy storage and conversion technologies are needed to tackle the emerging challenges caused by using fossil fuels and by global climate change. Join Professor Arumugam Manthiram to discusses battery and fuel cell technologies from a chemical and materials science perspective. The presentation will include demonstrations of the construction and performance of a metal-air fuel cell and a lithium-ion battery.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
Anytime

What’s Cooking?

Take the "Which Nutrition Job Best Fits Your Personality?" quiz and then discover more about nutrition professions by navigating through fun interviews with future Registered Dietitian Nutritionists.

College of Natural Sciences Science
Anytime

The Waller Creek Monster

Discover the Creek Monster Habitat. This 16-foot-wide by 10-foot-tall nest structure serves as a metaphor for habitat, sheltering the creek's benevolent spirit guardian, "The Creek Monster." This project highlights UT researchers and their work with the local environment and creates a space for the community to connect with Waller Creek on campus while focusing on multiple aspects of sustainability.

College of Natural Sciences Longhorn Life
Anytime

INSPIRATIONS Video

In this video presentation, Art Education Majors at the University of Texas at Austin share inspirations, influences and future aspirations (why I want to teach art, what kind of art teacher I would like to be). Dr. Donalyn Heise, Art Education Faculty in the College of Fine Arts, and her students created this video as part of the statewide arts advocacy initiative known as "Big Art Day" in Texas. These undergraduate and graduate art education majors are future leaders in the field of art education, and will be prepared to share their love of art with K12 students in schools, art museums or community settings. https://youtu.be/8eVNC7vMH6w. https://art.utexas.edu/art-education

College of Fine Arts Arts, Design and Media
March 5, 2021, 10 to 10:30 a.m.

Meet the Showbots!

When the pandemic made it impossible to teach a hands-on robot building course in person, UT professors “went small” and collaborated with a teacher to create a remote Robot Club at Metz-Sanchez Elementary in Austin. Twenty amazing robots were created. Learn more about five of them and meet the robot makers. Discover how robots work, and a few lucky teachers will even get the chance to control one of the robots live via the internet. 

College of Fine Arts Arts, Design and Media
March 5, 2021, 10 to 11 a.m.

Exploring Nanophotonics

Join members of the Zheng Nanophotonics Research Group to discover how light can be used as a tool to control objects on a small scale for both fundamental sciences and daily-life applications. See how the team invents light-based tools to accelerate innovation in quantum technology and nanotechnology. 

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 5, 2021, 11 a.m. to noon

Look (Safely) at the Sun

Feast your eyes on the sun as you’ve never seen it before: live, through specially filtered telescopes and cameras. Learn about sunspots, prominences, solar flares, and more. As a bonus, learn how, when, and where to safely view the upcoming total solar eclipse, a once in a life time event, on April 8, 2024. The host and moderators will answer your questions live.

College of Natural Sciences Science
March 5, 2021, 2 to 3 p.m.

Explosive Chemistry with Kate the Chemist

Join Kate the Chemist, author of “The Big Book of Experiments” for this explosive event. Dr. Kate Biberdorf will show off chemistry experiments such as the Thunder Cloud and viewers can participate along with her from school or home during the Dry Ice Bubbles and Bubble Snake experiments.  There will be a live Q&A and you won't want to miss the Kate the Chemist Texas Educators Prize Give-away including a visit and performance for one lucky school. Enter and learn more details here.

College of Natural Sciences Science
March 6, 2021, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Design a Gumdrop Dome or Marshmallow Tower

Design and create a dome or tower (or any shape) using only toothpicks and gumdrops or marshmallows! How tall can you make your tower? How strong of a structure can you make? If you shake the table like an earthquake, does it stay standing? If you put a book on top of it, will it withstand the weight? If you press on it from the side, does it hold up or does it topple over? Stop by to build with members of Chi Epsilon and talk about engineering! To older students, drop by to chat about UT, honors organizations, and anything else you want to know about civil engineering, etc.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 10 a.m. to noon

Virtually Operate a Robot

Join graduate students in the Radionavigation Lab in teleoperating a real robot around an obstacle course on the roof of the UT Speedway Garage. Learn more about how robots are controlled and how robotics are used in engineering applications. All skill levels encouraged to participate.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 10 to 10:30 a.m.

Missing Person Search with the Human Centered Robotics Lab

See how legged and mobile robots team up to perform tasks in a real world apartment setting like searching for a missing person. Explore how these robots work and move around with unknown obstacles.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 1 to 2 p.m.

Behind the Scenes: The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop

The Bass Concert Hall stage turns gallery as Texas Performing Arts presents Behind the Scenes: The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop. Visit mid-century Hollywood without leaving your home with guidance and insight from professor Karen Maness, Texas Performing Arts Scenic Art Supervisor.

College of Fine Arts Arts, Design and Media
March 6, 2021, 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Soft Bioelectronics Lab Open House

Tour Dr. Nanshu Lu's lab to explore tattoo-sticker-like wearable devices she and her students are developing using stretchable electronics. See wearable e-tattoos measuring cardiovascular health as well as brain and muscle activities.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 10 to 11 p.m.

Live Deep Sky Tour

Take part in a special night time Explore UT program, starting at 10 p.m., to go where no human has gone before: thousands of light years from Earth. Join the McDonald Observatory for a live tour of galaxies, nebulae, star clusters and more through a research-grade telescope in West Texas. An astronomer will discuss the unique features and scientific observations of each target and moderators will answer your questions live.

College of Natural Sciences Science