Nebraska Science Festival to release tickets April 1 for Kari Byron

Don’t miss your opportunity to obtain free tickets to Kari Byron, best known as a host on Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters” and “The White Rabbit Project” on Netflix.

Byron will headline this year’s Nebraska Science Festival in a moderated discussion April 21 at Joslyn Museum’s Witherspoon Concert Hall in Omaha.

General admission tickets will be released online Saturday (April 1) at noon on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be available only online at Eventbrite. Users will need to create a login and password, and then search for “Kari Byron NE SciFest Keynote Presentation.” Once there, you may reserve up to four free tickets. Although the presentation is free, tickets are required for admittance on April 21 when doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for past keynote speakers — scientist Bill Nye, “Animal Planet” host and conservationist Jeff Corwan, meteorologist and extreme storm chaser Reed Timmer and most recently, actor LeVar Burton — went quickly. If you are unable to obtain tickets online, you may come to the venue and any open seats at 7:25 p.m. will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The fifth annual Nebraska Science Festival — scheduled for April 20-29 — will feature more than 100 science- and technology-related activities in communities across the state with the goal of making science accessible, interactive, relevant and fun for all ages. Check NeSciFest.com for a full list of activities and communities.

For more than a decade Byron has been a strong presence in the world of reality-based science television. In addition to Mythbusters and The White Rabbit Project, she has gone on to host and produce shows spanning several networks: “Head Rush,” “Punkin Chunkin,” “LDRS,” “Thrill Factor,” “Strange Trips” and “America Declassified.”

Fostering her curious nature, Byron spent a lifetime acquiring odd skills and interests. After graduating college and traveling the world, she decided to settle in San Francisco and pursue a career as a sculptor. Special effects and prop making seemed like a perfect fit. Trying to break into the field, she got an internship at M5 Industries with Jamie Hyneman. Her first day turned out to be the beginning of “Mythbusters” and a career in television.

Though her dream was to be a working artist somehow handling poop, eating bugs, wiring explosives and scraping chicken guts off the ceiling turned out to be her real dream job.

Her passion for smart entertainment has lead her around the world, speaking on the role of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) programming on television, as well as hosting science fairs from Silicon Valley to the White House.

Presented by UNMC, the Nebraska Science Festival is a collaboration of organizations and individuals interested in the advancement of science literacy. In addition to UNMC, other sponsors, to date, are Nebraska Medicine, Metro Credit Union and media sponsors KETV and the Omaha World-Herald.

In addition to NeSciFest.com, you will find SciFest updates and information on Twitter (@NESciFest) and Facebook (NE SciFest).