X-treme Honour for Hamm Student
Apr 12, 2017
Hammarskjold High School student Emily Cross has been selected by the United States Science and Engineering Festival (USASEF) and the US Department of Defense to be one of the 23 keynote speakers at the X-STEM Science and Engineering Festival in Washington DC on April 28.
X-STEM – presented by the U.S. Department of Defense – is an Extreme Symposium for middle through high school students. Interactive presentations by an exclusive group of visionaries aim to empower and inspire kids about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These STEM role models and industry leaders are sure to ignite students’ curiosity through storytelling and live demonstrations.
Emily is one of two Canadian presenters in 2017, and the only high-school student presenter as well. She joins a variety of world-class researchers and science educators, with past presenters including the likes of Bill Nye, Adam Savage (Mythbusters), Mayim Bialik (Big Bang Theory), Dr. Craig Ventner (guman genome pioneer), Dr. Francis Collins (Director, National Institutes of Health), and many more.
Emily is an internationally-awarded youth scientist, science mentor and STEM educator. She has won the Sigma Xi High School Geoscience Medal (2016), ISEF American Geoscience Special Award First Place (2015), ISEF Earth and Environment Grand Award 4th Place (2015, 2016), Canada-Wide Science Fair Gold Medal (2014), and multiple regional science awards. She was a TEDx speaker in 2016, is a national youth science mentor for the Canadian Youth Research Network, and a Regional Director of Sustainable Youth Canada. Her research discoveries include a method for extracting fossils, fossilized soft tissue and gemstones from ironstone without damage, the discovery of specific environmental factors that degrade or alter stone tool artifacts, the contra-indication of the formation theory of a North American fossil deposit, and recently a new and highly effective method of removing harmful air pollutants.
As an X-Stem presenter, Emily has been chosen to represent Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honour Society, of which she is an Associate Member. Her presentation, “The Future of the Past” is designed to inspire youth scientists to pursue scientific research in fields that examine the past in order to illuminate issues in the present, or predict events in the future.
X-Stem reaches up to 370,000 students and educators via live presentations and videoconference technology.
For more information on X-Stem, please contact Nancy Van-Dillen at: nancy@usasciencefestival.org
