We began our day with a delicious breakfast at Einstein’s Bagels, which has become somewhat of a tradition since the first day at ISEF. Following breakfast, we walked back to the hotel to get ready for the long and exciting day ahead of us.
The majority of the CSEF group went on a tour with Just Ducky Tours, where they explored Pittsburgh via water and took in the beautiful skyline. They also enjoyed lunch at the Hard Rock Café.
Prior to Intel ISEF, I was notified that a question I submitted in my registration was chosen for the annual Nobel Laureate Panelist Q&A session. As a result, I was given the opportunity to eat lunch with the Nobel Laureates and ask my question in the Q&A session. This was an incredible experience. I ate lunch with Nobel Laureate Sir Harold Walter Kroto and five other Intel ISEF finalists. The discussion was diverse, with topics ranging from his life changing discovery of Buckminsterfullerene (which we later learned lead to the discovery of carbon nanotubes) to the future of mankind. His philosophies on life, success, motivation and change were very insightful and inspirational. During the Q&A session, I was given the honor to ask my question: If you were given unlimited resources, what problem would you attempt to address and why?. All four Nobel Laureates discussed my question for about three minutes and came to a consensus that climate change is of paramount importance and is the problem they’d address.
After the Nobel Laureate Q&A session, I walked back to the hotel room to join up with the rest of my group and to get ready for the dance at Stage AE. At the event, I met up with friends from JSHS, I-SWEEEP (2014), Summer Camps and people I met over the course of this trip. I spent most of the night with people from Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota and South Africa. It was truly an unforgettable experience.
Ethan Novek
Sophomore at Greenwich High School