Ohio Junior Science, Humanities Symposium

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Ohio's top high school science whizzes will present the results of their original research during the 45th annual Ohio Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (Ohio JSHS) April 2-4 at Bowling Green State University.

The free, public event is patterned after research sessions at professional meetings, and both paper and poster sessions will take place.

At stake is more than $20,000 in scholarship money and cash awards for the winners. In addition, the top five paper presenters will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the National JSHS to take place in Orlando, Florida, April 30-May 4.

The top two presenters at the national event will have the opportunity to compete for one of six, $16,000 scholarships and a trip to the International Fortnight in London. This year, the top poster presenter at the Ohio symposium also will attend the national event to present his or her results in a noncompetitive forum.

Approximately 75 high school students from all over the state will present research on topics from all areas of science. The symposium will be held in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Northwest Ohio high school teachers and BGSU faculty members, undergraduates and graduate students will chair the sessions and serve as judges. Other Ohio high school students and teachers are expected to attend the event as well to observe, learn and network with the best science students and teachers in the state.

Sponsorship awards are being provided by the Academy of Applied Science; the Northwest Ohio Center of Excellence; COSMOS; BGSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Chemistry, and Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Education and Human Development; Perstorp Polyols, Inc., and the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. Libbey Glass Inc. of Toledo is providing T-shirts.

The program consists of seven paper sessions and four concurrent poster sessions.

Dr. Emilio Duran of the BGSU School of Teaching and Learning and director of the Ohio JSHS, will give the opening remarks.

Also participating in opening ceremonies will be Dr. Shirley Baugher, provost and vice president of academic affairs; Dr. Rosalind Hammond, interim dean of the College of Education and Human Development; Dr. Don Nieman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Major Steven J. Letzring, U.S. Army, Commander and professor of military science, all of BGSU.

Several special events have been planned for the visitors in connection with the symposium. On Thursday afternoon, COSI will present “Extreme Science” demonstrations in the Sky Bank Room of the Union. Thursday evening, the keynote speaker at the banquet will be Dr. John Laird, a professor and chair of Bowling Green's Department of Physics and Astronomy, who will present his research on “The Fossil Record of the Milky Way." The participants will then go to BGSU's planetarium for a presentation titled “Dinosaur Light.”

On Friday, Toledo Zoo volunteers will bring animals to enlighten and entertain the students regarding their lives and habitats.

For more information, call Dr. Emilio Duran, School of Teaching and Learning, at 419-372-1262, or Iris Szelagowski, OJSHS coordinator in the Graduate College, at 567-277-0055.

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(Posted April 01, 2008 )