About open house

Extraordinary science can change the lives of ordinary people. That’s the philosophy at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, where researchers from more than 40 scientific areas work together to ask and answer big questions — about human health and medical imaging, cleaner energy and greener plastics, and even artificial intelligence and bioinspired robots.

The Beckman Institute Open House is an opportunity for Champaign-Urbana community members to encounter the science, meet the people, and experience the impact of world-changing discovery. Visitors of all ages are encouraged to engage with more than 30 exhibits, participate in hands-on demos, complete the science scavenger hunt, and take a commemorative photo at the selfie station. This event is free and open to the public.

Information for teachers

In 2025, registered classes signed up for one of many Beckman experiences:

• (dis)Ability Design Studio
  The (dis)Ability Design Studio is dedicated to utilizing empathic tools to enable people to experience a range of augmented abilities (for example, hearing, mobility, vision). While in the studio, students will be challenged to walk a straight line while wearing empathy goggles, try and taste without their sense of smell, see and use different kinds of assistive mobility equipment.
• Molecular Imaging Lab
  Tour the Molecular Imaging Laboratory, where researchers use some of the best medical imaging tools in the world to safely see the smallest processes at work within the body — from the cells in the heart and brain to the movement of molecules — to catch early signs of cancer and disease. Featured facilities include the radiochemistry laboratory, the institute's brand-new MILabs PET/CT system, and more.
• Bugscope
  Bugscope is a free outreach program which allows individuals to examine bugs in fascinating detail under the scanning electron microscope. While participating in Bugscope, students will be able to choose from a variety of insects, look at them in a way they cannot with their own eyes and ask an insect expert about what they are seeing.
• Microbescope
  Microbescope is a developing outreach program that allows students to explore and view the many unseen life forms zooming around pond water collected from a local pond. Students will be able to see a variety of organisms such as amoebas, tardigrades and rotifers and observe how these organisms live and move in a world we can only see with a microscope.
• CT-ing is believing
  In this engaging activity, students will be able to pick from a variety of objects to scan with a micro-CT scanner. This activity will give students insight into how CT scanners work and introduce them to this important tool used in medicine/hospitals in a low stake environment.