400 Middle-, High-School Students Travel to UA for Science Olympiad

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — More than 400 students are expected to participate in the 2014 regional Science Olympiad competition at The University of Alabama Saturday, Feb. 22, beginning at 9 a.m.

Science Olympiad is an international non-profit organization founded in 1982 that promotes teamwork in the disciplines of life science, earth and space science, physical science, chemistry, technology and engineering among elementary-, middle- and high-school students. The regional competition for middle- and high-school students, hosted by UA, is just one of many taking place across the country.

Winners advance to compete in state and national competitions. More than 12,000 schools from all 50 states participate in Science Olympiad events each year.

Events scheduled for middle-school students include competitions in anatomy, entomology, experimental design, heredity, boomilever, helicopters, disease detectives and more. A complete list of middle-school events can be found here.

In the high-school division, students can compete in elastic gliders, forensics, geologic mapping, technical problem solving, compound machines, experimental design and more. A complete list of high school events can be found here.

The competition will conclude with two awards presentations at 3:15 p.m. in the Ferguson Center Theatre and in room 127 of the Biology Building on the UA campus.

Alabama schools that have registered to participate in this year’s event include Clay-Chalkville Middle School, Collins-Riverside Middle School, Hewitt-Trussville Middle School, Hueytown Middle School, Huffman Middle School, Jefferson Christian Academy, Our Lady of the Valley, Pleasant Grove Middle School, Riverchase Middle School, Winfield Middle School, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Auburn High School, Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School, Clay-Chalkville High School, Holy Spirit High School, Lamp Magnet High School, Meek High School, Minor High School, Muscle Shoals High School and Prattville High School.

For more information, visit http://scienceolympiad.as.ua.edu/.

UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering are co-hosting the competition.

UA’s College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has nearly 4,500 students and about 120 faculty. Students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater, Hollings, Portz and Truman scholars.

Contact

Stephanie Brumfield, communications specialist, College of Arts and Sciences, 205/348-8539, stephanie.brumfield@ua.edu

Source

Dr. Luoheng Han, coordinator and associate dean, College of Arts and Sciences, lhan@as.ua.edu