Education

As originally published in The Physiologist
Volume 45, Number 4, August 2002, page 220-222

APS Presents Awards at 53rd Annual International Science and Engineering Fair

The 53rd Annual International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) was held in Louisville, KY, on May 12-18, 2002. Sponsored by Intel, this year�s ISEF featured over 1,200 outstanding high school science students from the US and 37 other countries. Students competed individually or as teams in 14 different categories, including behavioral and social sciences, biochemistry, computer science, engineering, gerontology, and medicine and health. In addition to the Grand Awards presented by the Intel Foundation and five other organizations, Special Awards were given by 93 scientific, professional, industrial, educational, and governmental organizations in the form of scholarships, tuition grants, summer internships, scientific field trips, and equipment grants. As is our tradition, the APS presented Special Awards in the form of cash prizes and student memberships to select finalists with the best projects in the physiological sciences, including cellular physiology, animal physiology, and neurophysiology.

The judging team was led by George Ordway from the Department of Physiology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and included APS members from Louisville and Lexington, KY. David Randall and Daniel Richardson from the Department of Physiology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine joined Andrew Roberts, Dale Schuske, Frederick Miller, Richard Stremel, Ayotunde Adeagbo, and Jeff Falcone from the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

The APS First Place Award of $1,000 went to Jennifer Oakley Tshorn, a senior at John Jay High School in Katonah, NY. Jennifer�s project, �Action of Indole-3 carbinol in Breast Cancer,� also was the overall winner in the Medicine and Health category. Philippe Andre Bouchard won the APS Second Place Award of $500 with his project entitled, �The Role of Osteopontin Gene Expression on the Vasoprotective Effects of Estrogen on Vascular Injury.� Philippe is a sophomore at The Altamont School in Birmingham, AL. There was a tie for the APS Third Place Award between two students from Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Katherine Tronsor, a junior at Ephrata Senior High School in Ephrata, PA, was chosen from the Biochemistry category for her project, �Quercitin, A Nitric Oxide Inhibitor in Raw 264.7 Cells.� Megan Clarke Roberts is a junior at Carlisle High School in Carlisle, PA and was selected for her project, �Effect of FGFR and EFGR Antibodies on the Growth Rate of HL-60 Cells.� Elizabeth and Megan each received $500.

In addition to the four award winners, the APS also recognized six other students in the form of a one-year student membership in the APS and subscriptions to The Physiologist and News in Physiological Sciences. These outstanding science students were: Xiaolong Zhou, a senior at Miami Palmetto Senior High in Miami, FL (�Zinc Induces Apoptosis in Tumor Cells by Activating Caspases in a Unique Manner: Implications for Tumor Therapy�); Sam Adler Golden, a senior at John Jay High School in Katonah, NY (�Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor: A Possible Regulator of Reg Gene Expression in the Pancreas�); Irena Ilieva Yambolieva, a senior at East Wooster High School in Reno, NV (�Endothelium-derived Relaxing Factors in Canine Pulmonary and Mesenteric Arteries�); Sue Si Chen, a junior at Cordova High School in Cordova, TN (�Nuclear Factor-kB and Pro-inflammatory Mediators in the Infarcted Heart�); Crystal Mary-Lou Pinto, a senior at Francis Libermann Catholic High School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (�Antioxidants: Effects on Microglial Neurotoxicity�); and Ankita C. Baxi, a junior at Houston High School in Germantown, TN (�Expression of Constitutively Active Oncogene, c-Src, Disrupts Cell-cell Adhesion�).

Next year�s Intel ISEF will be held in Cleveland, OH on May 11-17, 2003. The one-day judging for APS Special Awards is always an interesting, rewarding, and enlightening experience for APS members who participate. For those in the Cleveland area, please consider joining the APS Special Awards judging team for the 2003 Intel ISEF. If interested, please contact Marsha Matyas in the APS Education Office (mmatyas@the-aps.org).


George Ordway presents APS awards to Jennifer Tshorn, Philippe Bouchard, Elizabeth Tronsor, and Megan Roberts.		APS Judges (from left): Frederick Miller, Andrew Roberts, Ayotunde Adeagbo, Daniel Richardson, George Ordway, Dale Schuske, Jeff Falcone, and David Randall.

The APS Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship (UGSRF) program was developed in 1999 by the APS Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee to attract quality students into physiology graduate programs. The fellowships are given to 12 students each year to work in the laboratory of an APS member for three months during the summer. Many of these students have not had the experience of conducting physiological research. At the end of the fellowship, students are given the opportunity to attend the Experimental Biology (EB) meeting the following year to experience a large scientific meeting. Many present posters based on their research.

This year at EB 2002 in New Orleans, LA, 10 of the 12 2001 UGSRF students attended the meeting. Eight of those 10 presented a total of nine poster presentations, which were programmed into the regular scientific portion of the EB program. The 10 students attended an orientation session that is designed to acquaint them with each other and to orient them to the EB meeting.

The 2001 APS Undergraduate Summer Research Fellows were Jennifer L. Barone (Williams College), Research Host: Steven Swoap (Williams College); Kush R. Desai (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Research Host: Dorothy A. Hanck (Univ. of Illinois, Chicago); Helen M. Eddy (Acadia Univ.), Research Host: Rene J. L. Murphy (Acadia Univ.); Jewel A. Jessup (Salem College), Research Host: Debra I. Diz (Wake Forest Univ.); Roger Kapoor (George Washington Univ.) Research Host: Celia D. Sladek (Chicago Medical School); Sanjana T. Karim (Davidson College), Research Host: Abu B. Al-Mehdi (Univ. of Pennsylvania); Michael A. Llewellyn (Oregon State Univ.), Research Host: Thomas J. Roberts (Oregon State Univ.); Manus M. Patten (Syracuse Univ.), Research Host: John M. Russell (Syracuse Univ.); Sunita Puri (Yale Univ.), Research Host: Darrell P. Neufer (Yale Univ.); Vikram J. Vaz (Harvard College), Research Host: Charles A. Czeisler (Harvard Univ. Medical School); Francisco C. Villafuerte (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia), Research Host: Carlos Monge (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia); and Daniel S. Wu (Cornell Univ.), Research Host: Klaus W. Beyenbach (Cornell Univ.).

The APS Council has approved the following student applications for 2002 Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship program.

Student
Taslima Bhuiyan, Columbia University
Susan Canny, Stanford University
LaToya D. Carson, Pennsylvania State University
Matthew H. Collins, Furman University
Dawn M. Grimes, Univ. of Missouri, Kansas City
Jennifer L. Hageman, Univ.of Colorado, Boulder
Lisa Kang, Loyola University at Chicago
Kaly Kao, University of California, Berkeley
Benedict J. Kolber, University of Dayton
Lucila A. Martinez, Columbia University
Michelle Llander Ofreneo, St. Louis University
Michael David Thompson, Washington University

Research Host
Rae Silver, Columbia University
Michael J. Caplan, Yale University
Donna H. Korzick, Pennsylvania State University
Jennifer S. Pollock, Medical College of Georgia
Tina Hines, University of Missouri, Kansas City
Rodger Kram, University of Colorado, Boulder
Eugene B. Chang, University of Chicago
John G. Forte, University of California, Berkeley
Carissa M. Krane, University of Dayton
Rae Silver, Columbia University
Barrie P. Bode, St. Louis University
Jeffrey Gidday, Washington Univ. Medical School

The Physiology Insights Fellowship Program for undergraduate faculty at two- and four-year colleges was instituted by APS in 1996. For the past several years, APS has supported this program, which allows undergraduate faculty to attend the Experimental Biology (EB) meeting by providing complimentary registration. The program is designed to attract undergraduate educators who live in a three- or four-state region surrounding the meeting site.

This year at the EB 2002 meeting in New Orleans, LA, five undergraduate faculty members received the fellowship to attend the meeting. These included Susan L. Edwards, Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA; Martha Sette, Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort, SC; Rebecca Sheller, Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX; Casey A. Shonis, Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, PA; and Susan O. van Loon, Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans, LA.

The Physiology Insights program includes a luncheon and workshop for fellows that address special issues of importance to two- and four-year undergraduate educators. This year�s workshop was entitled �Online Models and Tools for Transforming Physiology Teaching and Learning.� Topics covered included the APS Archive of Teaching Resources, BioSciEd Net portal, and other valuable online resources. Speakers for the workshop were Robert G. Carroll, Chair of the APS Education Office, and Barbara E. Goodman, William R. Galey, and Penelope Hansen, all members of the APS Undergraduate Collections Development Group.
Fellows also have the opportunity to discuss among each other matters of common interest and to offer suggestions to APS staff for program improvement. Fellows participate in the regular scientific session, special sessions, and exhibits as well.

Up to 15 fellowships will be made available to regional undergraduate educators for Experimental Biology 2003 in San Diego, CA. The deadline for applications for 2003 will be Friday, March 28. Details about the program can be found at http://www.the-aps.org/education/PhysInsts/insiinfo.html.

The APS Archive of Teaching Resources (http://www.apsarchive.org) continues to grow with the recruitment of a variety of new learning objects from educators all over the country. To date, about 40 items have been received for the Archive from various sources.

However, more material is still needed. Please consider submitting material that you have developed to use to make your teaching more effective. These can be

APS along with the other BiosciEd Net (BEN) partners are pleased to announce the launch of the BEN portal site (http://www.biosciednet.org) July 1. Through the BEN portal, educators will be able to access the teaching archives of not only APS but also American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Microbiology, Ecological Society of America, Science�s Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Society of Toxicology, as well as others.
Presentations about the Archive, including submitting objects and searching for objects, have been made at the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS) meeting (a new BEN partner); the Council on Undergraduate Research meeting in New London, CT; and the International Congress of Pathophysiology in Budapest. Look for us at upcoming presentations at the APS Conference on �The Power of Comparative Physiology: Evolution, Integration and Application� in San Diego, CA; the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science in Anaheim, CA; the regional HAPS Conference in Arnold, MD; the National Association of Biology Teachers in Cincinnati, OH; and the Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Association of Medical Science Educators in Guadalajara, Mexico.

By submitting learning objects that you have developed, you can help your colleagues in their efforts to find the best tools for introducing their students to the exciting discipline of physiology.