AUSTIN, Texas—The University of Texas at Austin will host one of six regional contests occurring nationally as part of the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. The competition will be held Friday and Saturday (Nov. 15-16) at the university’s Applied Computational Engineering and Sciences (ACES) Building. (Maps of the university are available online.)
Six Texas students will be among 14 competing locally for prizes, which will include $3,000 college scholarships and a silver medal. Another student from Austin will compete at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind. Individual and team winners from the regional competitions will then compete in Washington, D.C., Dec. 6-9, for scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.
Area students have been among recent regional competition winners. Last year’s Southwest Regional Finals winner for individual projects was Debra T. Hsiung from the Health Careers High School in San Antonio. Samuel Chang from the Science Academy of Austin won the same spot in the 2000 regional competition.
Vlad A. Codrea from Lyndon Baines Johnson High School in Austin will compete at Notre Dame this Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile, a classmate of his will be among those competing in the Southwest Regional Finals in Austin.
This year’s local regional finalists are:
- Hannah Chung from Lyndon Baines Johnson High School in Austin
- Mengfei Huang from Bellaire Senior High School in Bellaire
- Bryce K. Campbell, The Academy of Science and Technology at Oak Ridge High School, Conroe
- Alan Taylor from Klein High School in Klein
- Jeremy T. Warshauer from San Marcos High School in San Marcos
- Madelyn M. Ho from William P. Clements High School in Sugar Land
- Mark M. Mazumder of Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Ark.
- Joan M. Goldsworthy of Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque, N.M.
- Joelle L. Jones of Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque, N.M.
- Naveen N. Sinha of Los Alamos High School in Los Alamos, N.M.
- Heather L. Wood of Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque, N.M.
- Lenny Slutsky of Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, N.Y.
- Nhi Luu of Yukon High School in Yukon, Okla.
- Bethany Kindiger (home school) of El Reno, Okla.
The finalists developed individual or team research projects in mathematics or the physical or biological sciences. Posters of their projects will be on display Friday and Saturday, and the winners will be announced Saturday evening. Faculty from the university’s College of Natural Sciences will judge the research projects in the contest, which is administered by the College Board and Educational Testing Service.
The five other regional competitions will occur at Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Notre Dame. The contests are part of the Siemens Foundation educational efforts, which provide more than $1 million annually in college scholarships and awards to U.S. high school students.
For more information contact: Barbra Rodriguez, media relations director, College of Natural Sciences, 512-232-0675; Jim Miller, 201-886-8469; or Julie Foo, 212-261-4216, Dentsu Communications.