Winners named in Argonne exhibit contest

ARGONNE, Ill. (June 5, 2003) — Two teams have tied for first place in an interactive-exhibit design contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. A team from Maine East High School in Park Ridge and a team from Delphi Community High School in Delphi, Ind. took the top honors.

The students designed exhibits that demonstrate the scientific principles of synchrotron X-ray science. Their designs will be used for the fabrication of public exhibits at the lab's Advanced Photon Source (APS).

The APS is a world class research facility that uses high speed electrons to produce ultra-bright X-ray pulses for research in many disciplines including materials science, chemistry, biology, physics, environmental science, planetary science, geology and nanoscience. The students were challenged to design and build a prototype educational exhibit to explain the science behind the APS.

"There is no better way to get exciting exhibits illustrating the science of the APS than asking creative young students to design them - it has been very stimulating both for them and us," said J. Murray Gibson, associate laboratory director for the Advanced Photon Source.

Third place in the contest went to Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook. A special honorable mention was given to a team from West Leyden High School, West Leyden. All finalist teams attended a presentation ceremony and dinner held recently at Argonne to honor the winning teams.

Other schools participating in the contest were: Morris Community High School, Morris and West Chicago Community High School, West Chicago.

The teams were required to design exhibits that highlighted one of the applicable APS themes. These themes were:

• What is diffraction?
• What is X-ray brightness?
• Scientific uses of X-rays
• Making X-rays with an accelerator
• How does the APS accelerator work?
• Studying materials with the APS
• Using the APS as a research tool

The Delphi team's design focused on diffraction. The Maine East team design featured a linac, booster and storage ring model. Glenbrook North designed a wave interference tank exhibit. West Leyden's design featured optical metrology activities.

"The teams competing in this first-ever event submitted an impressive collection of prototype exhibits, making our judges' job both delightful and agonizing at the same time," said Fred Hartline of Argonne's Division of Educational Programs. "It was tough to choose just three of these incredible projects for the highest honors."

Several organizations donated awards and materials for the contest. Pasco Scientific donated a temperature lab for each of the three top teams' schools. American Science and Surplus donated two $75 and one $25 gift certificates for the top teams' schools. Vernier donated two $75 and one $25 gift certificates for the top teams' schools. Kendry Company donated materials, provided others at cost and waived delivery charges. iMedia donated one copy of Synchrotron Light CD and one Nanpolis CD for each finalist school.

The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to climatology and biotechnology. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations to help advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is operated by the University of Chicago as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratory system.

For more information, please contact Steve McGregor (630/252-5580 or media@anl.gov) at Argonne.