NOAA PRESENTS AWARDS TO THREE STUDENTS AT 2006 INTEL INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR

June 14, 2006 — NOAA presented special awards to three students whose outstanding projects further the understanding of Earth's systems as part of the 2006 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Indianapolis. (Click NOAA image for larger view of George Sharman (right), chair of the NOAA judging team, with the three winners of the “Taking the Pulse of the Planet” Awards: (left to right) Alexa A. Carey, Malcolm Bruce Young and John Christopher Turner. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The "Taking the Pulse of the Planet" awards were sponsored by the NOAA Office of Education and designed to recognize the importance of the U.S.-led initiative to develop a Global Earth Observation System.

The Intel fair is the preeminent science venue for pre-college students from around the world. Student finalists went through a rigorous competition to qualify and won an all-expense paid trip to the event.

The recipients of the NOAA awards were judged to have created projects of the highest quality and relevance to NOAA science. The 2006 recipients and their award-winning projects are:

• Alexa A. Carey, Gold Beach High School, Gold Beach, Ore., "Effectiveness of Strobe Lights, Sound Frequency and Lasers in reducing Salmon Entrainment Through Hydropower Turbines"
• John Christopher Turner, Lincoln High School, Tallahassee, Fla., "Storm Warning: Is There a Predictable Correlation Between the North Atlantic Oscillation and Tropical Cyclone Activity?"
• Malcolm Bruce Young, Centraurus High School, Lafayette, Colo., "Coral Bleaching Adaptation"

The winning students will have the opportunity to participate in NOAA research with a paid summer internship at a NOAA research laboratory, a paid research experience on a NOAA ship at sea, or a paid research field experience at a NOAA National Marine Sanctuary. Additionally, the students each receive a certificate signed by retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, and an engraved plaque.

NOAA's award judges were George Sharman from the the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, Margaret McCalla from the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, and Steve Gittings from the NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program.

This was the second year that NOAA offered an award at the Intel fair. Last year's award winner, Ryan Reynolds Neely from Durham, N.C., will be an intern this summer with the Global Monitoring Division of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources.

Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, 61 countries and the European Commission to develop a global network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Office of Education

Media Contact:
John McLaughlin, NOAA Office of Education, (202) 482-2893
(Photo courtesy of John McLaughlin of the NOAA Office of Education.)