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WHAT:
The annual Siemens
Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition's Western regional
finals at the University of California, Berkeley, where 12 high-achieving
competitors will meet and mix this weekend with more than 80 high
school students from around the Bay Area.
WHEN:
Saturday, Nov.
3, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Pauley Ballroom,
Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, intersection of Telegraph Ave.
and Bancroft Way, UC Berkeley.
WHO:
Local students
are coming from the Berkeley Saturday Academy for Math, Science and
Engineering Achievement (MESA) and Castlemont High in Oakland. The
Western regional finalists hail from as far as Anchorage, Alaska,
Phoenix, Ariz., and Fullerton, Calif., with the nearest coming from
the York School in Monterey, Calif.
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Western
Regional Finals for the Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology
Awards
Individual
Finalists:
Anna Lonyai,
Fullerton, Calif. Production of molecular halogen gases from sea
salts
Ryan Patterson,
Grand Junction, Colo. The sign language translator
Timothy Dong,
Alhambra, Calif. Oxidation of substituted phosphines with singlet
oxygen
Theresa J.Berens,
Phoenix, Ariz. Tumor necrosis factor receptor in tumorigenesis
Yanjia (Jason)
Zhang, Arcadia, Calif. Expression of human gene SCL
Team Finalists:
Heidi Eckman,
Crystal Gefroh, Crystal Keaster, Delta Junction, Alaska The effect
of cosmic radiation on lichens
Heather Craig,
Hanna Craig, Anchorage, Alaska Ice-Crawler: The rescue robot for
snow, ice, and glaciers
Gabe Klapman,
Peter Lee, Monterey, Calif. New low cost technology for directional
hearing aids
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BACKGROUND:
For the third year in a row, UC Berkeley hosts the competition's
Western regional finals. This year, five individuals and three teams
will compete to earn a place at the national competition, scheduled
for Dec. 1-3 in Washington, D.C. The 12 "whiz kids" participating
will show off their research projects, which include Ice-Crawler,
a rescue robot for snow, ice, and glaciers, plus projects on cancer,
chemistry and a new technology for hearing aids.
UC Berkeley uses
the occasion as an opportunity for local high school students with
an interest in science to meet and talk with the regional finalists.
They interact at a poster display following the competitors' oral
presentations to the judges, many of them UC Berkeley professors.
The Western regional
competition is coordinated by the campus's Coalition for Excellence
and Diversity in Math, Science and Engineering, which also sponsors
the local high school students. Chaired by Caroline Kane, adjunct
professor of molecular and cell biology, the coalition is a highly
successful program to boost the success of women and minorities in
science, math and engineering - fields in which they historically
have been underrepresented.
The competition
is a national million-dollar scholarship and awards program developed
by the Siemens Foundation to promote and advance math and science
education in America. It is open to individuals and teams of high
school students who develop independent research projects in the
physical or biological sciences, or in mathematics.
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
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