Baltimore, MD - On April 17th UMBC presents MindFest, the University's fourth annual open house for the Baltimore/Washington community. Visitors are invited to join students, faculty, and members of the community in a celebration of the power of ideas and information.

MindFest promises fun and adventure for the entire family with dozens of events from storytelling to musical performances, special presentations and more. Highlights include Chessfest, which includes a match between the UMBC Chess Team and Princeton; Diplomat for a Day where participants can act in simulations of diplomatic debate with the UMBC Model United Nations team; the Kuhn Gallery Curator's Tour which will take visitors through the exhibition "Color Before Color: 100 Years of Painted Photographs in Their Original Frames;" and a performance by Maurice the Dancing Robot, a machine built in collaboration between the UMBC Dance and Engineering departments.

Presentations will be peppered throughout the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, UMBC's center of intellectual discovery. Guest speakers and professors will address a myriad of issues like "truth" in documentary photography, successful women in the sciences, and the Alexander Technique. They'll design web sites and reveal a universe full of ideas from the harnessing of satellites to the history of Oella, Cowdensville and surrounding areas in our own back yard. Other events will include the historic inclusion of a 1999 time capsule in the foundation of UMBC's latest academic building, the Physics Building, scheduled to open in the Fall of 1999. Visitors can learn about ecology, photography, rowing, volunteerism, dance, design, the Web, laughter, performance, animation, floods, and more!

MindFest is a FREE event open to the public. Free public parking is available and the event is wheelchair accessible. For more information please contact 410/455-2902 or visit www.umbc.edu/mindfest