UAF to host Alaska Statewide High School Science Symposium

Submitted by Gary Laursen
Phone: (907) 474-6295
03/01/07

Inquisitive scientists throughout Alaska will be asking questions, conducting research and making scientific presentation--all while they’re still in high school. Sixty students from around the state are set to compete in the 19th-annual Alaska Statewide High School Science Symposium at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, March 3-4 in the Natural Sciences Facility. The symposium banquet will be on March 3 from 6-8 p.m. in the Wood Center Carol Brown Ballroom.

"This program is a hands-on research opportunity for motivated students,"? said Gary Laursen, ASHSSS director. "Students work with a mentor to conduct valid experiments and present at a conference with their peers."?

Projects range from what type of salt performs best on Alaska’s icy roads to the effects of air temperature on permafrost to the potential for developing biodiesel from cooking oil.

Students complete their research, submit written papers about their projects for technical review and revision, and then make presentations to panels of judges in one of seven categories. The top five competitors will receive an all-expense-paid trip to the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium May 2-6 in Huntsville, Ala. The top seven Alaska participants receive a one-year tuition scholarship to UAF.

In addition to receiving other accolades, Alaska’s top three presenters will receive $1,000, $1,500 and $2,000 scholarships, respectively. The top two will compete nationally for $2,000, $6,000 and $16,000 in national scholarships. The first-place winner there will receive an all-expense-paid, two-week trip to the London International Youth Science Forum.

Past participants have been published in scientific journals, gone on to work toward advanced science degrees and one earned a Rhodes Scholarship. The ASHSSS program is one of 48 regional affiliates to the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

CONTACT: Gary Laursen, at (907) 474-6295 or via e-mail at ffgal@uaf.edu or visit http://www.ashsss.uaf.edu/about.php for more information.