These experiments normally stay locked in laboratories. The open house brings them out.
On a Saturday afternoon in Juiz de Fora, the Federal University of UFJF opens the doors of its Institute of Exact Sciences to anyone willing to walk through them — an act that is, at its core, a gesture of accountability and invitation. Thirty research projects across chemistry, physics, and mathematics become visible and touchable, guided by students who are themselves still in the middle of becoming. In a moment when the value of public investment in knowledge is perpetually questioned, this open house offers a quiet but powerful answer: science belongs to everyone who funds it, and its returns are measured not only in discoveries, but in the young minds it draws toward curiosity.
- Scientific work typically unfolds behind closed doors, invisible to the very communities whose taxes and trust sustain it — and that distance breeds misunderstanding.
- On Saturday, thirty research projects spill out of eight laboratories and into public view, free of charge and free of registration, lowering every barrier to entry.
- Undergraduate students lead much of the afternoon, speaking to visitors not as distant authorities but as peers still learning — a dynamic that makes science feel inhabitable rather than intimidating.
- Initiatives like Women in Nanoscience, Digital Girls, and the Mathematics Olympiad prep program signal that the event is actively trying to widen who sees themselves as belonging in these spaces.
- The university is simultaneously making a case for its own continued funding, demonstrating in real time how public investment circulates back into regional development and human potential.
On Saturday afternoon, the Institute of Exact Sciences at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora will open its doors to the public in an event called "ICE de Portas Abertas" — free, unregistered, and unhurried. From noon until four, eight laboratories in chemistry and physics become navigable spaces where roughly thirty research and outreach projects are on display for anyone curious enough to show up.
What distinguishes this open house is the degree to which it runs on undergraduate energy. Many of the projects bear the marks of students still working toward their degrees — people who can speak to visitors as peers rather than authorities. Among the participants: Reativa, a junior company run by chemistry students; the Women in Nanoscience network; Digital Girls; the Planting Knowledge initiative preparing younger students for a national mathematics olympiad; and programs in computation, statistics, physics, mathematics, and chemistry, each presenting their work to the public.
Organizer and chemistry professor Denise Lowinsohn puts the purpose simply: experiments and technologies that normally stay locked away are brought into the open, where people can see them, touch them, and ask questions. For young people especially, the afternoon offers something rare — a chance to watch science happen and to begin imagining themselves inside it.
The event also carries a broader argument. Every piece of equipment, every mentored student, every funded hour of research represents a public investment. The open house is the university's way of showing the community what that investment looks like in motion — and making the case that it is worth continuing. Saturday, noon to four. No barriers. Just science.
On Saturday afternoon, the doors of the Institute of Exact Sciences at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora will swing open to anyone curious enough to walk through them. From noon until four o'clock, the institute transforms into something between a laboratory and a fair—a place where the work that normally happens behind closed doors becomes visible, touchable, explainable.
The event, called "ICE de Portas Abertas," invites the public to move through eight laboratories in chemistry and physics, guided by people who actually work there. There is no cost. There is no registration required. The only requirement is showing up. The institute expects to display roughly thirty research and outreach projects across the afternoon, each one a window into what scientists and students are building at the university.
What makes this particular open house distinctive is how much of it runs on undergraduate energy. Many of the projects on display carry the fingerprints of students still working toward their degrees—people who are learning by doing, who can speak to visitors not as distant experts but as peers still figuring things out. The Reativa, a junior company run by chemistry students, will be there. So will the Women in Nanoscience network, the Planting Knowledge initiative (which prepares younger students for a national mathematics olympiad), the Entrepreneurship program, Math and Games, Digital Girls, ENEM Tutorial, a soap-making workshop, and an innovation games project. The five undergraduate programs in computation, statistics, physics, mathematics, and chemistry will each present what they do.
Denise Lowinsohn, a chemistry professor and one of the event's organizers, frames the purpose plainly: these experiments and technologies normally stay locked in laboratories. The open house brings them out into the world where people can see them, touch them, ask questions about them. For young people especially, the afternoon offers something rare—a chance to watch scientists and engineers at work, to imagine themselves in those roles, to begin thinking seriously about whether this is the kind of life they want to build.
But the event carries a broader message too. Every dollar spent on science education, every hour a professor spends mentoring a student researcher, every piece of equipment in those eight laboratories—all of it represents a public investment. The open house is a way of saying: this is what your investment looks like. This is how it moves through the world. This is how it comes back to you as better understanding, better tools, better solutions to problems that affect your region and your life.
For the university itself, the afternoon is a chance to demonstrate why these spaces matter, why the work continues, why the funding should keep flowing. For the community, it is simply an invitation to see what happens when curiosity meets resources and time. The institute's phone number is (32) 2102-3911, and their Instagram account is @icedeportasabertas for anyone who wants more details. Saturday, from noon to four. No barriers. Just science.
Notable Quotes
These experiments and technologies normally stay locked in laboratories. The open house brings them out into the world where people can see them, touch them, ask questions about them.— Denise Lowinsohn, chemistry professor and event organizer
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a university need to open its labs to the public? Isn't the research happening anyway?
The research does happen anyway, but it happens in a kind of invisibility. Most people never see inside a laboratory. They don't know what scientists actually do day to day, what questions they're asking, what tools they use. The open house breaks that wall down.
But is that really the point? Or is it about recruitment—getting more young people interested in science careers?
It's both, honestly. Yes, the university wants to inspire students. But there's something deeper: public science only stays public if people understand it. If nobody knows what's happening in these labs, it becomes easy to cut funding, to question why it matters. The open house is saying: look, this is real, this is here, this affects you.
The source mentions that students are running many of these projects. Why is that important?
Because it means the knowledge isn't locked away with senior researchers. Undergraduates are doing the work, explaining the work, thinking through problems. That's how science actually gets made—not by distant geniuses, but by people learning as they go. When a visitor talks to a student researcher, they see someone like themselves, someone who started curious and is now building something.
What happens after Saturday? Does the interest fade?
Some of it will. But for the young people who walk through those doors and feel something click—who see themselves in that work—Saturday becomes the beginning of a different path. And for everyone else, it's a reminder that the university isn't separate from the community. It's part of it.