AUSTIN, Texas—Five Texas high school students have been selected to compete in the regional Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition to be held at The University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin will assist in judging, planning and administering one of six regional competitions to be held nationwide.
The competition will take place at the Joe C. Thompson Conference Center on the UT Austin campus on Nov. 17-18.
The Texas students include Samuel Chang of Austin’s LBJ High School, Chandan Das of Tyler’s Lee High School, Haley Hagg of Corpus Christi, Ketul Parikh of Dallas and Shaun Stewart of Sherman, all of whom attend the Texas Academy Math & Science in Denton. They will compete against students from several other states.
The Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition is the national million-dollar scholarship and awards program developed by the Siemens Foundation to promote and advance math and science education in America. The competition, in its second year, is open to individuals and teams of high school students who develop independent research projects in the physical or biological sciences, or mathematics.
The Siemens Foundation is the non-profit organization established by the global technology company Siemens.
The scholarship prize for each regional individual winner totals $20,000, while all participants receive $3,000 scholarships. Regional team winners divide $20,000, with all participants dividing $3,000 scholarships. Each of the Texans contestants is competing in the individual category.
UT Austin will host student competitors and their chaperones at on-campus activities, science and technology-related demonstrations and tours of university laboratories and facilities. UT Austin faculty from various science and mathematics-related disciplines will serve on judging panels for the competition.
Dr. Larry R. Faulkner, UT Austin president, said: “This partnership between Siemens and The University of Texas at Austin is helping to sustain and support bright and talented students who will shape the 21st century. The University is eager to reach out to high school students to encourage their interest in math and science.”
The Siemens Foundation is dedicated to providing scholarships and increasing access to higher education for students who are gifted in the sciences, and in mathematics and technology-related disciplines. Established in 1998 to promote and support educational activities, the Siemens Foundation recognizes and supports America’s most promising math and science students and teachers, as well as schools that are doing the most to promote education in the hard sciences.
Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Notre Dame, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) also will host the regional events. The national competition will be held Dec. 9 -11 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.
For more information, contact Mary Lenz at the UT Austin Office of Public Affairs (512) 471-3151.
