Judging At Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
9 May 2000
Judging At Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
DETROIT--May 9, 2000--The 51st annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is actually 14 competitions in one.ISEF, taking place May 7 - 12 at Detroit's Cobo Convention Center, has drawn nearly 1,500 students, ages 14 - 20, who were winners in regional science fairs from throughout the United States and 42 other countries.
The finalists are competing for nearly $2 million worth of scholarships, grants and awards with science projects grouped into the following categories: Behavioral and Social Sciences, Biochemistry, Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth and Space Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Science, Gerontology, Mathematics, Medicine and Health, Microbiology, Physics and Zoology.
"Some of the student projects may weigh up to 500 pounds," said Timothy A. Fino, president of ISEF 2000 and general chairman of the event. "Most projects weigh 50 pounds or less and are displayed on a foam core board or on laptop computers."
Do they need to be elaborate? "No, they don't," Fino said. "In fact, super-elaborate displays may not impress the judges. As a judge in the local Detroit science fair, I'm not impressed with elaborate projects. I weigh scores more on what the student tells me during the interview process than what's displayed. Some students are beginning to realize that many judges feel this way, but the old generation still feels that they have to have the best-looking and most elaborate display to win, but that is not correct.
"The judges are charged with trying to determine how much work the student really did on a project as opposed to what the student's teachers, mentors or parents may have done. Did he build it or did his mentor? Did he write the report or did his parents? I am confident that the judges will ask all of the necessary probing questions."
There will be 1,100 judges examining science fair projects and interviewing students at ISEF 2000. They are professional engineers, doctors, dentists and chemists with Ph.D.s or at least six years of experience in their fields.
Some of the key people behind the ISEF 2000 judging process are: Dean Leo Hannifin, University of Detroit-Mercy, College of Engineering, responsible for getting engineering judges; Dr. Mike Canjar, chairman of the Mathmatics Department at University of Detroit-Mercy, responsible for recruiting mathematics judges; Don Smolenski of General Motors, overall co-chair for ISEF judges, and Dr. David Piper of St. John's Hospital, the lead judge in medicine and health.
Although many of the judges were recruited from Detroit-area companies and universities, about 400 individuals have come from outside of Michigan, representing the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, waste management companies, and other civic and science institutions and universities.
"About one-third of the fair's participants will receive one kind of award or another," Fino said. "The awards range from $5,000 for a first-place showing -- and there are, sometimes, multiple first-place awards given out -- to the grand prize, a trip to the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Sweden, as well as a month-long trip to the Weismann Institute in Israel, a trip with the American Geological Society, a week on a submarine, a week in Japan, and two four-year, all-expense paid, scholarships to a variety of universities.
"The exhibit floor at Cobo Center will be closed to students and the media after 5 p.m. on Wednesday, when our judges will decide which projects win awards."
A Special Awards and College Scholarship Ceremony will be held Thursday, May 11, 8-10 p.m. in Cobo Arena at the Cobo Convention Center, following a black-tie optional dinner, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
A Government Awards Ceremony will be held Friday, May 12, 8-10 a.m. at Cobo Arena. The Grand Award Ceremony will be held Friday, May 12, 1-3:30p.m., at which time the final awards will be given out in Cobo Arena.