Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology National Science Bowl Champion

5/5/2003

From: Science Bowl Press Room, 301-347-3850 or Jeff Sherwood of the U.S. Department of Energy, 202-586-4826

WASHINGTON, May 5 -- "3.00 times 10 to the negative 19th power Joules" was the answer to a question on Physics that today clinched the 2003 National Science Bowl(r) championship for the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology team from Alexandria, Va.

The school's team accepted the national championship trophy after they triumphed over 65 other regional team champions this weekend. The team members are: Katherine Aull, My-Linh Nguyen, Sumanth Ravipati, Paul Yang, Michael Zhang and coach Sharon Baker. The team also won a two-week trip to Australia to attend the International Science School.

Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham congratulated the winners and praised the more than 300 students who competed this weekend. "From the beginning of this year's competition back in January through today's finals, the 2003 National Science Bowl has engaged some of the most promising scientific minds of this country," Abraham said. "The Department of Energy has a keen interest in encouraging America's youth to study science and pursue careers in the sciences because our national laboratories conduct some of the most sophisticated research and development work in the world. I congratulate everyone who participated in this year's National Science Bowl."

Thirteen thousand students at 1,800 schools participated in 66 regional Science Bowl competitions this year. The Department of Energy created the National Science Bowl in 1991 to encourage high school students to excel in math and science and to pursue careers in these fields. The department supports math and science education to help provide a technically trained and diverse workforce for the agency and the nation. This year's competition is sponsored by Bechtel, General Motors, IBM and Texas Instruments.

Placing second in the National Science Bowl was Centerville High School of Centerville, Ohio. The team members are: Bryan Chen, Tiffany Chen, Jeffrey Daulton, Amanda Guise, Muhtadi Islam and coach Penny Valentini. The team's prizes include attending a two-week International Youth Science Forum in England.

The third place team was A & M Consolidated High School of College Station, Texas. The team members are: Michael Adams, Meredith Gardner, Felix Huang, Seth Johnson, Adam Wang and coach Kristen Jones. The team's prizes include an environmental research trip in South Carolina.

The Taylor Allderdice High School of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania placed fourth. The team members are: Andrew Bartholomew, Vlad Grigorescu, Joshua Levenson, Matthew Meisel, Marilyn Michelow, and coach Gina Pacitti Barone.

Placing fifth was Cincinnati Country Day School of Cincinnati, Ohio. The team members are: Danny Ash, Nima Ghamsari, Jason Juang, Zach Newman, Connie Yeh and coaches Deena Carey and Kevin Koller.

Winning the Civility Award for best conduct throughout the Science Bowl was the Lexington High School team from Lexington, Mass. The team members are Joseph Chang, Ben Kossak, Daniel Lees, Ross Milton and Shelley Yang. They won a trip to the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colo., for a week-long program in the archaeology of the Southwest.

The other teams in the top 18 were:

Albany High School, Albany, Calif. Cookeville High School, Cookeville, Tenn. Edward W. Clark High School, Las Vegas, Nevada Lynbrook High School, San Jose, Calif. Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Md. Newton North High School, Newton, Mass. New Trier High School, Winnetka, Ill. Niceville High School, Niceville, Fla. North Hollywood High School, North Hollywood, Calif. Oregon Episcopal School, Portland, Ore. Parkview High School, Lilburn, Ga. Wichita High School East, Wichita, Kansas Woodinville High School, Woodinville, Wash.

The top 18 teams each received $1,000 for their schools' science departments. The department's Office of Science administers the National Science Bowl. More information about the Science Bowl is available at http://www.scied.science.doe.gov.