The Academy sponsors, supports, or participates in a number of special activities in response to the mandate of its Charter to: “… promote interest in science and engineering on the part of the public, especially young people.” Each year, the Academy recognizes event winners who participated in the Connecticut Science Challenge, Connecticut Science Fair, Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, the Connecticut Invention Convention, and the National Siemens Westinghouse Competition at the Academy’s Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner in May. Funding for all student and school awards is provided from contributions to the Academy’s Student Awards Fund by the members of the Academy and by Gerber Scientific, Inc., for its sponsorship of the H. Joseph Gerber Medal of Excellence.

Connecticut Science Challenge

The national Intel Science Talent Search, administered by Science Service, is sponsored by the world’s largest chipmaker, Intel Corporation. Formerly known as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, the national contest is America’s oldest and most highly regarded science competition for high school seniors that is intended to stimulate student interest in science, math and technology. High school students from around the United States participate in this prestigious annual science project competition. Additionally, the projects of the state’s finalists and semifinalists are subsequently judged for state honors in the Connecticut Science Challenge.

This year, more than 1,700 entrants from around the United States competed in the Intel Science Talent Search. A total of 40 students won honors as finalists and 300 students were selected as semi-finalist winners, including five students from Connecticut. Each of Connecticut’s semifinalist winners and their respective schools received awards of $1,000.

The 2010 Connecticut Science Challenge first place winner was Jason A. Gandelman, for his project, Bioinformatic and Synthetic Approaches to Studying Advanced Glycation End-products in Eukaryotes.He was also a winner of the H. Joseph Gerber Medal of Excellence. (Please see the H. Joseph Gerber Medal of Excellence for a listing of the winners of this award.)

Second place honors, which included a $500 award from the Academy, went to national finalist Jenny Lu of Pomperaug High School, Southbury, CT, for her project Determination of the Relationship between Retina-cognin and N-cadherin in the Characterization of a Disulfide-dependent Cell Adhesion Complex.

An honorable mention, which included an award of $250 from the Academy, went to William C. Newberry of Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT, for her project Biophyscially Realistic Computational Models of Temporal Encoding in Cortex.In addition, these winners also received a Certificate of Recognition from the Academy and an Official Statement of recognition from Governor M. Jodi Rell.

Connecticut Science Fair

The 2010 Connecticut Science Fair was held in March at Quinnipiac College in Hamden.

To promote interest in science and engineering, and to recognize those high school students whose science projects are judged to be the best of the senior division in each of the two major categories, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences, the Academy provides special awards each year to the top two winners of the Connecticut Science Fair.

The winners received the H. Joseph Gerber Medal of Excellence, including a solid silver medal and a $1,000 honorarium. In addition, they received a Certificate of Recognition from the Academy and an Official Statement of recognition from Governor M. Jodi Rell. (Please see the H. Joseph Gerber Medal of Excellence for a listing of the winners of this award.)

Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

The Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is sponsored by the University of

The Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is sponsored by the University of Connecticut and is part of the national U. S. Army Junior Science and Humanities Symposia Program. The Academy joined with other corporations and institutions in support of this event. 

The 2010 symposium was held in March at the University of Connecticut. The symposium has been effective in enhancing student motivation, stimulating original research and promoting the setting for exciting scientific meetings. It is intended to recognize students who have demonstrated intellectual achievement and promise. This event provides a forum for selected high school students to present a variety of technical papers and posters, meet in small discussion groups with leading scientists from Connecticut industries, and utilize special facilities at the university to explore technical and ethical challenges of current science. The Academy recognizes the top five oral presenters and their respective schools. The winners are as follows:

1st Place, Jenny Liu, Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, CT
Topic: Anti-biofilm Effect of Trans-cinnamaldehyde on Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

2nd Place, Neeharika Krothapalli, Farmington High School, Farmington, CT
Topic: Characterization of Jatropha curcas Oil and Glycerol for Biofuel Production

3rd Place, Amoolya Narayanan, Glastonbury High School, Glastonbury, CT
Topic: Effect of Trans-cinnamaldehyde on Reducing Attachment and Invasion of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli in Urinary Epithelial Cells

4th Place, Kousanee Chheda, Edwin O. Smith High School, Storrs Mansfield, CT
Topic: Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT) Induces Cytoprotection and Angiogenesis in Human Microvascular Endothelial Cells (HMEC-1)

5th Place, Caroline W. Bazinet, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT
Topic: Effects of PMCA2 Overexpression on Induction of Apoptosis by Docetaxel and Methotrexate in T47D Cells

These students and their schools were recognized by the Academy at the JSHS awards ceremony. The students received Certificates of Recognition, and books containing bookplates with the seal of the Academy were presented to both the students and their school libraries in the name of the Academy. Each high school was also recognized with a Letter of Commendation and a $300 donation to its science department to further science and mathematics education from the Academy.  Additionally, Governor M. Jodi Rell issued an Official Statement to each high school in recognition of this outstanding achievement.

Connecticut Invention Convention

The Connecticut Invention Convention is a program that seeks to provide students in grades K-8 with a meaningful opportunity to develop and encourage creative thinking and invention. The Invention Convention program is designed to integrate all aspects of a student’s educational experience in an effort to solve real-life problems by understanding and using creative skills. The convention provides an opportunity for student inventors to participate in a friendly competition and to share their ideas with each other as well as adult inventors, engineers, patent attorneys and other professionals.

For 2010, the Academy recognized the 15 middle school student winners of the Invention Convention with Certificates of Recognition and monetary awards ($50 US Savings Bonds).