Optical Society of San Diego

SAN DIEGO SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR 2001
By Rhonda Mason, Science Fair Committee Chair

As with every other year of the Science and Engineering Fair, this year was a sea of bright, eager faces. Regardless of the fact that our mission was optics, it was difficult to walk past an exhibit without stopping when all the students are so eager to talk about their project. Most of the students work very hard to put their exhibit together, including building a scientific apparatus, taking data and documenting their results.

Most of the first time fair judges were overwhelmed by the number of participants and the interesting array of topics. With 1,300 entries and approximately 50 optics exhibits, no one had enough time to really look at each project and hear each student's presentation. Despite the time constraints, I really feel the judge's benefit from this experience as much as the students do.

We will be honoring this year's winners with cash prizes for the students and lasers, from Melles Groit, for their schools at our June meeting.

This years winners in the Senior Division were:

1st Place Senior Division:
Stephanie Tsai
"Photoelectrochemical Imaging on Single Crystal Silicon"

2nd Place Senior Division:
Eric Litton
"Exploring Equations for Ki Using Optical Methods of Caustics"

OSSD President, Jim Menders, congratulates Stephanie Tsai for her
First Place effort in the Seniors Division.
(Photo by K.Cummings)

This years winners in the Junior Division were:

1st Place Junior Division:
Laura Ann Brees
"Food Colors, Are They Really One Color?"

2nd Place Junior Division:
Adam Fern
"Do Sugar Solutions Change Light's Polarization"

(photo by M. Howland)
Junior Division Science Fair winner Laura Brees and her
jello spectrometer.

I would like to personally thank this years' panel of judges for all their hard work. They were Jim Menders, Graham Brewis, Kelly Cummings, Charlie Kuznia and Murray Dunn.

Science Fair 2001 Observations
by Graham Brewis

The annual Greater San Diego Science & Engineering Fair was a showcase of some of America's future technological leaders. The entries were quite diverse and most of them quite interesting. Approximately one percent of the entries were related to optics meaning that only a half dozen projects were judged by the OSSD to determine this year's Science Fair prize winners.

To increase the percentage of entries related to optics it would be advisable to give some guidance as to what would be good projects and what the judges would like to see for results. This could be implemented through our website in the form of an educators' corner or student corner where technical references and links to optical companies and publishers are offered. Members of OSSD could submit project titles along with a brief description of what the project could be about as well as where to get more information on the subject. These projects could be added to over the years and revised as need be. Since some of the entrants were relying heavily on the guidance of their teachers the web site could also explain some aspects of geometrical optics and photo-detectors, for instance, to help both the students and the teachers with their understanding of the setups.

The study of optics is practically non existent in the middle and high school system so it is no wonder that we see so few entries at the Science Fair. Through our website we could open the door to the world of optics for some of the young men and women in San Diego and promote our profession at the same time.

Thank You Melles Griot

The OSSD would like to recognize and thank Melles Griot for their past and ongoing support of our Educational Outreach efforts. They have provide HeNe Lasers for both the Senior and Junior division OSSD First Place Winners at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair for over five years and continue to assist the OSSD with encouraging optic and photonic projects at the SD Science and Engineering Fair.