Philly Materials Science and Engineering Day

Philly Materials Day poster

Philly Materials Day is on hiatus for 2025. Check back here in April for a redesigned Philly Materials Online site that brings the amazing world of materials science and engineering directly to you with videos that explore the material world we live in, hands on experiments you can do at home, and more.

We look forward to the opportunity to welcome everyone back to another Philly Materials Day event in the future!

Everyone is invited to Philly Materials Day featuring new hands-on activities related to how materials impact your world. It's free and open to the public!
Age-specific hands-on workshops give participants the opportunity to work in small groups to explore how materials science and engineering is applied to solving some of today's pressing problems.
Visitors will have the chance to taste ice cream made with liquid nitrogen, which quickly brings the temperature down to -321°F (-196°C or 77K) and into waiting cups as fast as it can be mixed!
Kids of all ages will learn about materials from Drexel and University of Pennsylvania faculty and students and our collaborating partners, including the Science History Institute and North Penn N.E.A.R., through hands-on demos and workshops.
Everyone is invited to Philly Materials Day featuring new hands-on activities related to how materials impact your world. It's free and open to the public!
Age-specific hands-on workshops give participants the opportunity to work in small groups to explore how materials science and engineering is applied to solving some of today's pressing problems.
Visitors will have the chance to taste ice cream made with liquid nitrogen, which quickly brings the temperature down to -321°F (-196°C or 77K) and into waiting cups as fast as it can be mixed!
Kids of all ages will learn about materials from Drexel and University of Pennsylvania faculty and students and our collaborating partners, including the Science History Institute and North Penn N.E.A.R., through hands-on demos and workshops.

Everything around us - the clothes we wear, the computers we use, the vehicles that transport us, the hip implants and artificial heart valves that improve our health - is made of stuff. Materials science and engineering is the study of that stuff: what it's made of, why it behaves the way it does, and what we can do with it. Materials scientists and engineers make our daily lives better by developing materials for health and medicine, improved energy efficiency and advanced manufacturing, among other areas.

In 2010, the Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania Departments of Materials Science and Engineering were selected to be one of 15 outreach coalitions across the country helping promote PBS/NOVA’s Making Stuff, a TV series developed to take viewers on an exciting tour of the material world we live in, and what may lie ahead.

This initial collaboration resulted in the first Philly Materials Science and Engineering Day held at Drexel on February 5, 2011. This free, public event used hands-on activities and demonstrations to introduce people to the world of materials science and engineering and give a sense of the excitement that comes with STEM exploration. Key collaborators in past  Philly Materials Days have included The Franklin Institute, Science History Institute and Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.