MSU to host Annual Regional Science Fair
JOPLIN – The 34th annual Missouri Southern Regional Science Fair will be held Tuesday, March 28th, in the third-floor ballroom of Billingsly Student Center at Missouri Southern State University.
The competition for high-school and middle-school students is affiliated with the Society for Science and the Public. Individual or team projects are accepted from students in the following counties: Vernon, Barton, Jasper, Newton, McDonald, Barry, Lawrence, Cedar, Dade, and St. Clair in Missouri; Neosho, Crawford, Montgomery, Labette, Bourbon, and Cherokee in Kansas.
This year’s fair will include 51 projects in the junior category (grades 5-8) and 13 projects in the senior category (grades 9-12) from six high schools and middle schools. Categories include behavioral and social sciences; cell, molecular, and microbiology; chemistry and biochemistry; computer science, engineering, and mathematics; earth and environmental sciences; human and animal sciences; physics and astronomy; and plant sciences.
Closed judging will take place from 9:30 a.m. to noon., with public viewing from 1-5 p.m.
Missouri Junior Academy of Science presentations will be from 12:30-2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28th in Reynolds Hall in rooms 111, 204, 225, and 235. Highschool and middle-school students write a formal research paper and then present their project during a 12 min talk. Students may enter both the science fair and junior academy of science with the same project. The presentations and papers are judged and given a rating of I, II, or III. Both senior and junior participants are eligible for the state competition on April 21 at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.
An awards ceremony for both MSRSF and MJAS will be held from 4-5 p.m. in Cornell Auditorium.
Science fair first-place winners in all the categories will receive medals and cash prizes. Grand prize winners (two senior division and two junior) will receive certificates and cash prizes. The senior grand prize winner will have an opportunity to participate at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, to be held May 14-19 in Dallas, TX. Three participants from junior division will have an opportunity to participate at the Thermo-fisher Scientific Junior Innovative Challenge.