Flowers, fruits and fresh produce filled Urbana’s Lincoln Square parking lot early Saturday morning, while familiar acoustic tunes played in the background.

Amidst the handmade and homegrown goods, a tent stood with a sign that said, “Science at the Market: Locally Grown.”

The University Geometry Lab took on the farmer’s market with colorful shapes of all dimensions last Saturday.

It is a recurring part of Illinois’ Physics Department Community Outreach initiative that began in 2010 and has gone on to include 15 different participants from several departments including Math, Engineering and Physics.

Inga Karliner, research physicist at the University, created the event after she read an article in the Chicago Tribune about Leon Lederman, Nobel Prize winner in Physics. The article talked about his participation at an event taking place in Chicago in 2010 where he set up a table and answered people’s questions.

“I was thinking, ‘Yeah, we could do this at the market here,’” Karliner said.

Since then, Science at the Market takes place every year from early May to the end of October.

Jeremy Tyson, director of the Illinois Geometry Lab, oversees the two-part component of the IGL: the research lab for undergraduates and the community outreach program, which consists of engagement activities for K-12 students in the community and brings undergraduate students to volunteer at the market.

“We’re here to increase the visibility of the math department and the IGL,” Tyson said. “We let (the kids) explore, play with the toys — we have some brochures of some of the activities of the IGL for parents and others who stop by.”

The undergraduate staff members who volunteer at Science at the Market help manage the tables and talk about their experiences in their field.

Aubrey Laskowski, sophomore in LAS, began volunteering at the market during the first semester of his freshman year and has been involved with IGL since.

“We just try to get the communities involved in mathematics and seeing some of the fun side of mathematics that they wouldn’t normally see in the classroom,” Laskowski said.

Volunteers vary from undergraduates to Nobel Prize winners such as Anthony Leggett, professor in physics at the University, who concentrates on condensed matter physics and was the first ever volunteer for Science at the Market. He displayed demos of superconductors and magnetic fields that produce levitations.

“I think people really appreciate it when somebody like this comes and is willing to talk to them and explain how it works,” Karliner said.

Though intended for everyone, children get to toy with their curiosity, ask questions and get answers.

“(This five-year-old girl) comes in and she says, ‘How did the moon develop?’ And I was like thank God it’s (Leggett) answering and not me,” Karlinger said.

Ben Norton, junior in LAS, worked for the Geometry lab over the summer and helped create a curriculum for ecology and mathematical outreach. Norton also does community outreach throughout the year.

“The parents kind of hang back and talk with me, and the kids are so engrossed in making sure the puzzle works,” Norton said. “It’s fun to see how the love of math gets started here because they see that math is more than just these numbers and symbols.”

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