Pope Co. students eligible for UALR science fairs | Schools

UALR Hosts Central Arkansas Science Fairs

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Feb. 9, 2012) – UALR’s College of Science and Mathematics will host three regional science fairs – the Central Arkansas Regional Science and Engineering Fair , the Junior Academy of Science Central Arkansas Regional Fair, and the American Chemical Society Chemistry Olympiad – on Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3, offering competition for both middle- and high school students.

The two fairs will be day-long competitions from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Friday, March 2, in the Donaghey Student Center. The Olympiad will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3, in the UALR Science Lab Building Room 280. It is open to all chemistry students nominated by their teacher.

Public, private, and home-schooled students from the counties of Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Lonoke, Monroe, Perry, Pope, Prairie, Pulaski, Van Buren, White, Woodruff, and Yell are eligible for the CARSEF’s two levels of competition. The Junior Division is open to students in grades five to nine. The Senior Division is open to students in grades nine to 12.

“Large, urban schools should have a school science fair and select category winners prior to registering students for CARSEF and each is invited to bring their first, second, third and honorable mention winners in each category from their school fair,” said Keith Harris, fair director and a research associate in UALR’s Department of Teacher Education.

“Students from a small school that does not have lots of participation in a science fair, a school fair is not required. We want to encourage the small schools from our rural counties to participate and bring as many students as they can to CARSEF.”

The CARSEF event will accept projects in International Science and Engineering Fair categories found on the website.

The Junior Academy of Science offers separate junior and senior divisions for students in  Conway, Faulkner, Logan, Lonoke, Monroe, Perry, Poke, Prairie, Pulaski, and Yell counties.

“We encourage participation by all schools, both public and private, in these counties,” said Junior Academy of Science Director Marian Douglas,  an instructor in UALR’s  Department of Chemistry. “To participate in the Central Arkansas Regional Fair, students must have won First, Second, or Third Place at the local level.”

Categories for the Junior Academy Science competition includes behavioral and social sciences, biochemistry, botany, chemistry, computer science, earth and space science, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, medicine and health, microbiology, physics, and zoology.

Information about entry fees and application forms can be found on the competition website at ualr.edu/csam/index.php/home/ar-jr-academy-of-science/.

Douglas, local section coordinator of the Chemistry Olympiad, said any high school chemistry student in the central Arkansas region can compete in the contest by being nominated by a high school chemistry teacher. The olympiad is sponsored by the Central Arkansas Section of the American Chemical Society.

The March 2-3 olympiad will identify the top 10 students from the region. They will return to UALR in April to take the national exam to qualify for the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad team that will compete in the 44th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) in Washington, D.C., from July 21 to 30.

The IChO involves a series of theoretical exams, laboratory exercises and other activities aimed at identifying the best chemistry students from participating nations from around the world. The U.S. has participated in the event since 1984.

Founded in 1876 and chartered by Congress, the American Chemical Society is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization dedicated to the advancement
of chemistry in the public interest. The Central Arkansas Section is one of 189 across the nation serving more than 160,000 members.

For more information about the Olympiad, contact Douglas at msdouglas@ualr.edu or 501-569-8826.