The Final State of the Union
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Summary:
The President is hosting the fifth White House Science Fair on March 23, welcoming more than one hundred of the nation’s brightest young minds with some showcasing innovative inventions, discoveries, and science projects. The President will meet with and congratulate these students, who, as budding engineers, scientists, and researchers are on deck to help solve some of the greatest challenges of our time.
The Obama administration is committed to helping inspire young people across the nation to get excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and to celebrating the extraordinary K-12 students that already are accomplishing great work in these fields. The President has often said that it is just as important to celebrate the winners of science fairs as it is to celebrate the winners of sporting events.
That’s why the President is hosting the fifth White House Science Fair on March 23, welcoming more than 100 of the nation’s brightest young minds with some showcasing innovative inventions, discoveries, and science projects. The President will meet with and congratulate these students, who, as budding engineers, scientists, and researchers are on deck to help solve some of the greatest challenges of our time.
President Barack Obama holds a polymer while talking with Peyton Robertson, 12, about his projects during the 2014 White House Science Fair in the State Dining Room of the White House, May 27, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Previous White House Science Fairs have featured young innovators who have built electric cars, search-and-rescue robots, and marshmallow cannons; helped develop promising flu vaccines; and studied human genome data to find potential treatments for cancer; among many other projects.
Kicking off the excitement for the fifth White House Science Fair, yesterday President Obama welcomed 40 of the nation’s extraordinary young scientists and engineers to the White House. These high school seniors are finalists in the 2015 Intel Science Talent Search, which recognizes innovative research projects in computer science, genomics, environmental science, microbiology, and many other STEM areas.
President Barack Obama talks to the 2015 Intel Science Talent Search finalists in the Grand Foyer of the White House, March 11, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The finalists included Emily Lorin Ashkin, from Charlotte, NC, who studied treatment methods for potentially fatal skin cancers, and Jennifer McCleary, from Irvina, CA, who identified materials that could help harness solar power to produce hydrogen as a fuel source. Among the winners of the competition announced on Tuesday was Andrew Jin, from San Jose, CA, who developed a machine-learning algorithm for identifying mutations across the human genome. This algorithm can help develop effective gene therapies and vaccines, improving global health outcomes.
The geeking out will continue in less than two weeks at the 2015 White House Science Fair. Stay tuned at obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/science-fair for updates about the exciting event coming up on March 23!
Noemie Levy is Senior Policy Advisor for Partnerships at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
