DoDDS-Europe will host its 33rd Junior Science and Humanities Symposium from Tuesday March 6 through Thursday March 8 in Heidelberg, Germany. The symposium is one of the many outstanding student activities that enrich the educational experience of DoDDS-E children. It is open to all students in seventh through 12th grade.

The 2007 JSHS will bring together 90 middle and high school students from throughout Europe, along with their teachers and mentors. Presentations of the students’ scientific work will be made both orally and in the form of posters. A dozen of the finalists will receive small monetary awards for their research and presentation. The top five awardees will receive scholarship awards and/or an expenses paid trip to compete at the national competition, to be held in May at the Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center in Huntsville, Ala. Winners at the national level can expect to benefit from substantial scholarship awards to further their education.

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposia Program is jointly sponsored by the United States Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, in cooperation with leading research universities throughout the nation. Middle school and high school oral and poster presentations will be conducted all three days of the symposium. An awards and scholarship presentation ceremony will take place March 8.

Dr. Gorden Videen of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md., will deliver the keynote address. He holds a PhD in optics from the University of Arizona, and his postdoctoral research at Dalhousie University and the White Sands Missile Range focused on mirrors, atmospheric aerosols and the detection of atmospheric aerosol threats. He has published extensively on experimental, theoretical and computational aspects of light scattering. Dr. Videen also works for the Space Science Institute analyzing Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars, and is presently on sabbatical at the University of Amsterdam.

A field trip will take students to the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim, Germany.

Lt. Col. Paul Bliese, Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe, will assist in judging the oral presentations of seniors. DoDDS-E science instructors John Hartman of Lakenheath Middle School and Christine Arnold of Sigonella Middle-High School will be keynote speakers on the symposium’s closing day. Both were selected last year as National Jason Argonaut Teachers, two of only three teachers chosen nationwide for that prestigious distinction. They will address the connection between the science students learn in school and the work scientists do in the field.

FOR BACKGROUND ON THE JSHS, GO TO: http://www.jshs.org

FOR INFORMATION ON THE AUTO & TECHNIK MUSEUM IN SINSHEIM, GO TO:
http://www.technik-museum.de/uk/sinsheim/

TO ARRANGE COVERAGE AND INTERVIEWS, CONTACT:

Ms. Lynn Smith
DoDDS-Europe Instructional Support Specialist for High Schools
DSN: 338-7804
CIV: +49 (0) 611 380-7804
MOBILE: +49 (0) 172-702-0620
EMAIL: lynn.smith@eu.dodea.edu

Ms. Sadie Fairley
DoDDS-Europe Instructional Support Specialist for Middle Schools
DSN: 338-7801
CIV: +49 (0) 611 380-7801
EMAIL: sadie.fairley@eu.dodea.edu

David Ruderman
Deputy Public Affairs Officer
Office of the Director
DoDDS-Europe
DSN 338-7613/7614
CIV (49) 0611-380-7613/7614
FAX: DSN 338-7685 CIV 0611-380-7685
david.ruderman@eu.dodea.edu

"MATH MATTERS"