What a year it has been! As my tenure as President of this association draws to a close, I’d like to take a minute and thank the membership and staff for their confidence in me as well as the kindness and professionalism of everyone. I have truly enjoyed my time holding the gavel.
I hope to see many of you at our Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans. In keeping with my STEM and public outreach themes, I invite you to attend the Armstrong Lecture Thursday, May 25th. Three Senior Louisiana International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) participants with the highest scores for projects associated with our area of inquiry will present their papers. We don’t have their names or project titles at the time we go to print as the Louisiana ISEF competition has not occurred yet. Following the Lecture, several alternates will be presenting their posters. For those who are not aware, the Senior Division is the high school students. To get to a state ISEF, they compete at the school level, frequently the county, and always a regional fair. Thus state participants have already presented at least three times. The students will be given a one-day registration to attend other sessions of our meeting on that Thursday.
Please take the time to talk with the students and ask questions about their presentations. They are the future of our scientific efforts. If we get even one young person interested, we have made a positive impact on replacing ourselves with the bright young minds of the future.
If you happen to be near any state ISEF competitions or live in Dallas-Fort Worth the week before AsMA where the International Science and Engineering Fair is this year, consider volunteering to be a judge. It takes a day. To find the venues, simply google your state science and engineering fair (e.g., Georgia Science and Engineering Fair is at https://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/youth/academic-special-programs/georgia-science-and-engineering-fair). It is fun, fulfilling, and I always learn something!
Until New Orleans, be safe!
