Overview

25 booths + faculty talks + graduate student-led Ask a Scientist Cafe
4 food trucks
175 faculty, staff, post-doctoral fellows, students
75 community volunteers
5,000 visitors (approx.)

Theme insect

This year’s theme insect was the giant mesquite bug (Thasus neocalifornicus), an insect in the order Hemiptera, or the “true bugs”. This is a large leaf-footed bug that feeds on mesquite trees in the American southwest and northwestern Mexico. Hot weather brings giant mesquite bugs down to earth: normally dwellers of the mesquite canopy, the bright red and white nymphs can be seen at the base of mesquite trees all over Tucson. After these harmless critters shed their skins and molt they move back to the treetops to feed on mesquite beans.

Press