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2026 Bay Area Science Festival - UCSF Volunteer Sign-Up

Thanks for your interest in being a part of the 2026 Bay Area Science Festival! The Bay Area Science Festival is a celebration of science, organized by the Science and Health Education Partnership (SEP) at UCSF. This year, we are hosting a one-day Discovery Day on Saturday, October 17th 2026 at the UCSF Mission Bay campus.

We are excited for you to join us in making science accessible, interactive, and fun for Bay Area residents of all ages, highlighting the impact of science and innovation on our lives. This form contains information on the variety of volunteer opportunities within the festival. Please provide us with your contact information below to get started!

The deadline to register as a volunteer is September 13, 2026.

Basic Info

First Name	Last Name
Preferred Email Work Email Personal Email	Preferred Phone Work Phone Cell Phone

What is your UCSF role?

Role/Position	Role/Position Start Year
Other Role/Position	Department
School/Program Other School/Program Are you or your lab part of the Gladstone Institutes? YesNo	Title Other Title

Hidden Fields

Contact ID

Cohort ID

School Formula

The Bay Area Science Festvail at the UCSF Mission Bay - Saturday 10/25

Our Festival event at the UCSF Mission Bay offers a free hands-on science day for thousands of local families. Volunteers are needed for event set-up/"load-in", event break-down/"load-out", staffing informational booths, engaging the public in hands-on science activities and guiding the public to lab tours around the Mission Bay campus. Additional volunteer help will be needed for stage events (talks, presentations and film screenings) at the Mission Bay Conference Center. Specific roles are still to be determined. This year's event runs from 11:00am to 4:00pm.

Please read about the different volunteer opportunities below! **Please note: Limited volunteer spots are available for certain activities, once full, those activities will be closed. Please sign up for activities that your are willing to do and you will be assigned according to our greatest area of need. Thank you!

Set-up/Break-down

SET-UP/"LOAD-IN":

Volunteers help get materials from the loading area to the booths for all of the 100+ exhibits. This shift is from 7am-10:30am, so if you don’t mind waking up before dawn and using your muscles, and you can come early, we welcome your help.

BREAK-DOWN/"LOAD-OUT"

Volunteers help get materials from the exhibit booths to the loading area once the event closes. This shift is from 4:00pm-6:30pm.

	Yes, sign me up!
Do you want to volunteer for Set-up or Break-down?

Set-up

7am -10:30am

Break-down

4:00pm - 6:30pm

Do you want to work with a friend/colleague?

Yes!

Please provide your partner's contact information (First and last name, Email). ***Note: This person will also need to register and request you as a partner.

Information Booth

Volunteers will work at Information Booths to answer questions about the event. This work primarily includes giving simple directions to visitors about the locations of things like bathrooms, first aid, answering general questions about the event, and helping people find booths of interest on the map. This position will require fast-paced activity and dealing with large numbers of people. Volunteers will get fully versed (upon arrival) on event details and layout of the event. A UCSF staff person will captain these positions.

We need 45 volunteers to cover 4 booths. The shifts are from 10am - 1:30pm or 1:00 - 4:30pm.

	Yes, sign me up!
Do you want to volunteer at on the Info Booth team?

Which shift do you prefer?

Do you want to work with a friend/colleague?

Yes!

Please provide your partner's contact information (First and last name, Email). ***Note: This person will also need to register and request you as a partner.

Evaluation Team

Volunteers will intercept Festival attendees and ask them to take a short survey on an iPad. Questions include demographic information as well as information about attendees' experience at the event. This work is extremely valuable to us as it provides us with data that can be used for event evaluation and reports for our funders.

We need 20 volunteers to cover 2 shifts, 10am - 1:30pm or 1:00 - 4:30pm.

	Yes, sign me up!
Do you want to volunteer on the Evaluation team?

Which shift do you prefer?

Do you want to work with a friend/colleague?

Yes!

Please provide your partner's contact information (First and last name, Email). ***Note: This person will also need to register and request you as a partner.

Science Activity Booths

Volunteer at one of SEP's hands-on science education booths and engage families in fun science activities, either during the morning or the afternoon shift. SEP will provide training for the different booth activities in the weeks before the event.

UCSF - SEP - Science activity booths

Booth 1: Forensic Science
Crimes are solved by using the evidence left behind by the perpetrators. Using fiber analysis and paper chromatography you will help children identify the perpetrator from amongst possible suspects!

Booth 2: Floating and Sinking
Help children experiment and problem solve to find out the best design to make their "ship" float and hold cargo. How does it change in fresh water vs. saltwater?

Booth 3: Senses
Our senses allow us to detect and experience our environment in multiple ways. These activities allow visitors to experience and engage with three of their senses and to learn more about how the brain collects information through our senses.

Booth 4: Hand and Joint models

What would you do without your joints? Your movement and everyday activities would be greatly affected. Kids come and see what that would be like by trying some simple tasks without the use of the joints in their hands.

	Yes, sign me up!
Do you want to volunteer at a UCSF - SEP Science Activity Booth?

Which booth do you want to work at? Please rank your choices.

First choice activity	Already trained by SEP in this activity?
Second choice activity	Already trained by SEP in this activity?
Third choice activity	Already trained by SEP in this activity?

Booths shifts

Which shift do you prefer for your science activity booth?

Do you want to work with a friend/colleague?

Yes!

Please provide your partner's contact information (First and last name, Email). ***Note: This person will also need to register and request you as a partner.

Children In Nature Play Area

In the Children in Nature Play area, kids will engage in open-play, building with sticks, rocks, leaves, pine cones, bark, cut sections of tree branches and logs, or other natural materials. The activity is designed to inspire curiosity, creativity, connection to the natural world and to each other.

Volunteers will be in charge of monitoring the Nature Play area, encourage collaboration and creativity and keep the materials within the designated spot.

Shifts are 10:30am-2:00pm or 1:30-4:00pm

	Yes, sign me up!
Are you interested in volunteering at the Children in Nature Play Area?

Which shift do you prefer for managing the Children in Nature Play Area?

Cell-fie Booth

Volunteer to manage our BASF Photo Booth! We will have a fun, science-y vinyl backdrop and some fun foam core cut outs (some microbes, a microscope, etc.) and props where attendees can take selfies (actually "cell-fies" we are calling them this time) in the space, and ideally post to Instagram etc. with our hashtags etc.

Volunteers will make sure that one group at a time is in the photo booth space (there may be a line), helping them with props, making sure props don’t walk away from the booth, and likely taking the photo for them on their phone etc.

	Yes, sign me up!
Do you want to volunteer at a BASF Cell-fie booth?

Which shift do you prefer for the Cell-fie booth?

Do you want to work with a friend/colleague?

Yes!

Please provide your partner's contact information (First and last name, Email). ***Note: This person will also need to register and request you as a partner.

Cell-fie booth ID

UCSF Lab Tours (all on 10/17/26)

The Bay Area Science Festival will offers Lab Tours as part of the Festival's programming on Saturday 10/17/2026.

UCSF volunteers are needed to help guide public participants from the central meeting location to various tour locations (within a 10 min walk from Koret Quad at UCSF Mission Bay campus). You will escorting the public from a front desk/security desk up to a lab, stay for the duration of the tour, and help people find their way back to the main event.

Shifts are either 12-2pm or 2-4pm.

	Yes, sign me up!
Are you interested in supporting a Lab Tour ?

Which shift do you prefer for the Lab Tour support?

BASF Stage Events Support (all on 10/17/26)

The Bay Area Science Festival will host science presentations, talks and film events on Saturday 10/17/2026 at the Sandler Auditorium on the Mission Bay Campus. Volunteer duties will involve ushering, wayfinding, stage managing, attendance count, speaker support, and other related roles.

Shifts are 10:30am-2:00pm or 1:30-4:00pm

	Yes, sign me up!
Are you interested in volunteering for BASF Talks and Presentations?

Which shift do you prefer for the Campus Events support?

Social Media Volunteers

We are looking for volunteers to support our social media efforts. We would like 2-3 UCSF volunteers who can commit to going to 3+ events during the Festival, connect with the hosts, take photos that they share immediately with our PR team, so they can post on social media. The pictures would be used to broaden engagement with the Festival, build buzz, etc.

	Yes, sign me up!
Are you interested in working as a Social Media Volunteer?

Full booths

Add the descriptions of full booths here

For record-keeping: Page 2 used to contain the "Volunteer Opportunities" section, including Discovery Day, Explorer Tours, and Social Media Volunteers. It also had text detailing that volunteers could indicate their interest in these activities on page 2, and that the following page would contain more information on other opportunities. Page 3 contained the Set-up/Break-down, Information Booth, Evaluation Team (also hidden for 2024), Science Activity Booths, and Cell-fie Booth sections.

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