Thousands gathered on the National Mall Oct. 23 and 24 for the inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival, where anyone who wanted to could operate a robot, extract DNA from a banana or learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube.

Booths lined the National Mall, Freedom Plaza, and Wilson Plaza. Representatives from organizations like NASA, the Mathematical Association of America and the University of Maryland offered interactive experiments and freebies to commemorate the occasion.

The Walt Whitman Robotics Team demonstrated last year’s robot at the exhibit controlled by FIRST, a charity organization that designs youth programs to garner interest in science and technology. With help from the team, children controlled the robot using remotes and tried to get the robot to hit a soccer ball onto a target.

“Mostly, we’re teaching the kids who come through about how the robot works and all the parts for it, giving them a chance to actually play with the robot on the field and giving them a really fun experience and a way to learn about engineering,” said senior Cameron Clements, a member of the team.

Speakers and acts from “Mythbusters” and “CSI” performed on stages set up around the Mall, the National Museum of Natural History and the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. Topics ranged from “Hip Hop, Video Games and Math” to “Are You Smarter than a Genome Scientist?”

Many famous faces roamed D.C., including NIH director Francis Collins, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and John Mather, who received the Nobel Prize for physics in 2006. Other celebrities appeared too, but in a slightly different form. Throughout the weekend, actors playing famous scientists like Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin answered children’s questions.

Junior Elizabeth Frank’s favorite part of the festival was seeing Bill Nye, but she didn’t like some of the exhibits.

“I thought that the festival was cool, but it had a lot of exhibits that were for younger kids,” she said. “Maybe if they put in some more exhibits and activities for teenagers and adults, it would’ve been better.”

Professor Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, received a Lifetime Achievement award for his outstanding contributions to science education at the “You CAN Do the Rubik’s Cube” tournament and awards ceremony Saturday.

In the Rubik’s Cube competition, teams of eight students raced to solve 25 cubes. Thomas Jefferson High School took first place and a $1,000 prize with the fastest time of 1 minute, 47 seconds.  Longfellow Middle School won the combined elementary and middle school division, finishing the challenge in 3 minutes, 54 seconds.