ISEF Rallied Support From Detroit Business Leaders
10 May 2000
ISEF Rallied Support From Detroit Business Leaders
DETROIT--May 9, 2000--Detroit's dream of hosting the first Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) of the new millennium was a 13-year process that rallied support from the city's corporate leadership.The 51st annual ISEF is being held May 7 to 12 at Detroit's Cobo Convention Center. The Motor City last hosted ISEF in 1968, but it was not until 1987 that planning began to bring the international science fair back, said Timothy A. Fino, general chair of the ISEF 2000 Host Committee. The city got the nod in 1991 to host ISEF from the Science Service, the nonprofit agency based in Washington, D.C., that has overseen ISEF since its creation in 1950.
"The international science fair does not have a permanent home," Fino noted. "It goes from city to city. Last year, ISEF was held in Philadelphia. Next year it will be in San Jose, Calif., and the year after that, it will be in Portland, Ore.
"It was unheard of for the Science Service to give us a contract so far in advance, but because we had such a strong, locally-based effort and wanted to do it at the beginning of the new millennium, they gave it to us."
The task of bringing the fair to Detroit was enormous, but it is expected to pump $8 million into the local economy and highlight the city's accomplishments on the eve of its 300th birthday in 2001. ISEF brings more than 5,000 students, teachers, student observers, chaperones and mentors to the Cobo Convention and Exposition Center in downtown Detroit.
Student participants will be coming from 48 of the 50 states in the United States plus more than 40 countries, including: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Brazil, England, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, China, South Africa, and Venezuela.
About 1,100 judges -- many from Detroit area hospitals, universities and corporations -- will be evaluating student projects and picking winners in 15 categories.
The logistics of bringing ISEF to Detroit also meant that hotel rooms had to be reserved for the attendees, tours organized for students and their mentors, introduction and awards dinners planned, transportation arranged -- all of which cost money.
Shortly after he retired as chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors Corporation, Robert C. Stempel volunteered to help make the fair a reality. Stempel promptly rallied the CEOs of Ford Motor Company, GM and Chrysler Corporation behind the cause and according to Fino, "that's what really got the whole thing rolling."
Stempel, now chairman of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., of Troy, is honorary co-chairman of ISEF 2000 along with the leaders of the Big Three and Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer. The ISEF 2000 fund raising effort organized by Stempel led to the creation of the FutureLINK Campaign. FutureLINK was started in April 1997 to raise $5 million. The goal was not only to fund ISEF 2000, but was used to create endowments to promote mathematics, science and engineering education in southeast Michigan, according to Erica Gordon, executive director of the Engineering Society of Detroit (ESD), which is based in Southfield, Mich.
"The FutureLINK Campaign will raise $2.5 million to create an endowment for the local science fair (the Science and Engineering Fair of Metropolitan Detroit), while $1.2 million will go to fund ISEF and another $1.3 million will endow the Engineering and Science Development Foundation," Gordon said. The Engineering and Science Development Foundation endowment will help pay for the educational efforts of ESD-The Engineering Society, including the New Directions in Math & Science Conference, the Engineering and Science Fellowship and other notable programs.
The leading contributors to FutureLINK have been General Motors Challenge Grant, $1 million; Ford Motor Company Fund, $750,000; and DaimlerChrysler, $350,000. Other major contributors have included Detroit Edison Foundation, GE Automotive, Meritor Automotive, Denso International America, Thyssen Inc., NA, Robert Bosch Corporation, the Donald and Jo Anne Petersen Foundation and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
A host of other major corporations, medical service organizations and individuals have pitched in as well. FutureLINK's "Dean's List" of sponsors ($10,000-$49,000) includes Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan, the Budd Company, the Charles DeVlieg Foundation, Delphi Automotive, the Detroit Medical Center, Don Massey Cadillac, Eaton Corporation, First of America-Michigan, the Sylvia and Edward Hagenlocker Fund, Henry Ford Health System, Marian and Harold A. Poling Fund, Progressive Tool & Industries Company, St. John Health System, the TRW Foundation, William Beaumont Hospital and World Heritage Foundation.
A number of companies also provided volunteers and support for programs and events at ISEF 2000 itself. Jabil Circuit, for example, stepped in to provide refreshments and materials for ISEF 2000's international pressroom, which this week will host journalists from around the world.
"Students who participate in the ISEF movement quickly learn that careers in engineering and science can be fun and that math and physics do have a place in this world," Stempel said. "Teachers also can use participation in science fairs to motivate their students."
Stempel said his first experience with science fairs came when he was an adult and his youngest son had a project to work on. "When I went to the fair, I found out that there was a whole host of adults who were involved, serving as mentors, counselors and judges. My son's project eventually led to a career in architecture."
The importance of bringing ISEF 2000 to Detroit has not been lost on the leaders of the world's major automakers. Ford President and Chief Executive Officer Jacques A. Nasser said: "Ford Motor Company is proud to support the 51st International Science and Engineering Fair, and we are particularly pleased that the first fair of the new millennium is being held in Detroit."
"The United States has many centers of excellence in science and engineering, but Detroit remains the undisputed automotive capital of the world," Nasser added. "Increasingly, our industry is winning recognition for the unique convergence of a broad range of sophisticated technologies that make today's cars and trucks possible. As the Internet age unfolds, Detroit and the automotive industries that bring it fame stand to benefit in ways that few of us could have imagined only a few short years ago. It is highly appropriate that this year's fair has chosen Detroit as its home, and we at Ford Motor Company extend our best wishes for every success."