Connecticut’s Premier Science and Engineering Competition Celebrates its 67th Anniversary!
For Immediate Release – Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair Media Advisory
Contact: Harrison Potter, Media Director – 978 460 4358 – media@ctsciencefair.org
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March 10-14, 2015
State’s Largest Science & Engineering Competition for Middle and High-School Students to Award $170k In Prizes
HAMDEN, Conn., Mar. 5, 2015 – Now for the 67th year in a row, volunteers with the Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair (CSEF) will provide a forum for middle and high-school students to showcase their scientific prowess. Almost 700 students from 126 schools across Connecticut will go to the Fair, from which about 150 students will be selected as finalists. The finalists will present their research to nearly 300 volunteer judges from government, academia, professional societies, and industry on Thursday, March 12, and compete for $170,000 in prizes, as well as several trips to represent the state at international competitions.
CSEF is pleased to announce two very special guests for this year’s fair, who will attend Finalist Judging in the late morning:
Interim Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell, and
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
A highly competitive and prestigious event, these students have been selected from thousands throughout Connecticut and several bordering New York towns. The young scientists and engineers have participated in school and local fairs and have achieved at a very high level to come to CSEF. The Fair will be held at the Burt Kahn Court on the Mount Carmel Campus of Quinnipiac University in Hamden. School group visits are encouraged on Friday, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm March 13.
“The Fair provided an outlet and an opportunity for me to both share my work and learn about what fellow researchers have been conducting at schools around me” said Andrew Holliday, a CSEF alumnus now studying mechanical and aerospace engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He is just one of many alums of the Fair who have benefitted from what it offers beyond the classroom.
“Some of our competitors go on to technical careers and become innovators in their fields.” said CSEF Director Bob Wisner, who was a top winner at the event himself in the late 1950s. “As a result of winning the Fair, opportunities opened to me that I could had never imagined. And over the years I hear from alumni how the fair shaped their lives positively by providing career avenues.”
Past Fair winners have been recognized by organizations including the MacArthur Foundation, CT Women of Innovation, and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
Some of the many interesting project titles that students are working on for this year’s fair are:
- “Utilizing Piscivorous Birds as Low-Impact Primary Biological Indicators”
- “Enhancement of antibiotic effects on various species of bacterium via infusion of silver nanoparticles”
- “Which is Better for the Garden? Aspirin vs. Super Thrive”
- “The Effect of Cold Stress on the Frequency of CD8+ T Cells in Aged Mice”
- “Smoking Gun in the Milky Way Galaxy: Open Clusters and Dwarf Galaxies”
The media is invited to see innovation in action during at the following times:
Thursday, March 12 from 9:00am – 1:15pm: Finalist Judging
Saturday, March 14 from 11:00am – 12:30pm: Awards Ceremony
ALL WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED TO THE MEDIA IN A PRESS RELEASE TO BE ISSUED ON SATURDAY, MARCH 14 AT 1:00pm.
In addition to the CSEF awards, some of the Fair’s top winners will represent Connecticut and compete for more millions in cash and scholarships at competitions including the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, the world’s largest pre-college science fair, the International Sustainable World Engineering, Energy & Environment Project Olympiad (I-SWEEEP), GENIUS Olympiad, and the Broadcom Masters Competition.
Broadcast media interested in doing live broadcasts may contact Harrison Potter at 978 460 4358 or media@ctsciencefair.org for arrangements.
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The Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair is supported by the Connecticut business and industry community and is administered entirely by volunteers.
Connect with CSEF online using #CSEF2015
@ctsciencefair on Twitter
Harrison Potter