The Future’s So Bright
I feel a little better about the future of the world after spending some time at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair at the Convention Center.
Over 1300 students from 35 countries are competing in the world’s largest pre-college science fair for more than $3 million in scholarships and prizes.
The event has featured speeches from Intel CEO Craig Barrett, Nobel winners, Astronauts including John Glenn and of course, politicians. Governor Taft, Mayor Campbell and Tech Czar Tim Moran all encouraged the students to bring their brains back to Cleveland.
The projects are broken down into 14 scientific categories such as Mathematics, Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Science, Environmental Science and Medicine and Health. 18% of the finalists have obtained or are in the process of obtaining a patent on their projects.
I gravitated toward the exhibits that I am most interested in - Math, Physics and Computer Science - and was really impressed by the quality of science these kids were doing.
There were a lot of interesting projects such as the student from Puerto Rico who hypothesized (and substantiated) that Baby Changing Stations are more of an Infection Zone than a Hygiene Zone. Yuck.
Since I am webmaster of ClevelandSeniors.Com I was interested in some of the gerontology projects. A girl from Brazil had some interesting results on quality of life issues for seniors. My limited (OK non-existent) Portuguese language skills prevented much of a discussion though.
I was also happy to see some future scientists in a special Minority Section. Justin Thomas from Grace Mount Elementary is only 10 years old. His project verified his hypothesis that a basketball with more air will bounce higher than a ball with less air.
It may seem trivial but he capably explained the entire process - hypothesis, recording instruments, data capture and analysis. Not bad fgor a 10 year old.
Check out the blog of one of the attendees - Scott from Syracuse NY to get a feel for the event.
See some Pictures of the SF
1:45:33 PM 
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