SciFest Ezine, Volume 13, Number 4, May 2022

SCIFEST EZINE Promoting diversity and inclusion in STEM Education

SCIFEST STEM CHAMPION CLARE, REPRESENTS IRELAND IN ATLANTA SciFest STEM Champion Clare Reidy, a sixth-year student from Our Lady's Bower Secondary School in Athlone, represented Ireland at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2022 which took place in Atlanta, Georgia, 8 – 13 May. Clare won the Best Project Award at SciFest@College 2021 in the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Athlone Campus. This qualified her to compete in the SciFest National Final 2021 where the judges awarded her the top prize and the title SciFest STEM Champion 2021. Her prize was a trophy and an all-expenses paid trip to represent Ireland and SciFest at Regeneron ISEF 2022 Regeneron ISEF is a program of The Society for Science for over 70 years and is the world’s largest global science competition for high school. Through a global network of local, regional and national science fairs, millions of students are encouraged to explore their passion for scientific inquiry. Each spring, a group of these students is selected as finalists and offered the opportunity to compete for approximately U.S. $8 million in awards and scholarships.

VOLUME 13, NUMBER 4, MAY 2022

IN THIS ISSUE Page 2 SciFest STEM Champion Clare, represents Ireland in Atlanta Regeneron ISEF 2023 Page 3 Grace represents Ireland at the Broadcom MASTERS International Page 4 SciFest@College 2022 Page 5 SciFest@School 2021/2022 The Berlin Long Night of Science 2022 Hong Kong GYSTB 2022 Page 6 SciFest@TCPID 2022 WE ARE HIRING! Contact details

SciFest STEM Champion Clare, Represents Ireland in Atlanta Clare’s award-winning project investigated whether bricks made from Martian soil (regolith) could be used to block cosmic radiation. She discovered that these bricks could offer effective protection against cosmic radiation and constructed an optimum brick using Martian regolith simulant as a primary component. Her discovery supports the use of Martian regolith bricks to protect future inhabitants of Mars.

The week at ISEF began on Sunday with the student pin exchange event. There was great excitement as students from all over the world met and exchanged pins. Irish pins were very popular as Clare and Grace Ní Ifearnáin (representing Ireland and SciFest at the Broadcom MASTERS International programme) were the only two Irish students in Atlanta. The official opening took place on Monday evening and the judging

of the projects on Tuesday. The exhibition hall was open to the public on Wednesday. At 7pm that evening finalists and visitors all headed to the Georgia Aquarium for a celebration dinner. The special awards were announced on Thursday evening and the category awards were presented on Friday morning. Throughout the week there were a number of symposia sessions and activities organised for the students such as the ISEF 2022 Mini hackathon.

Participating in Regeneron ISEF is a life-changing experience. SciFest has been sending students to ISEF since 2012. In 2020 and 2021 the ISEF fair took place virtually and the 2022 fair was a hybrid event with around a third of the projects being judged online. We would like to take this opportunity to thank The Society for Science and Regeneron for inspiring students from all over the world and giving them the opportunity to be fearless in pursuing their passions to come up with solutions to real world problems.

SciFest STEM Champion 2022 will Represent Ireland at Regeneron ISEF 2023 in Dallas, Texas The SciFest National Final 2022 will take place in the Marino Conference Centre, Drumcondra on Friday 25 November. On that day a panel of judges from industry, academia and the Department of Education will select the SciFest 2023 STEM Champion/s. The winner/s of this award will represent Ireland and SciFest at Regeneron ISEF 2023 which will take place in Dallas, Texas, from May 13-19, 2023.

Page 2

Grace represents Ireland at Broadcom MASTERS International Grace Ní Ifearnáin is a second-year student at Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí in Tralee. When in first year Grace entered SciFest@MTU Kerry and won the Best Project Award for her innovative research project investigating the effect of juglone on Japanese knotweed. This qualified her to participate in the SciFest National Final 2021 where she walked away with the Broadcom MASTERS International Award. Winning this award meant that Grace would participate in the Broadcom MASTERS International programme in Atlanta the following May. The Broadcom MASTERS International programme provides a unique opportunity for secondary school junior students from around the world to participate in an exciting educational programme, including hands-on science and engineering activities, visits to museums and science centres and the opportunity to attend the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Places on the programme are highly coveted with just 22 delegates representing 19 countries, regions and territories invited to participate this year. It is the fourth consecutive year a SciFest student has been invited to participate.

Grace travelled to Atlanta with her Mum Catrina and the SciFest STEM Champion Clare Reidy. It was an actionpacked week for Grace with visits to the Georgia Tech, the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, the Museum of Design (MODA), the Georgia Aquarium and the Mercedes Benz Stadium.

There was also an opportunity to view the Regeneron ISEF finalists’ projects and to attend the ISEF official opening and the award ceremonies.

During the week Grace made lots of friends. There were delegates from Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Michigan, California, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, South Africa, Georgia, Egypt, Spain, Northern Ireland, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, and India. The students were all presented with Broadcom MASTERS hoodies and tee shirts and at the end of the week each student was presented with an Amazon Kindle.

This was an unforgettable experience for Grace, and we would like to thank Broadcom MASTERS and The Society for Science for inviting SciFest to nominate a student to be part of this wonderful programme. We would also like to say well done to Grace who participated with enthusiasm in every part of the programme and was a brilliant ambassador for Ireland.

Page 3

TUS Athlone

TUS Thurles

SETU Carlow

ATU Galway

DkIT

DCU

ATU Sligo

SETU Waterford

SCIFEST@COLLEGE 2022 SciFest 2022 marks seveneen successful years of the SciFest programme. Even during Covid-19 the programme continued to fluorish with the SciFest@College fairs, some school fairs and two national finals taking place as online events. There is, however, no replacing the impact, joy and the excitement for the student of being able to present their project at a 'real live' STEM fair. With the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and after much discussion with our partners at the third-level colleges we decided, for for the first time in nearly three years, to host the SciFest@College 2022 regional STEM fairs in person. Just one venue, SciFest@MTU Cork, decided to remain as an online fair for 2022.

The closing date for entry forms was set at 11 March and we were delighted to receive more than 900 project entries. On 6 April SciFest@College in TUS Midlands in Athlone marked the first in-person SciFest@College fair since 2019 and judging by the atmosphere on the day everyone was excited to be back. To date fifteen of the regional SciFest@College fairs have taken place. SciFest@NorthWest Derry will take place on 17 June.

SciFest is a community, made up of students, teachers, schools and partners at third-level, industry and Government.

Whilst innovation can’t be curbed by separation and social distance, there is something special created when the sum of all the parts of SciFest are together. SciFest is above all a festival celebrating STEM.

TU Dublin Tallaght

TU Dublin Blanchardstown

ATU Donegal

MTU Tralee

17 June2022

TUS Limerick

MTU Cork - Online

NorthWest Derry

TU Dublin Grangegorman

Page 4

THE BERLIN LONG NIGHT OF SCIENCE 2022 Niamh Carolan and Líle Hensey from Ursuline College, Sligo will visit the Long Night of Science in Berlin in June, accompanied by their teacher. The girls won this prize at the 2021 SciFest National Final for their project on the effects of electromagnetic radiation on brain activity. While in Berlin the party will take part in a special programme organised by the Irish Embassy in Berlin which includes tickets to the Long Night of Science.

SciFest@School, Assumption Secondary School, Walkinstown, Dublin 12

SCIFEST@SCHOOL 2021/2022 We are thrilled to be back, since Easter, visiting SciFest@School fairs, where safe to do so. The SciFest@School programme has seen many new schools register during the current academic year, with over 70 fairs in total having

HONG KONG GYSTB 2022

successfully taken place.

SciFest@School fairs are an entirely flexible and tailorable concept. They can be held for as few or as many projects as suits the school and at any time during the academic year. This reveals SciFest@School’s arguably most important quality, accessibility. The diversity of approaches to SciFest@School fairs by different schools has been incredible throughout the pandemic. Trying circumstances foster innovation, and it has not just been the students but the teachers also, who have been bringing forward bright ideas and novel methods.

A full list of Scifest@School STEM fairs can be viewed on the following link.

The Global Youth Science and Technology Bowl (GYSTB) is an international student science project competition in biology, chemistry, physics and engineering in Hong Kong.

SciFest has been affiliated to GYSTB since 2020 and two students, Grace Ní Ifearnáin and Hari Pranavam, a TY student from Saint Eunan’s College, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal have been selected by SciFest to represent Ireland at this year's competition.

Judging is online and will take place in June. We wish Hari and Grace all the best on the day of the judging.

SciFest@School, Coláiste Chiaráin, Athlone, Co. Westmeath

SciFest@School, Boyne CS, Trim, Co. Meath

Hari Pranavam Page 5

Contact Details: Email: info@scifest.ie Mobile: 086 379 6143 Website: www.scifest.ie

Next Event SCIFEST@TCPID 2022 SciFest@TCPID (The Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities) student exhibition and awards ceremony in association with Abbott will take place in Regent House, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2 on Thursday, 2 June 2022 between 12.00pm and 2.30pm.

WE ARE HIRING SciFest is Seeking to Appoint a Full-Time School Liaison Officer Are you a post-primary teacher looking for a challenge? Are you passionate about education and the importance of STEM for today’s young people? If so, we would like to hear from you.

SciFest has been supporting and promoting STEM education in second-level schools across Ireland for over 16 years. Our aim is to ensure that every second-level student irrespective of their ability, gender, background or circumstance has the opportunity to participate in a STEM fair.

With support from the Medtronic Foundation, we are now looking for a highly motivated teacher to take responsibility for implementing a project specifically designed to grow and support engagement in DEIS schools. This is an exciting and challenging opportunity for a fully qualified post-primary teacher to make a significant contribution to the promotion of STEM among disadvantaged communities.

The full-time position of SciFest School Liaison Officer is offered initially on a two-year contract basis, subject to the satisfactory completion of a three-month probationary period. Remuneration will be linked to the appropriate point on the post-primary teacher salary scales. The successful candidate will be based in Dublin with opportunities for a hybrid working arrangement.

For more information please click on this link.

H A V E A L O V E L Y S U M MFIND E R ABSTORE R E A KNEAR AND WE WILL YOU SEE YOU AGAIN IN SEPTEMBER

Page 6