I didn't manage to write anything yesterday, as by the time I could, I was too tired! Bed was calling, and they are really comfy, so I answered the call!
I'll fill you in on the past couple of days in a moment, but for now I'm sitting in the hotel lobby with Supritha, Kimmy and Adelina. Vivian has just arrived, and the girls are anxious to leave, but I'm forcing them to give me something profound to say to jump start my creativity.
Supritha was just attacked by a branch on the promenade outside, and is now afraid to leave the hotel. Just kidding .. sort of. A gust of wind broke a 3 foot piece of branch off a tree, and it almost hit her as it fell. The lure of shopping, however, is stronger than her fear of trees, and she's willing to brave the streets of San Jose once again!
Kimmy has recovered from her first day elevator adventure and is excited for opening ceremonies tonight. She loved the pin exchange last night, but won't tell me why. As per usual, I'll find out next week on Facebook.
Vivian L reminds everyone never to leave home without your umbrella. The myth that California is only ever sunny and hot, is just that .. a myth. (which of course hasn't stopped her from wearing shorts and sandals even though it's only 12 degrees.
Uliana's story: As we were leaving for pin trading yesterday, i had stayed behind to call my mom. When I was done, I pushed the elevator button and then got on, then got off again when it stopped, without looking at what floor it was. I got off at the 18th floor instead of the 2nd. Waited too long for the elevator to return, so I ran down the stairs as I was afraid I would be late. To make a long story short, I wound up in a parking garage with another lost delegate from Florida, and eventually found my way back outside.
OK .. girls have gone shopping ... back to our adventures!
So yesterday (Sunday) morning we wound up at a restaurant called "Flames" for breakfast. It was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel, and is on the campus of San Jose State University. I need to digress for a moment to point out that, as far as I'm aware, San Jose isn't a State .. but that piece of information doesn't seem to bother anyone but me, so I'll let it go!
Once again, the portions were large, the food was great, and the students are all getting to know each other better. The volume tends to increase with every meal .. as does the bredth and depth of topics of conversation!
After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to get our projects and start setting them up. We had two safety violations (Uliana and Brian) to clear up, so we book those appointments, then settle down to work. There are 1200 projects here, and they are organized by category. We have students in many different categories, so are literally all over the convention centre. We instruct the kids to set up their own project, get it safety checked, then find and assist any of the other Canadian students until we are all done. It sounds like a simple process, but there are always bugs.
Some of the students fail their first inspection for a variety of reasons. To list Prozac, for example, on your backboard is considered advertising for that particular brand and isn't allowed. Someone else made reference to a particular University lab that they had worked in, which also isn't allowed. Chris's board was too big by about 3/4 of an inch, so we had to disassemble it, cut it down to size, then reassemble it and re-do all the material in order to make it fit on the smaller board.
There's an amazing place called "The Hub" in the middle, where you can borrow scissors, tape, screwdrivers, exacto knives, circular saws ... so it all gets accomplished .. but it takes time.
By 1 pm, most of the students were done their set up, so we left the hotel in search of lunch.
Stef took us via “the scenic route” (translation, four blocks out of our way!) to the Pita Pit. Have to say that the two guys there didn’t bat an eyelash when 20 people walked in all at the same time … one of them was even joking that this would be a good time to take his break … and they did an amazing job of getting us all through in record time!
Dustin and Liane had stayed behind with the five students who hadn’t finished, so they headed out just as the rest of were getting back to the hotel.
We like to hear the student’s presentations a couple of times .. so the chaperones broke into pairs: Cathy and Stef; Deidre and Ray; and Liane and Dustin .. and we then had the students sign up in 20 minute blocks so that we could hear their presentations and offer some feedback. That took up most of the afternoon.
I often get asked by people .. “So what kind of topics do the kids present on”. Just in case you’re curious, here’s the answer! I am always so honest when people ask about what my role is here. As you can tell from the level of study here, there’s little that I can teach this group about their science. They really are all passionate about what they do, and have an expertise well beyond their years. But we can help with presentation skills, and coach them through their nervousness, and all works out well in the end!
Adelina – Slow It Down to Speed It Up – Breaking through the Window of Autism
Supritha – The Effect of Anti-Oxidants on Plant Dynamics through Fertilizer Use Efficiency
Kimmy – Got Gas? Feasibility of a Methane Capture System
Mary – Grasping Water: Exploring a Novel Method of Inducing Precipitation
Claire - Do NDMA Receptors Affect Early Brain Development
Taneille – Functional Analysis of Telomerase Mutations in Dyskeratosis congenital
Emma – Novel Synthesis: Imidacloprid CYP450 Pesticide Synergist from Dill Lowers Surface Runoff Toxicity
Vivienne & Janelle – Mini Magnetic Muck Managers
Brian – Catechin’s Anti-angiogenic Effects in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
Uliana – Molecular Insights on DNA Uptake and Transit Pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Dheevesh – Bio-inspired Photonic Fuel Cell
Kent – Aesalon: Visualizing Dynamically-Allocated Memory in Real-Time
Chris – Robust Displacement Estimation Employing Inexpensive Webcam Based Optical Flow
Jonathan – Constructing Inverse Limits with Upper Semi-Continuous Functions
Ryan – Development of a High Speed Flash Technique for Compact Digital Cameras
Brian – Determining the Role of the PTEN/PI-3K Pathway in Regulating the Intracellular Expression and Localization of the Oncoprotein B-Catenin
Gary – 2 for 1 Wheelchair: Improving Autonomy through the Development of Multi-Functional Mobility Aids
Vivian – Morphological and Functional Characterization of Lower Female Genital Tract Epithelial Cell Cultures in Different Growth Conditions
Ream & Sara – Are Eco-tergents Truly “Gents”?
Wardah – Detection of UV Protection: Assessing SPF’s in a Bacterial Model
One of the highlights for the students is always the “Pin Exchange”. Each student brings pins that represent their fair, their region or their country. They wear them on their nametag lanyard, then trade with other people for ones they like. The adults have their own pin exchange .. some people take this very seriously … there is one gentleman who has a vest with over 600 pins that he’s collected through almost 35 years of attending IISEF!
We send the students off to theirs, and settle into ours. There were snacks at the pin exchange, but we’re all still stuffed from lunch. We head upstairs after a while to hang out in Stef and Dustin’s room and await the kids return. We hear them long before we see them ….
Same routine as the night before … everyone’s hanging out, a few working on projects. 10:30 curfew, and it’s off to bed …..
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