Hammarskjold Student Selected for Team Canada
Mar 24, 2015
Emily Cross, of Thunder Bay Ontario has been selected as one of the twelve young scientists representing Team Canada at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Pittsburgh, May 9-16, 2015. Intel ISEF is the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science, with over 1400 students from nearly 60 nations competing for scholarships, tuition, grants, internships and scientific field trips. Best-in-fair prize is a $75,000 college scholarship, three grand prizes of $50,000 scholarships are also awarded, and there are a wealth of additional cash and scholarships available.
Emily’s project is called Patination of Raw Lithic Materials for Analysis of Prehistoric Artifacts, and represents nine months of experiments and research on chemical and physical analysis of prehistoric stone tools.
Team Canada-ISEF 2015 members represent some of the best young scientists in the country, and much of their research is comparable to what is done by graduate-level university students. Approximately 500,000 students compete in science fairs across Canada each year. The Canada Wide Science Fair represents the top 500 from these local and regional fairs, and Team Canada ISEF picks 12 from this national pool following an intense submission and interview process running from October to March. To use a sports analogy, being selected for Team Canada ISEF is the youth science/science fair equivalent to being selected to represent Canada at the Olympics.
Emily represents two firsts for Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario. She is the first student everin the 65-year history of ISEF to be selected from our city, and she is also the first selected for our region for this prestigious position. Emily is no stranger to science fairs, having competed in school-level fairs since grade three. In local competition, she has won “Best In Beginner” and “Best In Junior” trophies at the Northwestern Ontario Regional Science Fair (NWORSF), and she has represented our region for the past two years at the Canada Wide Science Fair (CWSF) in Lethbridge, Alberta and Windsor, Ontario. Last year she won a coveted Gold Medal at CWSF, placing in the top ten scientists in her age category in the country. Prizes for her gold medal win included a $4000 entrance scholarship, $700 cash, and a Blackberry Z10 smartphone.
Emily is a grade 9 student at Hammarskjold High School in Thunder Bay. She says scientific research is both fun and exciting, and she hopes to someday have a career in Forensic Anthropology, Paleontology or Archaeology. She wishes to thank the Lakehead University Anthropology Department for use of their laboratory, and the generous donation of stone samples for testing. After ISEF, she hopes to be back in the lab as soon as possible continuing her research!
Emily would love to share her research, love of science, and thrill of being selected for Team Canada with you!
More Team Canada-ISEF 2015 materials can be obtained from their website at: http://youthscience.ca/news/team-canada-isef-2015-announced
