East Arizona News

Thousands of people descended on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus on Saturday for an afternoon of fun and adventure, but it wasn’t for a football game or sporting event.

ASU Open Door held its final 2023 event, offering adults and children of all ages a behind-the-scenes look at a university committed to excellence and transforming higher education.

“We host ASU Open Door to invite the community into our spaces that are normally closed to the public. It’s an opportunity to throw open our doors to show off what happens here,” said Darci Nagy, ASU’s event manager. “We are a university in their neighborhood that they hear about all the time, and this affords them a chance to see why we are the most innovative university in the country and experience what we do on a daily basis.”

Now in its 11th year, the Tempe event featured approximately 250 interactive exhibits produced by ASU professors, staff members and students, covering the fields of art and design, business, culture and language, engineering, health and wellness, humanities, natural and social science, student life and sustainability.

Adults and community members were able to get a look at spaces that house the most innovative buildings and projects at the university, including the Biodesign Institute, ASU’s Sol supercomputer, the Mars Space Flight Facility, the ASU Marston Exploratory Theater and more.

Children could create a comic book, build an urban area, use ancient tools and twine, learn about Hebrew calligraphy, listen to live music, launch bottle rockets and even hold a snake.

Many attendees used the event as an opportunity to introduce their children to the idea of college.

Chandler, Arizona, resident and ASU alum Mark Webster brought his son to the event for two specific reasons.

“I wanted to show my son where I graduated college,” said Webster, who took in a mini-concert and museum exhibit during the first hour. “So when he enters high school, he’s going to have to decide where he wants to go, and this is definitely one of the options for him.”

Sean Webster, a seventh-grade student who attends Bogle Junior High School in the Chandler Unified School District, said there two fields he’s interested in pursuing.

“I want to study either health or physics because I find them really interesting,” said Sean, who was filling up a swag bag with freebies whenever the opportunity arose. “I don’t see too many physicists or doctors, and I want to be one.”

Sean, however, is not singularly focused. He has a musical side to him as well. He and his father listened to a jazz group at ASU’s School of Music with great interest.

“I want to be in one of the orchestras here,” Sean said.

Mirabella resident Susan Yamanaka took in some cool sounds as well. She sat inside an ambisonic sound dome in the Stauffer Communications Arts B building, listening to a piece called “Ice Fields” by Elaine Lillios. The dome is a state-of-the-art space equipped with 45 speakers, allowing for an immersive audio experience.

“Ambisonic audio allows listeners to hear from above your head, below your knee, on the level of your arm and everywhere in between,” said Celia Yang, a first-year doctoral student with ASU’s School of Arts, Media and Engineering. “This gives a composer the ability to put their sounds in a precise location. It will inspire a lot of artists to compose in a different way.”

Original source can be found here.