MEDIA ADVISORY

TO:                     News Directors, Education and Science Reporters

FROM:                 University Relations

SUBJECT:            UAF to Host High School Science Symposium

LOCATION:          Natural Science Facility on UAF campus

DATE & TIME:     March 9 and 10, Saturday, 8 a.m. - 1 p.m., Sunday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Future scientists from high schools around the state will converge on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus this March as part of the 13th annual Alaska Statewide High School Science Symposium. A total of 60 high school students in grades 9 - 12 are scheduled to present results of their experiments and research.

"The program gives students an opportunity to work with scientists in fields that interest them," said program director Gary Laursen, UAF associate professor of mycology, the study of fungi. "It provides an opportunity to do genuine research and present the results in a scientific setting."

Students will present oral and written summaries of their projects, which are reviewed by separate panels of judges in one of seven categories. From a group of seven finalists, one young Alaskan will be selected to represent the state at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in San Diego, CA. The top presenter also receives a $4,000 scholarship and competes nationally for other scholarship money. Three more student finalists also get to attend the national meeting and the top seven Alaskan participants receive a one-year tuition scholarship to UAF.

Christian Nielsen, a senior from Monroe Catholic High School in Fairbanks went to the national symposium last year. His topic was "Determining the Expansion Velocities of Sprite Tendrils." Past participants have been published in scientific journals, gone on for advanced science degrees and one has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. The program is affiliated with the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

CONTACT: ASHSSS Director, Gary A. Laursen, (907)474-6295 or e-mail: ffgal@uaf.edu or, UAF Public Information Officer, Carla Browning, at (907)474-7778 or email: carla.browning@uaf.edu.

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