2009 ExploraVision Science Competition Regional Winners Named

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Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association have announced the Regional winners in the 2009 ExploraVision Awards Program. The annual student science competition, now in its 17th year, offers prizes of up to $10,000 in savings bonds for the winners.

In the ExploraVision competition, students teams (along with a coach and mentor) choose a technology that's currently in use and explore what the technology does and how it came about; then they imagine the possibilities of what that technology could be like in the future and what problems it could solve that it doesn't solve now. To date, some 250,000 students and 20,000 teachers from more than 17,000 schools have participated in the competition.

There are two phases in the competition. In the first phase, 24 teams are named Regional winners and advance to the second phase. First-phase winners were chosen in each of the designated Regions in which the competition took place. Winners from the first phase receive a gift and win a Toshiba laptop and software for their schools.

This year's 24 Regional winners, according to organizers, "included a host of potential future breakthroughs that could help make the world a better, safer and more environmentally-friendly place. Ideas range from energy-saving technologies such as asphalt roads that collect solar energy to innovative medical and health treatments, breakthroughs that could enhance the quality of life and even a potential solution for the steroid abuse problem in professional sports! The students’ winning projects reflected ongoing research in the fields of nanotechnology, gene research, energy-harnessing techniques and more."

In the second phase, teams will create a Web site showcasing their projects. Judges will then choose eight winning national teams. Members of the four first-place teams each receive a $10,000 savings bond. Second-place winners receive a $5,000 savings bond. National winners will be named in May.

Further information can be found on ExploraVision's site here.

Extra Credit
ExploraVision 2009 Regional Winners

The following schools will move on to the second phase of the 2009 ExploraVision program, competing for $60,000 in prizes. (List supplied by ExploraVision organizers.)

Region 1: New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Grade K-3: Hips For Life (HFL)
Batchelder School; North Reading, MA

Grade 4-6: Flexibone
Plainview Old Bethpage Middle School; Plainview, NY

Grade 7-9: A Better Method of Testing for Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports: Nanobiosensors - A Lab on a Chip
North Shore Hebrew Academy High School; Great Neck, NY

Grade 10-12: Carbon Nanotube Gecko Adhesives
Jericho High School; Jericho, NY

Region 2: Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C, Armed Forces America, Armed Forces Europe and Armed Forces Pacific.

Grade K-3: HoloSmart Paper (Portable Smartboard)
Redeemer Lutheran; Oakmont, PA

Grade 4-6: J.E.T. Stand
Northside Elementary; Palmyra, PA

Grade 7-9: OPEGS--Oscillation Powered Energy Generation System
Merion Mercy Academy; Merion Station, PA

Grade 10-12: CHANGE: Counteracting HIV/AIDS through New Gene Enhancement
Manalapan High School; Englishtown, NJ

Region 3: North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Grade K-3: The EpiWatch
Home School; Land O Lakes, FL

Grade 4-6: Ener-bahn
Guy B. Phillips Middle School; Chapel Hill, NC

Grade 7-9: The ReTree
Thomasville High Scholars Academy; Thomasville, GA

Grade 10-12: Lumos
Green Hope High School; Cary, NC

Region 4: Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota and North Dakota, as well as Canada.

Grade K-3: Plastron 5000
Western Row Elementary; Mason, OH

Grade 4-6: A.L.B.E.R.T.
Burnside Scholastic Academy; Chicago, IL

Grade 7-9: SIHINS: Self Implanting Hemostasis Inducing Nano System
W.H. Morden P.S.; Oakville, Ontario

Grade 10-12: HEARTt: sHDL Enabled Atheroma Reverse Transport Technology
University Laboratory High School; Urbana, IL

Region 5: Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, as well as the Northern Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands, Palau and Micronesia. (American Samoa and Guam are included.)

Grade K-3: N.T.C.--No Texting Chip
John Ross Elementary; Edmond, OK

Grade 4-6: W.A.T.E.R.--We All Transform Environmental Refuse
Joe Dan Mills Elementary; Austin, TX

Grade 7-9: S.I.C.
Saint Henry School; Nashville, TN

Grade 10-12: ECO (Emissions Control Options)
Bartlesville High School; Bartlesville, OK

Region 6: California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Hawaii, Wyoming, Montana and Utah.

Grade K-3: Project CTRIC Pathways
Westwood Basics Plus; Irvine, CA

Grade 4-6: The Smart Cane
Fairmont Private Schools; Anaheim, CA

Grade 7-9: S.M.A.R.T. Paint
West Salem High School; Salem, OR

Grade 10-12: Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) Therapy
Crystal Springs Upland School; Hillsborough, CA

--D. Nagel

 

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