| What: | Elementary, junior high and high school students participate in a regional science competition. |
| Date: | Wednesday, March 20 through Friday, March 22, 2013. |
| Public viewing time: | 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday. |
| Media viewing time: | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. |
| Place: | Rice-Eccles Stadium tower, level four and five, University of Utah. |
March 18, 2013 – More than 700 students will compete in this year’s Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held March 20-22 at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium tower.
The Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair is organized by the University of Utah’s Center for Science and Mathematics Education. It is an annual competition for students in grades 5 through 12 who attend a public, private or charter school in the Canyons, Granite, Murray, Park City, Salt Lake or Tooele school districts or the Salt Lake Catholic Diocese. Home-schooled students also are encouraged to participate.
Students will set up their projects Wednesday, March 20. News media are invited to cover the event Thursday, March 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Friday, March 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The public is invited to view the projects on Thursday and Friday from 2 to 3 p.m.
The awards ceremony will be held on Friday at 7 p.m. at East High School, 840 S. 1300 East, Salt Lake City.
“It is such a wonderful experience to see the hard work these students have put into their science fair projects each year,” says Jody Oostema, the fair’s project manager. “From the background research to the finishing touches on each display board, we really do see the best of what students in the surrounding school districts have accomplished,”
A total of 707 students are registered this year. More than 225 judges will evaluate and score the 581 individual and team projects.
Students are able to present their scientific work and interact with experts in their field to receive feedback on their efforts.
Senior division winners from the Salt Lake Valley science fair will be eligible to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the largest pre-college science fair in the world. Every May, more than 1,400 students from some 40 countries compete for $3 million in internships, grants, science equipment and prizes.
“The fair highlights the curiosity and creative energy these students have,” says fair Director Brenda Mann, a vice president at SentrX Animal Care and a research associate professor of bioengineering at the University of Utah. “It is also a tremendous opportunity for the next generation of scientists and engineers to display their hard work and interact with the judges, who are all scientists and engineers themselves.”
The regional science fair is supported and administered by the University of Utah and the generous sponsorship of local businesses, which are listed on the fair website, http://slvsef.org/sponsors.
A list of award winners in each category will be posted on the fair website by 10 p.m. MDT Friday, March 22. For more information, please visit: http://slvsef.org.