Pilot Science Festival Flip the Fair event invites visitors to play, learn, judge, and participate in research

Lily Farabaugh

March 26, 2026

What happens when you turn a science fair upside down? At Virginia Tech's Science Festival last fall, the U.S. National Science Foundation COMPASS Center (Center for COMmunity Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to SocietieS) and the Center for Communicating Science partnered to bring “Flip the Fair” to life on the third floor balcony of the Center for the Arts.

NSF COMPASS Center

Computationally Predicting Pandemics & Protecting the Future

A world where we can accurately foresee pandemics and minimize their impact. We seek to forecast and control future viral pandemics by addressing the grand challenge of uncovering the genetic, molecular, cellular, and chemical rules of life underlying pathogen-host interactions through community-based and ethically grounded research.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Contact Us

Leslie Thornton-O’Brien, M.A.
Project Manager, NSF COMPASS Center
Virginia Tech | Computer Science
Blacksburg, VA 24060
lthornto@vt.edu

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2412115. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.