Did You Ever Wonder?
Program conducted by: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy

Summary
A Carlton Research Company community survey in 1998 indicated most people in Berkeley, California, do not know what kind of work is done at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; many confuse us with Lawrence Livermore or with the Lawrence Hall of Science. "Did You Ever Wonder?" seeks to inform our neighbors using:

• colorful bus posters
• a website
• printed materials

During the fall of 2001, a new set of three posters appeared on the Lab's shuttle buses every five weeks; buses circle the University of California campus and move through the heart of downtown Berkeley six times an hour every working day. The posters feature a diverse group of individual researchers, stimulate curiosity with questions about their work, and invite readers to visit our website.

Researcher profiles on the website answer the "Wonder" questions and link to articles, scientific papers, and other online information. Printed broadsides with the same text (and urls) are distributed to schools and community meeting places.

• Website visits average more than 11,000 a week.
• Visits reach up to 27,000 after new bus posters appear.
• Increased visits following the appearance of new bus posters -- on those occasions without other publicity -- indicates most are generated by posters alone.

We hope to commission another professional community survey soon. Meanwhile a second round of profiles is being prepared.

Budget
Approximately $70,000
(including unallocated staff time)

Did You Ever Wonder?
Sometimes the best way to satisfy curiosity is to encourage it. So Berkeley Lab has launched a new community outreach program, one designed to answer a question our neighbors ask more often than we might hope: "What do they do up on that hill?"

The Lab's offsite buses circle the UC campus and move through downtown Berkeley six times every hour on weekdays -- perfect for carrying posters that tickle curiosity about scientific topics from the practical to the dazzling. "Did you ever wonder how a portable water purifier saves children's lives? . . . about the invisible marvels of the nanoworld? . . . about a better way to light up the darkness?"

These and many other questions give a glimpse of the scope of scientific inquiry here. And those who take the posters' hint to "visit Berkeley Lab at http://www.lbl.gov" find a portal to more knowledge.

Each poster profiles an individual researcher, chosen by Lab management to suggest our diversity. The "Did You Ever Wonder" web site carries information about how that person came to science and about the science itself -- with links to much more information. Colorful printed versions of the profiles are distributed to high schools and other gathering places in Berkeley and neighboring communities, listing many of the same web sites for those who want to dig deeper.

Contact
Paul Preuss
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Public Information Department
1 Cyclotron Road, MS 65B
Berkeley, California 94720
(510) 486-6249; paul_preuss@lbl.gov

Web Site
www.lbl.gov/wonder

Back to Best Practices home page

Back to Best Practices posters page

Created: 5/18/2002
Last updated: 8/17/2002
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov

Steven Louie on designing nanodevices with supercomputers

Carolyn Bertozzi on cell-surface engineering

Keith Jackson on using x-rays to sculpt micromachines

Example of Full Bus Poster (PDF)