In keeping with this week's unofficial theme of wibbling about academia, there's an article at The Nation about the evils of graduate school that's prompted some discussion. Sean says more or less what I would, though maybe a little more nicely than I would.
I wouldn't bother to comment further, except this spurred Sean to solicit career advice for scientists looking to leave the academic track. Which reminded me that a couple of years ago, I did a bloggy Project for Non-Academic Science (name chosen to have the same acronym as a prestigious journal, because it amused me to do so), where I…
Profiles
Earlier last week, we had the privilege to speak with Chang Liu, a first-time Intel ISEF finalist from Beijing, about her project and her impressions of the US and the Fair.
The short Q&A is below the fold.
Q: First, could you tell me your name, where you're from, and how old you are?
A: My name is Chang Liu, I'm from Beijing, China, and I'm already 18 years old.
Q: How did you come to be here at ISEF today? What was your path?
A: When I was small I liked to watch TV like Nova and the Discovery Channel and so on, and later in my high school years, my school had sent me to a research…
It's the night before the Intel ISEF judges inspect his work, and Ralph Jennings of Atlanta, GA has many sheets of paper left to fold.
Meredith MacGregor of Boulder, Colorado was one of the three winners of the 2006 Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award, which includes a $50,000 college scholarship. We spoke with her about her research studying the "Brazil Nut Effect."
A week before Albuquerque began, six Intel ISEF finalists and alumni from Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York spoke to us about research and the road to the Fair.
The Student Pin Exchange is two hours away, but finalists have already broken out their cultural booty to swap in the aisles between their projects.
It's not just students who collect and exchange pins, though. For example, check out our friend Bill Chown:
We caught up with another compulsive pin-hoarder, John Turner, and asked him a few questions about the habit. The Q&A is below the fold.
Q: Can you tell us your name and where you're from?
A: My name's John Turner, I'm from San Jose, California, and I'm on the Host Committee. We're putting on the 2010 international science fair. That'…
In 2006, Shannon Babb won both first prize at the Intel Science Talent Search (STS) and the prestigious Seaborg Award at Intel Intel ISEF for her work tracking water quality around her home in Utah. The Seaborg Award allowed her to travel to the 2006 Nobel Prizes in Stockholm, Sweden. Shannon is currently a freshman in Watershed Sciences at Utah State University.
We spoke with her last week about her Intel ISEF experiences.
Q: What are you currently working on at Utah State?
A: I'm researching paleoclimate indicators and paleocurrents in the Neoproterozoic Era, so I'm working with about 1-…