Invitation to participate
16th Annual Supercomputing Challenge
Register at http://www.challenge.nm.org.
If you want your students to
- Have the research skills required for the process of scientific inquiry
- Be confident with complex math and technological problem solving techniques
- Be able to articulate their own ideas as well as communicate with others and work as a team
Then your school will want to participate in the 16th annual
Supercomputing Challenge. The Challenge is organized and
administered by Los Alamos National Laboratory, and other academic, research
and high-technology organizations. The Challenge draws teams of middle
school and high school students who learn to model important real world
problems, and explore computational approaches to their solutions.
Here are some sample questions teams might wish to answer: Is our county
going to run out of water? How can self-care help in the prevention of disease?
What is the likelihood that the deer population in Bandelier will run out of
grassland?
Teams from around the state participate to learn about the challenges facing
their environment, to better understand properties of the physical universe,
to look at trends in the social sciences that have implications for their
own lives, and to develop useful career preparation skills such as teamwork,
oral, written and visual communication, problem solving, and project
follow-through. Last year, some teams chose Java or Excel to implement
computational models. Other teams elected to model complex emergent systems
using StarLogo.
The Challenge Year begins with registration in September and a Kickoff
Conference in October. The year continues with an Interim report in December,
Project Evaluations in February, and Final Project
Presentations and Awards Ceremony in April at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Throughout the year, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia
National Laboratories, technology and business companies, and the state
colleges and universities work with students and teacher-sponsors to provide
initial and ongoing training in computational methods and scientific modeling.
They evaluate project ideas, steer student teams towards successful completion
of their work, and evaluate projects at mid-term and final judging events.
Costs are minimal for students: major funding comes from the National
Labs, the New Mexico State Legislature, Siemens Foundation, and other
businesses and individual sponsors.
To register, to find out more about our sponsors, to see past student
projects, to read about the awards, prizes and scholarships presented at
Los Alamos, to learn about the Sandia Spring Tour, or to see if your school
has participated in the past, visit our website at
http://www.challenge.nm.org.
Please write to consult @ challenge.nm.org
if you have questions or would like to receive more information.
Online registration is at http://www.challenge.nm.org
As New Mexico addresses its workforce needs for the 21st century, it has
become obvious that the 6,500 plus students who have participated in the
Challenge are better prepared to plan for careers in the high-tech industry.
Colleges and employers seek the skills that Challenge participants develop.
We hope that you will encourage your students to form teams and
Take the Challenge!
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