Sonja Haller

The Republic | azcentral.com

Touch space equipment that was charged with bringing back pieces of the asteroid Bennu? Snore.

Perform an "operation" with a Da Vinci surgical robot? Ho hum.

Hang out with a life-size, high-fidelity mannequin that can talk, breathe, bleed and sweat? Been there, done that.

These are three of the more than 100 hands-on activities at the Connect2STEM 2017 event on Saturday, Jan. 28, and in reality they are anything but boring or typical. Especially to kids. And that's the point.

Getting kids interested in STEM, medicine

The University of Arizona partnered with Cox Communication to showcase the life-saving, game-changing, awe-inspiring fields in STEM. The acronym stands for science, technology, engineering, math —and in this event held at UA's College of Medicine at its downtown Phoenix campus — medicine.

Organizers say toddlers to teens can all find something at the event.

Last year, 5,000 attended the five-hour event. More than 7,500 are expected this year. Some of the other activities kids can check out:

The Physics Bus, a mobile science unit that uses up-cycled materials to shock, vibrate, freeze, squeak, steam and spark in the name of science fun.

Wildcat Play Hospital, where kids of all ages can become doctors-in-training.

The Wildcat Water Lab, where kids study the good and bad germs in our water.

The dissection of cow eyeballs (a favorite from last year) and a chance to hold cow hearts and kidneys.

The Children's Museum of Phoenix's "Pipeline," in which children test their civil-engineering skills using giant plastic pipes to build rooms.

The Cox Communications area that allows kids to report in front of a green screen.

A Super Bowl start

Connect2STEM started two years ago as a way for the downtown campus of the UA College of Medicine to capitalize on the crowds that were drawn to Super Bowl activities downtown.

"The feedback was extraordinary," said Allison Otu, senior marketing and communications director for the UA College of Medicine, Phoenix. "We thought we needed the Super Bowl to draw people to our event, but we didn't. People came on their own, and it really catapulted this to a signature event for the entire university.

"Our goal is to get people inspired by science and medicine and a STEM-related career that they've maybe never heard of before."

​STEM programs have gained steam over the last few years in Arizona, as the the state's economic leaders look to attract companies, businesses look to hire graduates in the areas of science and technology and educators are called upon to shore up a lack of women and minorities in those fields.

To accomplish those goals, students need to see the vast areas of study and career opportunities available in STEM fields. And some of the careers today's elementary-school kids will have one day don't even exist yet, because science and technology are changing that rapidly.

MORE: Why, where to get your kids involved in STEM: 8 free events

Part of the 2017 Arizona SciTech Festival

The event is the largest STEM gathering in Phoenix and the official kick-off to the 2017 Arizona SciTech Festival. The festival is a statewide celebration of all things STEM and includes more than a thousand Arizona events from January through March that target youths. Arizona SciTech's mission is to challenge adults and children to think differently about the way science impacts everyday life and how it will in the future.

When it began in 2012, SciTech logged 190,000 visitors at 200 events. Now, more than 400,000 people tare attending 1,200 Arizona events, said Jeremy Babendure, director of the Arizona SciTech Festival and Arizona Technology Council Foundation.

When Babendure began talking to people 10 years ago about STEM education, he was met with vapid stares. "But now a days, the schools are hungry for it, and there really has been a mind shift."

Parents, there's something (maybe a new career) for you

Don't count parents out, even though many of the Arizona SciTech events are focused on kids, he added. UA's event and others connect adults with experts in the field who inform them about how science and technology impact their life, but could also turn them onto a new career or ways to improve the one they have.

"From an economic standpoint, people who are going to land jobs (in STEM fields) will earn twice as much money as those who don't," he said. "And as Phoenix continues to build more for a STEM future they're going to have to have a workforce trained for that."

If you go: Connect2STEM 2017

When: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28.

Where: University of Arizona College of Medicine, 550 E. Van Buren St. Phoenix.

Admission: Free.

Details: phoenixmed.arizona.edu/connect2stem2017.

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Reach the reporter at sonja.haller@arizonarepublic.com. Follow at twitter.com/sonjahaller.