Student Teams from Massachusetts Win Energy Department’s 22nd National Science Bowl

Posted by jcashman

Underscoring the Obama Administration’s investments in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and ensuring educational opportunities are available to students across the nation, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that Lexington High School from Lexington, Massachusetts, and Hopkins Junior High School from Fremont, California, won the 2012 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Science Bowl today at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Nearly 14,000 students have competed in regional tournaments since January, in which teams of four or five students were tested via a fast-paced Jeopardy-style format on a range of science-related topics including biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, astronomy and math. Beginning last Saturday, 113 regional middle and high school finalists competed in the Energy Department’s National Science Bowl Finals in Washington, D.C.

“Congratulations to the finalists of our 22nd annual Science Bowl, who represent some of America’s most promising future leaders in science, technology, engineering and math,” said Secretary Chu. “At a time when the Obama Administration is working to keep college affordable and expand opportunities for American families nationwide, these students represent the next generation of American innovators who will help to make sure America stays competitive in a rapidly advancing world.”

At the National Science Bowl Finals awards ceremony today, Secretary Chu spoke to the more than 500 students and 100 teachers and coaches about the importance of science education to the Nation’s economic and technological future. Secretary Chu also judged the two championship matches. During the high school match, Lexington defeated North Hollywood from California by correctly answering a visual bonus biology question. Hopkins Junior High School defeated Longfellow Middle School from Falls Church, Virginia, in the middle school national championship match.

The high school national champion receives an all-expense paid nine-day educational excursion in Alaska. The members of the winning high school team are Alan Zhou, Julia Leung, Jonathan Tidor, Zaroug Jaleel and Matthew Arbesfeld, and they are coached by Nicholas Gould. Members of the winning middle school team are Catherine Zeng, Brian Tseng, Karthik Bharathala, Mark Choi, and Dhruv Muley, and they are coached by  Paul Ricks.

DOE created the National Science Bowl in 1991 to encourage students to excel in mathematics and science and to pursue careers in these fields. DOE supports mathematics and science education to help provide a technically trained and diverse workforce for the nation. More than 200,000 students have participated in the National Science Bowl throughout its 21 year history.

High School Results:

The second place team was North Hollywood High School from California. Team members are Daniel Bork, Rain Tsong, Vivek Banejee, Kennedy Agwamaba and Chiyoung Kim, and coaches are Altair Maine and Len Soloff. The team won a fully guided adventure tour of Great Salt Lake Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Teton National Park.

The third place team was Mira Loma High School from Sacramento, California. Team members are Sharath Reddy, Saaket Agrawal, Siddharth Trehan, Jacky Fu, Rohan Deshpande, and the coach is James Hill.

The fourth place team was Morgantown High School from Morgantown, West Virginia. Team members are Nima Ronaghi, Samet Demircan, Deve Someshwar, Shiv Sunil, Andrew Maloney, and the coach is Joe Melia.

Mississippi School for Math and Science from Columbus, Miss., won the High School Science Bowl Civility Award for outstanding sportsmanship. Team members are Charlotte Wang, Anna Liang, Benny Zhang, Daniel Hammer, Mikhail Gaerlan, and the coach is Dennis Reed. Each member of the team will receive a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com and a gift pack from IBM, as well as $500 for their school’s science department.

Middle School Results:

The second place team was Longfellow Middle School from Falls Church, Virginia. Team members are Keaton Lee, Beau Tyler, Kunal Naik, Ross Dempsey, Tarun Kamath, and Ryan Golant, and the coach is Jim Bradford.

The third place team was Seattle Science Infinity Club from Bellevue, Washington. Team members are Abhinand Sivaprasad, Aditya Murali, Suvansh Qazi Sanjeev, Tejas Bharadwaj, Gokul Gowri, and the coach is Sivaprasad Padisetty.

The fourth place team was Treasure Valley Math and Science Center from Boise, Idaho. Team members are Nate Marshall, Luke Harmon, Ben Huang, Karthik Mouli, Ryan Zubery and the coach is Jan Poppenga.

Calloway County Middle School from Murray, Kentucky, won the Middle School Science Bowl Civility Award for outstanding sportsmanship. Team members are Martin Mikulcik, Bobbi Brashear, Sam Morehead, Claire Umstead, Jaewon Kang, and the coaches are Scott Pile and Beth Morehead. Each member of the team will receive a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com and a gift pack from IBM as well as $500 for their school’s science department.

Daniel Wright Middle School from Lincolnshire, Illinois, raced the fastest car during the Lithium-Ion Battery Powered Model Car Competition, in which all National Science Bowl middle school teams designed, built, and raced model cars powered by lithium-ion batteries. Trinity Junior High School from Fort Smith, Arkansas, won the design portion of the car competition. Both teams received $500 for their schools’ science departments.

The top 16 high school and 8 middle school teams received a cash prize of $1,000 for their schools’ science departments.

The remaining 12 high school teams on that list are:

• Amarillo High School (Amarillo, Texas)

• Cypress Bay High School (Weston, Florida)

• duPont Manual High School (Louisville, Kentucky)

• Hunter College High School (New York City, New York)

• Illinois Math and Science Academy (Aurora, Illinois)

• Liberal Arts and Science Academy (Austin, Texas)

• Los Alamos High School (Los Alamos, New Mexico)

• Montgomery Blair High School (Silver Spring, Maryland)

• North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (Durham, North Carolina)

• Princeton High School (Princeton, New Jersey)

• Pullman High School (Pullman, Washington)

• Treasure Valley Math and Science Center (Boise, Idaho)

The remaining four middle school teams on that list are:

• Harker School (San Jose, California)

• Quail Valley Middle School Academy for the Gifted & Talented (Missouri City, Texas)

• Shahala Middle School (Vancouver, Washington)

• Van Antwerp Middle School (Niskayuna, New York)

DOE’s Office of Science manages the DOE National Science Bowl. This year’s sponsors range from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. An archived video streaming webcast will be available this afternoon at: http://science.energy.gov/nsb/. Broadcast quality B-roll video of the Science Bowl events, biographical information on the teams and additional information about the National Science Bowl are available at: http://science.energy.gov/nsb/news-media/.

 

Related posts:

1. No gimmick New York Giants arrive at Super Bowl
2. Governor Patrick Breaks Ground on Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Center for Science and Innovation
3. Bundchen causes stir at Super Bowl from afar; Her leaked email
4. The Cape Wind-National Grid Contract: A Renewable Energy Windfall or a Money-Sucking Misstep?
5. MA Lieutenant Governor Murray Launches ‘Wow Initiative’ to Promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education

Short URL: http://www.newenglandpost.com/?p=8990