Young inventors, scientists, engineers compete at Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair

Students from school districts countywide exhibited their scientific know-how Wednesday at the Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair.

Some of the student projects included "testing whether artificial intelligence can compose an 8th-grade language arts essay, identifying what kind of chocolate melts the fastest, and discovering the most efficient method to solve a Rubik’s cube," according to an announcement from the County Office of Education.

Students numbering 451 from 25 science fairs held at public, charter and private schools presented their findings in 347 projects spanning 19 categories such as biochemistry, environmental sciences, physics and astronomy, the Office of Education reported. The most popular category was chemistry, which had 41 project entries.

While the judging on Wednesday was not open to the public, a free-admission public viewing event was scheduled for Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Bourns Technology Center located at 1200 Columbia Ave. in Riverside.

A public awards ceremony is also set for the Bourns Technology Center on Thursday at 5 p.m., where top-prize gold and silver runner-up medals

By Staff

will be presented. Community awards will also be announced at the ceremony.

Within each of the fair's 19 subject matter categories, students competed in the Grades 4/5 division, Junior division grades 6-8, and Senior division for high school students.

Winners in the Junior and Senior divisions will advance to the California State Science and Engineering Fair scheduled for April 11 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Sweepstakes awards will be presented to one project in the Grades 4/5 division, one project in the Junior division and one project in the Senior division.

Three Senior division students will advance to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held May 14-19 in Dallas, Texas.

The 25 participating school districts and charter or private schools are Alvord USD, Banning USD, Beaumont USD, Chammakilawish Pechanga School, Coachella Valley USD, Corona-Norco USD, Desert Center USD, Desert Sands USD, Hemet USD, Jurupa USD, Lake Elsinore USD, Moreno Valley USD, Nuview Union SD, Palm Springs USD, Palo Verde USD, Rancho Christian School,

REACH Leadership STEAM Academy, Riverside USD, Romoland SD, Sacred Heart School, San Jacinto USD, St. Catherine's of Alexandria, St. Edward's School, Temecula Preparatory and Val Verde

USD.

More information on this year’s Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair is available at https://www.rcoe. us/student-events/scienceengineering-fair/.

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$3.41 billion in the current fiscal year and to $3.43 billion in the following fiscal year. However, those estimates are tentative and might not factor in random events or unforeseen external market pressures.

The county's current asset base supporting the pension system is $12.2 billion.

There are two main categories in the local pension system — safety and miscellaneous. The safety category covers sheriff's deputies, District Attorney's Office investigators, probation agents and others, while the miscellaneous rolls cover clerks, custodians, nurses, social workers, technicians and remaining employees not involved in any law enforcement function.

The amounts required to fund workers' nest eggs in CalPERS will rise and fall over the next decade, according to PARC. But the report indicated that achieving 100% funded status in the future — possibly by the early 2040s — is within reach, provided there are no damaging hits to the economy.

The biggest influence on pension costs is CalPERS' investment performance, which in fiscal year 2020-21 boasted the most impressive results of the last decade, with a 21.3% gain in stock market assets, well over the 7% assumed rate of return that had been projected, according to the report.

That impressive performance, however, will be undermined by a nosedive in returns in 2021-22 and 2022-23, according to the report. Losses for 2021-22 have been confirmed at 7.5%.