Two students will travel to Washington D.C. with project
Saturday was a day of science and engineering for hundreds of students in TRiO programs across the state.
The students traveled from several cities like Idaho Falls, Burley and Twin Falls to attend the fourth annual Science and Engineering Festival.
“There are booths throughout the building here with information,” said Jean Pfau, co-organizer of the festival, “but most of them are very interactive.”
There were many different activities and examples of science. Students could drive remote-controlled robotic cars, see how elevations are mapped and learn about human anatomy by trying to place the organ in the right spot on a dummy. Others used the power of force and air to send handmade rockets flying down a hallway.
Pfau said this is a great way to get students creativity mixed with science.
“It’s a variety of different things with the idea of bringing science and technology, and its application, to kids in the area,” she said.
The festival had representatives from the Idaho National Lab, the Teton Science Academy in Jackson, WY and local Idaho State University professors.
“When I heard about the Science and Engineering Festival,” said Idaho Falls High School sophomore Nicholas Stubblefield, “I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to build something as simple as a cloud chamber that could give me hands-on experience with particle physics.”
Stubblefield, along with project partner Giovanni Becerril, created a particle physics demonstration which was impressive enough to make them winner of this year’s festival, themed “Science of Imaging.”
The pair will be going to the National Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., April 26-27. Stubblefield said he’s excited to travel away from the area, especially with a design he says is very simple.
“It’s just putting things together,” he said. “We use petri dishes, black felt and black cardboard paper, so it’s not that difficult at all.”
Stubblefield and Becerril split a $500 prize, and will travel with TRiO sponsors and physicists from ISU.
