Media Releases
Steve Bezanson and Deb Newberry Judge Anoka-Hennepin STEM Fair
February 11, 2008
BMET and nanoscience instructors impressed by ingenuity and determination of K-12 students.
Held on Saturday, January 12, 2008, at the Blaine High School field house in Blaine, Minnesota, the Anoka-Hennepin STEM Fair featured more than 1,000 exhibitors from grades K through 12. The acronym STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Two instructors from Dakota County Technical College, Steve Bezanson from the Biomedical Equipment Technology program and Deb Newberry from the Nanoscience Technology program, volunteered to judge the fair, which gives students the chance to display projects that emphasize creativity and research skills.
"Judging the fair was really fun," said Newberry, who was part of a three-judge team that inspected biology-related projects developed by 10th-graders. "One thing I noticed is that some students might not have been excited at the outset of their projects, but when they explained the process to me, showing me what they learned, they brightened up and became very enthusiastic."
Bezanson also had a wonderful time at the STEM Fair. He judged several environment-based projects that he found compelling, including one where a student studied the effect of coffee grounds on plant growth, and one where a student calculated the probability of dropped toast landing butter side down. The former discovered that coffee grounds promoted 40 percent more growth than a popular over-the-counter fertilizer. The latter found no statistical difference on the way toast handles crash landings.
"One student that really stood out was a ninth-grader who studied the energy content of biodiesel as compared to regular diesel fuel," Bezanson said. "That student's project was as close to perfect as you can get. He even contacted a University of Minnesota professor for guidance and wound up with a teaching assistant who set him up with the specialized equipment he needed."
Both Newberry and Bezanson mentioned that a sizable number of exhibitors were disappointed by the results of their projects.
"Several students told me that their experiments did not turn out the way they planned," Newberry said, "or that their hypotheses weren't right. I explained to them that their projects were anything but failures. Good, clear scientific method often proves your original concept wrong."
Bezanson agreed, noting that many important scientific discoveries were made by accident. Such discoveries include penicillin, x-rays, Post-it Notes and even Popsicles.
Other students who impressed Bezanson were a pair of sixth-grade girls who experimented with the evaporation rates of various liquids. The girls discovered that sugar-rich soda deposited a syrupy residue while diet soda left behind a brown scum. Orange juice, on the other hand, produced a residue that quickly supported a vibrant mold colony.
"The girls were surprised by the mold and wondered what its presence signified," Bezanson said. "We discussed the results and decided that beverages with residues that repelled life might not be the best for drinking. The orange juice mold was actually a good thing in disguise."
Deb Newberry and Steve Bezanson
By far the loudest project on display was a hovercraft constructed by a sixth-grader using vacuum cleaner parts. "The hovercraft was powerful enough to lift a person," Bezanson said. "Everyone wanted to see it even though it was hellaciously noisy."
For Deb Newberry, judging the Anoka-Hennepin STEM Fair brought back wonderful childhood memories. "I've been a nerd since the second grade," she said. "Science fairs were part of my upbringing. I remember telling my parents that I was going to be a scientist when I grew up and they supported me completely."
One of the largest science fairs in the nation, the Anoka-Hennepin STEM Fair is held in District 11 in preparation for the Central Region Science Fair at St. Cloud State University on February 23, and the 71st Annual State Science Fair in St. Paul on March 30 through April 1. The regional and state fairs lead up to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the largest fair of its kind in the world.
Graduates of the Biomedical Equipment Technology program are prepared to inspect, calibrate, maintain and repair diagnostic, monitoring, therapeutic and life-saving equipment in hospitals, clinics and university medical centers. BMETs work in close association with doctors, registered nurses, scientists, health care technicians and medical administrators.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for BMETs is projected to grow much faster than average in the U.S., increasing 22 percent between 2006 and 2016. Salary.com reports that the mean annual wage nationally for BMETs reached $49,000 as of January 2008. BMETs in the top 10 percent make close to $60,000 a year.
Graduates of the Nanoscience Technology program are superbly prepared to excel in careers involving biotechnology, materials science, chemistry, applied physics, electronics, agriculture and mechanical engineering—just to name a few. With more than 50 Minnesota companies using or applying nanoscience technology, the demand for nanotechnicians in the state is strong and growing.
Lux Research in New York reports that governments, corporations and venture capitalists around the globe are funneling some $12.4 billion into current nanoscience projects. The United States alone expends more than $3 billion annually on nanotech research and development.
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars catalogs 500 existing products that integrate nanoscience applications. The U.S. National Science Foundation reports that the market for such products will reach $1 trillion by 2012. A worldwide array of nano industries will employ upwards of 2 million people.
Offered through a partnership with the University of Minnesota, the program delivers its first three semesters on the DCTC campus with the capstone semester held at the university's Nanofabrication Center, Materials Characterization Facility and Nanoparticles/Biotechnology Labs.