High schoolers compete in Siemens science event |
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06 November 2003 ATTENTION: EDUCATION, SCIENCE EDITORS |
Contact:
Robert Sanders
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WHAT
Eleven high school science whizzes from around the West, including three Bay Area teens, will vie for top honors at the Western regional finals of the annual Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition, being held later this week at the University of California, Berkeley.
WHEN
- Friday, Nov. 7, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.: Poster presentation and reception in rooms 120 A, B and C, Bechtel Engineering Center, UC Berkeley
- Saturday, Nov. 8, 8 a.m. - 12:07 p.m.: Oral presentations in Bechtel's Sibley Auditorium
- Saturday, Nov. 8, 7 - 9 p.m.: Awards presentation and dinner, Alumni House, UC Berkeley
WHO
Five individual competitors and three two-person teams will participate in the Western regional finals. Of the 11 high school students, five come from California. Two attend Monte Vista High School in Danville, one comes from Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, one from Troy High School in Fullerton and one from Arcadia High School. Others hail from Portland, Ore., Redmond, Wash., Mount Pleasant, Mich. and Bellmore, N.Y.
DETAILS
For the fifth year in a row, UC Berkeley is hosting the Western regional finals of this competition, where individuals and teams compete to earn a place at the national competition, scheduled for Dec. 5-8 in Washington, D.C.
The 11 "whiz kids" participating this week will show off many multidisciplinary projects. One team looked at the growth of nanowires, a hot area of research in nanotechnology today. Another looked at aging, investigating how superoxide generation affects mitochondria, the powerhouses of every cell. A third delved into atmospheric chemistry and the chemical kinetics of airborne molecules.
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. See http://www.siemens-foundation.org.
The competition at UC Berkeley is coordinated by Michele de Coteau, director of the Charles Tunstall Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) at the Center for Underrepresented Engineering Students in UC Berkeley's College of Engineering.