Prominent Scientist and Inventor to Address Students at State Science Competition
Joe DeSimone
March 17, 2010
Tom Williams, SMT Center
Joe DeSimone will be the keynote speaker at the NC Student Academy of Science’s annual meeting and student competition on Friday, March 26, at the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham. About 100 middle and high school students from throughout the state will showcase their original science research papers and give an oral presentation. The awards ceremony is open to the public from 8:30 pm to 9:30 p.m.
Dr. Desimone recently won the prestigious Lemelson Prize for invention and holds over 115 patents. He is renowned for his work combining polymer chemistry and technology into innovative products for drug delivery and green manufacturing. The title of his talk at the NCSAS meeting is “Nanomaterials: Bench to Market. Using the fabrication technologies from the microelectronics industry to make high uniform, shape-specific carriers for drug delivery and vaccines." He is scheduled to speak at 3 p.m.
“These students have all competed at the District level and won the right to participate in the State Competition,” said Steve Warshaw, director of NCSAS. “We’re very excited that so many students are doing science research across the state and look forward to fostering that activity.”
According to Warshaw, NCSAS is the only competition in the state for pre-college students in which a research paper and an oral presentation are judged by scientific researchers. The 55 judges for the NCSAS competition are recruited from local universities and companies who are either active or retired from the science field.
“The NCSAS is a great opportunity to nurture young people’s interest in science through actual research. It takes students beyond the textbook and into a more hands-on experience,” said Sam Houston, president and CEO of the North Carolina Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Center (SMT Center). “After the competition, students can interact with the judges over dinner and learn more about potential careers in science.” The SMT Center’s support for science competitions includes recruiting and providing training for scientists and engineers to serve as judges at the NC Student Science Academy as well as local and regional competitions.
Students who will compete in the NCSAS competition were selected from eight district competitions that took place throughout the state earlier this year. Selected District winners are being honored at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Academy of Science at Guilford College on March 27th. State Competition winners will receive medals and gift cards. Students with the most outstanding papers receive expense-paid trips to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)/American Junior Academy of Science meetings in Washington, DC next February. Mini-grants are also awarded to students to continue their research. One student will be given a $1,000 college scholarship and, through NCSAS’s affiliation with the NC Academy of Science, two students will be awarded honorary membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
NCSAS is an organization for students in grades 6-12 in alliance with the North Carolina Academy of Science (NCAS). Its objectives are to promote the study of science, technology, and mathematics; assist students to pursue careers in science and technology, and encourage students to use their talents for the improvement of themselves, their schools, and their communities.
Further information about the NCSAS meeting and competition may also be obtained at www.ncsas.org
