UF to host hundreds for three-day science symposium

January 28, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A “smorgasbord of science” for the conscientious and the curious, next week’s Junior Science Engineering and Humanities Symposium will provide a three-day, insider’s glimpse into the professional world of scientific research that will culminate in a research presentation scholarship competition.

“It truly is a celebration of all aspects of science,” said Deborah Paulin, director of the symposium. “The participant experience here expands the scientific knowledge base and prompts more relevant discussion in the classroom and the community.”

From Sunday through Tuesday, approximately 300 participants, mostly seventh- through 12th-grade students, will become submersed in the university’s science research environment. Faculty lectures, lab tours, a UF Symphony performance, student and teacher presentations and a UF faculty-judged student research competition round out an aggressively scheduled symposium.

For 22 outstanding Florida high school students, the 2009 JSEHS is much more than an interesting educational opportunity. Dressed in professional attire, with jump drives in hand and scholarship money to be won, they will condense years of original scientific research into 10- minute presentations. Judged by a panel of UF faculty researchers, the student researcher must be prepared to answer off-the-cuff questions posed by panel members.

The symposium is a three-day regional meeting and competition that has been hosted by UF Center for Precollegiate Education and Training since 1963. The program is sponsored in part by the United States Department of Defense, the Academy of Applied Science, and the National Junior Science and Engineering Symposium. Past Florida JSEHS speaker winners have gone on to place nationally and attend the London International Youth Forum in London, England. Speaker nominations must be received by November prior to the symposium.

For more information contact Deborah Paulin at 352-392-2310 or e-mail deborahp@cpet.ufl.edu. The UF Center for Precollegiate Education and Training can be found online at: http://www.cpet.ufl.edu.