The fifth annual San Diego County Educational Technology Fair was both a huge success and a true Cinderella story. Under the cloud of an economic recession and with more than a little uncertainty, the Tech Fair Organizing Committee began recruiting exhibitors last fall. The Committee’s outstanding efforts resulted in a near record number of exhibitors, record numbers of students, and one of the smoothest running and most educationally interactive events ever.

More than 2,000 students,all anxious for a glimpse into what their futures might hold,visited 52 exhibits and participated in hands-on demonstrations during
the Tech Fair on February 20, 2002,in Crosby Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Saul Rodriguez, a junior at Mira Mesa High School,was excited about the opportunity to talk to the scientists and engineers. “It’s like a great opportunity for kids like us to get a little shot at our own careers later on our path. So, it’s really cool,”he said. Mira Mesa High School senior Megan Maliepaard echoed the sentiment. “The vendors are very informative,” said Maliepaard. “We had individual attention from several of the people so it was very educational.”

School and company representatives were also excited about the opportunities for education the Tech Fair provides. “The exhibits are really impressive,”said Rebecca Haddock, Director of Outreach at High Tech High School. “They’re comprehensive.The people are really great about talking to our students.” University City High School Career Technician Debbie Torres pointed out that the Tech Fair gets better each year. “The hands-on portion is wonderful. The kids are interacting with the companies. It gives them a reason to go back and look more into their sciences and maths,” Torres said..Meanwhile, exhibitors like Teri Simas,an analyst with the San Diego Supercomputer Center,beamed with enthusiasm. “Just seeing the kids. And seeing their expressions. And teaching them about science. And teaching them about what there is to do after school gets out and all the different opportunities that they have. It ’s well worthwhile. I would tell everybody to come try this,” Simas said..

This was also a year for the Tech Fair to move in new educational directions. “This is the first year that we have seventh and eighth grade students here. And they are so excited they don’t know what to do first or where to look next,” said San Diego Science Alliance Executive Director and Tech Fair Co-Chair Patricia Winter. “In the past, the Tech Fair has only been for high school students,” Winter said. “However,we have had quite a bit of input from teachers asking us to let middle school students attend. In the future,we may hold Tech Fairs in alternate years for high school and middle school students.”

The purpose of the Tech Fair is to get students excited about mathematics, science, and technology. The event is sponsored by the San Diego Science Alliance with the support of the San Diego Congressional Delegation. Both Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Congresswoman Susan Davis attended this year. “For a lot of young men and women in high school and junior high school,technology is something that is kind of spooky. This gives them a hands-on feel. Quite often we take a little flame and turn it into an afterburner with these kids,”Cunningham said. Congresswoman Davis agreed and said she heard many positive things from students. “It gives them a chance to talk to people.They can see some things and that ’s good.But,I think the interaction is really what ’s important,” Davis said.

Of the 52 exhibitors at this year ’s Tech Fair, 36 were from the business sector. Local institutions of higher education,including University of California at San
Diego, San Diego State University, University of San Diego, Mira Costa College, and San Diego Mesa College brought exciting and informative exhibits.The San Diego Science Alliance would like to recognize 14 of this year ’s exhibitors including Alliance Pharmaceutical; Cubic Corporation; Directed Electronics, Inc.; General Atomics; Hughes Network Systems; Kyocera; Naval Air Depot, North Island; San Diego SuperComputer Center; SAIC; SBC Pacific Bell; SeaWorld; Solar Turbines; The Immune Response Corporation; and TRW for their support and participation in the Tech Fair every year since its inception. The Tech Fair also benefited from the added sense of excitement brought by the 17 new exhibitors who participated in the event. The San Diego Science Alliance extends a very special thank you to Dr. Werner Heid, who first through Proxima, then with InFocus, and this year with Iomega, provided lunch for all the Tech Fair exhibitors.The Science Alliance would also like to thank ENCAD for generously donating the posters it printed for the event.

For more information about the Tech Fair,and to see pictures and television news stories about the event,visit the San Diego Science Alliance web site at
www.sdsa.org/hightech/.

For the 7th year, the San Diego Science Alliance is pleased to recognize outstanding efforts towards the improvement of science education in San Diego county. Each year we honor two educators, two administrators, two businesses and two volunteers for exemplary “partnering.” Each winner receives an engraved plaque. In addition, educators and administrators receive a check and/or science related materials for their classrooms.This is made possible by the generosity of underwriters for this event.In addition to the San Diego Science Alliance, the 2002 underwriters are SAIC, SeaWorld San Diego, PASCO Scientific, Bell Gardens Farm, and Seibun Educational.

The 2002 winners are:
Educator Awards —
Eric Burtson, SciTech Academy, San Diego High, San Diego City Schools
Cris Ferguson, Casillas Elementary School, Chula Vista Elementary School District

Administrator Awards —
Irene Frank, “Her Journey Program,” Poway Unified School District
Greg Williams, SciTech Academy, San Diego High, San Diego City Schools

Business Awards —
Electramotive Computers, Vista
SeaWorld San Diego

Volunteer Awards —
Liz Basinet, Barrett Resources
Jim Ritchey, Office of Congressman Randy Cunningham

From the SDSA President
by Barbara Abelin

As a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Science Alliance since 1996,it is an honor to serve as the new President. For the past six years, I
have been privileged to work with dedicated and motivated individuals who believe in the advancement of K –12 science literacy and education.

The success of programs such as PISCES, BE WiSE, and the High Tech Fair energizes our group and makes us explore new ways to advance science education for teachers and students.

This year,we are embarking on a new program of Advocacy for Science Education.We believe that our efforts to promote science education will only have
long-term benefits if it is a priority in every classroom.

Our goal to provide the business community with a means to make a difference and excite our students about technology and science will continue.Recent
meetings with San Diego business leaders,such as BAE Systems, Kyocera and new Board members from ViaSat, Dow Chemical, and the law firm of Fish and Richardson, affirms our commitment to our mission.

We wish to thank Jan Sutton of Solar Turbines for her superb leadership for the past three years. Jan has done a tremendous job of advancing the mission of the
San Diego Science Alliance.

I look forward to 2002 —new challenges, new ideas, and great people dedicated to enhancing science education in San Diego schools.

Did you know that more than 160 young women have an ongoing, up-close, and personal experience with San Diego area professional women in science and engineering?The BE WiSE Program, now in its fourth year, has continued to engage each girl in activities that follow-up on her original overnight experience when she entered the BE WiSE Program.

The Be WiSE Alumnae have had opportunities to maintain their interest in science and engineering by attending events this school year at San Diego Supercomputer Center, General Atomics Fusion facility, and the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering Earthquake Lab. These are current examples of the Alumnae follow-up that is planned for all BE WiSE participants once they enter the program with an overnight and continuing until they graduate from high school. Currently,the BE WiSE Alumnae range from 8th to 11th grade from 54 middle and high schools in San Diego County.

“I was excited to learn about computer visualization and all the high-end technology at the Supercomputer Center,” e-mailed an Alumna after the event. This kind of enthusiasm continues to be shared by both the girls and their parents as a result of their involvement in the BE WiSE Program. The morning at the Supercomputer Center also included a tour of the Center, its Visualization Lab, and computer time manipulating 3-D images.

In February 2002,the Alumnae experienced behind the scenes work at the General Atomics Fusion Facility and a tour into the tokamak.Experiments with various forms of energy were done in small groups.At the Earthquake Lab at UCSD,the Graduate Students in the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)presented a variety of principles from a discussion of brittle and ductile, ground motion,displacement,and deformation.This was followed by a visit to several of the earthquake engineering labs.All the Alumnae agreed the two programs in February exceeded their expecta tions.

BE WiSE Programs focus each event on a specific aspect of science or engineering. Participants are always stimulated by both the venue and the expertise of the volunteer presenters. This spring the two overnights for new girls to the program will take place at the Museum of Man and Mission Trails Regional Park.The theme is: “Science Detectives: mummies, mysteries and modern day forensics,” and sixty 7th and 8th grade girls from 27 schools will attend the overnights. This program is successful because of the contributions and dedication of local scientists and engineers and teachers who are members of a variety of professional societies, such as the Society of Women Engineers and the Association of Women in Science. Our continued thanks goes to the BE WiSE Steering Committee.

Slide shows of all BE WiSE Events, including Alumnae pro- grams,can be viewed on our web site at www.sdsa.org/bewise.

A planning committee composed of women from local educational and professional associations is organizing San Diego’s first Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Conference. The all-day conference, hosted by the University of California-San Diego (UCSD), targets girls in grades six through twelve, and is designed to generate enthusiasm for science and technology. Participants engage in exciting hands-on experiments and attend informative career workshops led by women in the fields of science, engineering, and technology. Parents will be invited to attend concurrent programs and learn how to support their daughters’ aspirations in these fields. Martha Dennis of Windward Ventures, Lisa Grillone of ISTA Pharmaceuticals, and Tina Nova of Genoptix will participate with other industry leaders on an interactive panel at the end of the day, addressing industry-related issues and questions from conference participants.

“We hope this conference will be an exciting opportunity for girls of all backgrounds to gain insight and inspiration as they network with women in Technology-and Science-based professions,” says Kathy Kailikole, Chair of the EYH Conference at UCSD and Associate Director of UCSD’s Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services.

About Expanding Your Horizons

More than 500,000 young women have attended EYH conferences since they began 25 years ago at Mills College in Oakland, California. A group of women scientists and educators in the San Francisco Bay area who were concerned about low female participation in technology and science courses started a support network —the Math/Science Network (M/SN)—and came up with the idea of the EYH conference. M/SN now licenses and coordinates EYH conferences around the country to inspire and support women in science and technology.

The EYH Conference at UCSD, scheduled for October 12,2002,is expected to draw 600 girls and 200parents. Conference registration will begin in Spring 2002 and the Keynote Speaker will be announced in April 2002.

This important event has already received the generous support of both public and private donations, including UCSD (site sponsor); US Dept.of Labor, Women’s Bureau; General Atomics; QUALCOMM; SONY; and Nokia. More sponsors are currently being sought to help make San Diego’s EYH Conference an outstanding learning opportunity for young women of all backgrounds.

Participating Organizations include the American Association of University Women; the Association of Women in Science; UCSD ATHENA; Girl Scouts, San Diego Imperial Council,Inc.; Imperial County Office of Education; San Diego City Schools; San Diego County Office of Education; San Diego County Society of Women Engineers; San Diego Futures Foundation; San Diego Science Alliance; San Diego Supercomputer Center; San Diego Zoo; Sweetwater Union High School District’s Girl Science and Engineering; UCSD Mathematics Engineering and Science Achievement; UCSD Science Association of San Diego/CREATE; the U.S. Department of Labor Women ’s Bureau ,and WD-40 Company.

For more information about the EYH Conference, or to learn more about becoming a sponsor, presenter, or volunteer for the event, please visit EYH ’s web site at www.sdsa.org/eyh or contact the following chairpersons: Sponsorship/Donations —Becky Stawiski, Fundraising Chair, 858-734-5304; Presenters —Kelly Jenkins-Pultz, Program Chair, 619-230-8110 ;or Volunteers —Rozeanne Steckler, Volunteer Chair, 858-534- 5112.

The PISCES Project (Partnerships Involving the Scientific Community in Elementary Schools) is utilizing an innovative strategy involving real-time data available on the Internet and supporting online curriculum in order to improve the understanding of the natural environment in a variety of geographic areas by both K –8 teachers and their students. The creation of the online components of PISCES has been made possible by generous contributions from the Todd and Mari Gutschow Family Foundation; the San Diego Foundation’s Reuben H.Fleet Discretionary Fund and the Colonel Frank C.Wood Memorial Fund; as well as major funding from the National Science Foundation.

PISCES staffers have been working for the past year to create online lessons that integrate the content of PISCES classroom instructional materials with real-time web-cam images, meteorological, and plant physiological data in an age appropriate format. These experiences with cutting edge scientific data are exceptionally meaningful to K –8 students. By interpreting actual data, students feel that they are “real scientists” and begin to understand the importance of environmental research. The real-time data streams from the automated research towers of PISCES Principal Investigator and SDSA Board Member, Dr.Walter Oechel, in Barrow, Alaska, Warner Springs, California and La Paz, Baja California, Mexico. Web-cam images and data such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed, carbon flux, and oxygen production from three sites along a western Pacific transect help students to understand how geographic areas vary in these factors.

This spring, K –8 PISCES teachers are field-testing PISCES online activities for the first grade kit, Weather. The Weather kit and online extensions help young students to understand weather and climate, as well as how to interpret weather data. The online lessons are designed for first graders, and are graphics-rich with very simple text. Students can move through the lessons from most basic to most advanced, or revisit their favorite lessons to see how the weather changes from day to day. In an introduction to understanding weather lesson, students can view live images of the site, with temperature, precipitation, and wind speed data also included. Young students are engaged in the interactive online lessons through quizzes and opportunities to ask a question. The weather lessons allow San Diego students to appreciate the vastly different weather in Alaska, California, and Mexico.

Other PISCES online lessons are being created to further extend the connection of real-time, real-world science to the elementary classroom. Upcoming lessons will include activities such as:

• Kindergarten:view video links from Pacific transect and compare day length and time of sunrise and sunset.
• Grade 2:Use web-cam images of precipitation in three Pacific transect locations to demonstrate the solid and liquid phases of water.
• Grade 6:Create graphs of ecosystem level photosynthesis and respiration and discuss the differences in these factors at different locations.

These real-time connections to the classroom have the potential to provide a rich context for learning science. Not only do K–8 students have the opportunity to learn about diverse environments from the comfort of their classrooms,but K–8 teachers gain exposure to international environmental research and the relevance of these endeavors to their classrooms. In addition, these lessons assist teachers in linking science to other content areas, such as geography and social science, by providing background information on the environment and people of diverse areas. These online experiences promote emerging scientists and informed citizens in K–8 classrooms.

Visit www.sdsa.org/pisces and click on “field stations data kits” to view online lessons or to get more information about the PISCES Project. Stay tuned for news on new lessons and real science ties to the K–8 classroom.

BioCom’s annual formal dinner honoring San Diego Nobel Laureates at the Hotel Del Coronado in December was host to ten area high school science students and their teachers. The students, from ten different high schools in the County, were selected from a larger number who submitted essays. The Dow Chemical Company underwrote the participation of the students and their teachers.

...Six local middle and high school student teams participated in the Southern California Regional Botball Robotics Competition in Pasadena on March 16. Three SDCOE MAST Academy Teams, a team from the Preuss School at UCSD, and two teams from High Tech High participated along with eight other teams from the Los Angeles area. Botball team results are available at www.botball.org. Local support came from The Dow Chemical Company, General Atomics, The Preuss Foundation, and Paul Zorner.

...The American Chemistry Council announced their 2002 Response Care Catalyst Award Winners, honoring educators who excel at teaching science and chemistry in college ,high school, middle school, and grade school. The High School National Award went to Larry R. Nordell at Mt. Miguel High School in Spring Valley. Congratulations!

...San Diego Science Alliance Mission and Vision goes on the road to local companies to share our programs and encourage more participation. Barbara Abelin, Nancy Taylor, and Patricia Winter have taken their media production to The Dow Chemical Company, ViaSat, BAE Systems, SDSU Graduate Studies Program, NSTA National Convention in San Diego, and Congressman Calvert ’s STEP II Conference in Riverside.

...Congratulations to all the San Diego area students and their teachers who participated in the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair (GSDSEF). For the 6th year, SDSA provided a Junior and Senior division award. The Junior Division winner was Evangeline Fleischaker, Diegueno Midle School, and the Senior Division winner was David Salamon, CCPAA. Thank you to Todd Talashek, CP Kelco, Robin Truelove, Science Media, and Dave Jackson, ViaSat, for being the SDSA judges this year. GSDSEF results can be found at their web site www.gsdsef.org .

...PISCES Program successes can be experienced on a new 12-minute video featuring program highlights and produced by SDCOE Instructional TV. Contact Patricia Winter at pat.winter@gat.com if you would like to have a copy.

...PISCES Project sixth grade students are again eligible to apply for scholarships to attend one week at the Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama,and a one week SeaWorld Summer Camp in San Diego. These opportunities are made possible by Fish and Richardson for three students to attend Space Camp and by SeaWorld for two students to attend SeaWorld camp.

SDSA Advocacy Committee

Four speakers from San Diego traveled to Sacra- mento to voice concerns about the draft Science Framework about to be approved by the State Board of Education. Each represented a different segment of our community —a teacher, a science coordinator, a scientist, and the Director of the Science Alliance —and presented eloquent arguments about the problems and deficiencies in the current draft. The Board listened and voted unanimously to approve the Science Framework anyway.

The Advocacy Committee of the San Diego Science Alliance has a lot to learn about influencing policy decisions. Who are the decision makers? What does the State Board of Education do? What is a Framework document and how does that document relate to state or national standards? What happens in the textbook adoption process? Where does the money come from and go to? And how does all of this affect teaching students in the classroom? This initial foray into the state education process helped us understand, firsthand,what we were dealing with.

More than a year ago,the Science Alliance approved a resolution calling for increased effort to advocate for improved science education in grades K–12. From our success with the PISCES project, we know that getting projects started is only part of the story. We know how to get initial funding, but how do you overcome barriers in the “system” so that funding and resources can be available to expand our success in affecting science teaching across San Diego County?

Lots of questions, lots of learning, and lots of opportunity to network with other groups and leverage the strength of the Science Alliance in San Diego. The Advocacy Committee held a brainstorming session last month and formed 2 –3 person subgroups to explore several key topics. We expect to make some quick progress towards understanding the system and planning our strategy to increase our effectiveness. Then we will be better prepared for the next trip to Sacramento!