Science Olympiad for brainy teens Held Jan. 15 at NJIT

More than 500 Northern New Jersey middle and high school students will participate in the special annual event designed to make science, technology and math, more enticing, relevant and exciting for middle and high school students on January 15, 2009 at NJIT.

Building a robot, busting a crime and launching two rubber-powered model monoplanes number among the dozen-plus exciting opportunities at tomorrow' tomorrow's annual Science Olympiad http://www.njscienceolympiad.org/.at NJIT. More than 500 Northern New Jersey middle and high school students will participate in the special annual event designed to make science, technology and math, more enticing, relevant and exciting for middle and high school students.

Watch more than three dozen school teams (listed below) race through at least one dozen creative and unusual hands-on science experiments starting at 9 a.m. Stay for the 3 p.m. showdown to witness a roomful of tired but smarter players cheering, stomping and even occasionally hooting as multiple winning teams are announced. Best of best will move on to upcoming state and national competitions.

Promising events include:

Robo-Cross: Students design and build a robot capable of performing tasks.
Science Crime Busters: Teams use paper chromatography and analyze unknown solids, liquids, and plastics to identify perpetrators of a crime.
Balloon Launch Glider: Teams construct and fly monoplane gliders launched from a balloon to achieve a maximum flight time.
Wright Stuff: Teams construct and test rubber-powered model monoplanes.
The Scrambler: Students transport an egg without breaking it using a special mechanical device designed and built earlier at home.

Attending high schools (arranged by county) are:

Bergen: Bergen County Academies, Paramus; Al-Ghazaly, Teaneck.
Essex: Livingston, Livingston; Millburn, Millburn; and Montclair, Montclair; West Essex, North Caldwell, Orange HS, Orange; Science Park, Newark.
Mercer: Lawrenceville Prep, Lawrenceville.
Middlesex: Union Cty Vo-Tech, Scotch Plains; Middlesex, Middlesex.
Morris: West Morris Central, Chester; West Morris Mendham, Mendham; Montville Twp., Montville; Morristown, Morristown.
Passaic: Pioneer Academy of Science, Clifton.
Sussex: Wallkill Regional Hamburg; Sparta, Sparta.
Union: Governor Livingston, Berkeley Heights; New Providence, New Providence; Summit, Summit; Westfield, Westfield.

Attending middle schools (arranged by county) are:
Bergen: Haworth Public School, Haworth; Westbrook, Paramus; Bergen Arts & Science Charter, Garfield: Eisenhower, Wyckoff.
Essex: Renaissance; Glenfield Middle; Montclair Kimberly Academy, all in Montclair; Mt. Hebron School, Upper Montclair; West Essex Regional Jr. H.S., North Caldwell, 1st Avenue, Newark, Mt. Pleasant Middle; Livingston.
Passaic: Pioneer Academy of Science, Clifton.
Morris: Mt. Olive , Budd Lake; Mountain View, Mendham; Mendham Township, Mendham; Randolph , Randolph.
Somerset: Central Jersey College Prep Charter School, Somerset.
Sussex: Sparta, Sparta.
Union: Carl H. Kumpf, Clark; Rahway, Rahway; Edison I.S., Westfield Roosevelt I.S., Scotch Plains; Fanwood Middle, Scotch Plains.

###

NJIT, New Jersey's science and technology university, at the edge in knowledge, enrolls more than 8,000 students in bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 92 degree programs offered by six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, Albert Dorman Honors College and College of Computing Sciences. NJIT is renowned for expertise in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and e-learning. In 2009, Princeton Review named NJIT among the nation's top 25 campuses for technology and among the top 150 for best value. U.S. News & World Report's 2008 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT in the top tier of national research universities.