Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Five high-school students will compete for a $4,000 college scholarship with research projects at the Pacific Symposium for Science and Sustainability tomorrow at the East-West Center. Science symposium
features students’
research projectsStar-Bulletin staff
The finalists are: Kiani Arkus, 10th-grader, and Kyle Chong, senior, both at Kamehameha Schools; Leighton Ige, Iolani School senior; Felix Lui, McKinley High School junior, and Candace Seu, Waiakea High School senior.
Last year's winner, Zachary Stone, then a senior at Punahou, won $4,000 in the regional competition and $6,000 as a winner in national competition. He's now attending Harvard University.
About 50 high-school students from throughout Hawaii and Pacific islands were accepted to present their research at this year's regional conference -- open to the public at the Imin Conference Hall.
Concurrent sessions will be held from 9:15 to 11:45 a.m. A plenary session will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. in Keoni Auditorium.
The Hawaii Academy of Science sponsors the program. The winner of the Pacific symposium receives a scholarship and an opportunity to present a paper at the national symposium competition held in Orlando, Fla., in April.
Besides presentations by the student researchers at the Pacific symposium, educational and social activities focusing on astronomy are planned.
Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, director of the University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy, astronomer Karen Meech and Polynesian voyager Nainoa Thompson will discuss astronomy research from 7 to 8 p.m. tonight at Bishop Museum.
A planetarium show and a teacher workshop will follow the astronomy discussion from 8 to 8:45 p.m. Students will have an opportunity to see the new Xtreme Science exhibit from 8:45 to 9:30 p.m.
A field trip to the Palehua Solar Observatory is scheduled Sunday morning.
For information on submitting a paper for next year's symposium, visit the Hawaii Academy of Science Web site:
http://www.hawaii.edu/acadsci