Missouri Southern Regional Science Fair scheduled

(From Southern News Service)

The 29th annual Missouri Southern Regional Science Fair (MSRSF) will be held Tuesday, March 27, in the third floor ballroom of Billingsly Student Center at Missouri Southern State University.

The competition for high-school and middle-school students is affiliated with the Society for Science and the Public. Individual or team (middle-school only) projects are accepted from: Vernon, Barton, Jasper, Newton, McDonald, Barry, Lawrence, Cedar and Dade counties in Missouri and Neosho, Crawford, Montgomery, Labette, Bourbon and Cherokee counties in Kansas.

This year’s fair will include entries from 72 students in the junior category (grades 5-8) and 23 in the senior category (grades 9-12) from Carthage, College Heights, Galena, Joplin South, Hume R-8, Seneca Intermediate, Sheldon R-8, and St. Peter’s Middle Schools, and Joplin, Lamar, Monett, and Seneca High Schools. Categories include behavioral and social sciences; cell, molecular and microbiology; chemistry and biochemistry; computer science, engineering and math; earth and environmental sciences; human and animal sciences; physics and astronomy; and plant sciences.

Closed judging will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with public viewing from 1 to 5 p.m.

Missouri Junior Academy of Science (MJAS) presentations will be from 1-3 p.m. on Tuesday, Mar. 27 in Reynolds Hall. High-school and middle-school students write a formal research paper and then present their project during a 10 min talk. Students may enter both the science fair and junior academy of science with the same project. The presentations and papers are judged and given a rating of I, II, or III. Both senior and junior participants are eligible for state competition on April 27 at Missouri S & T University in Rolla.

An awards ceremony for both MSRSF and MJAS will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. in Taylor Auditorium.

Science fair first-place winners will receive a scholarship to Missouri Southern (graduating high-school seniors in the senior division), or a cash prize (for the junior division and all others in the senior division). Grand prize winners (two senior division and two junior) will also receive cash prizes. The senior grand prize winner will also receive an all-expense paid trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, to be held May 14-18 in Pittsburgh, PA.

Special awards, ranging from an iPad to two $500 cash prizes, will be offered by sponsors.

Sponsors include: Luke Nugent Memorial Inc., Cardiology, Critical Care at Freeman Health System; Les Olson with Sidecars Inc. and WiseApp, Inc.; Victoria Timoschenko with Executive Tailoring; Home Depot; Pro 100 Inc. Realtors; Sergey Bedin and Lance Doubek with B Line Inc.; the U.S. Air Force; Dr. Richard Falkenstein with Dental Care Center; the Perry Thomas Physical Science Award; Calvin and Vickie Cassady with the Ozark Gateway Audubon Society; Macy’s Department store, Vogel Properties, Dr. James Jackson, the Biology Club, the Caduceus Club, and the Environmental Health Club at Missouri Southern.