Wayne State University faculty and staff merged their efforts for the 36thannual Southeastern Michigan Junior Science and Humanities Symposium for high school students offered in March 2000.

Although sponsored Placing fourth by the College of Education, the symposium is an interdisciplinary event which draws on the expertise of many colleges and institutions. More than 65 WSU faculty and staff planned and implemented the symposium.

Rudi Alec, education faculty members and director of the symposium, said, "Together we served the 150 students and teachers from urban, suburban and rural high schools. Representatives from the Association of the Army and teachers from Detroit Public Schools participated as well."

Forty research papers were submitted to the symposium and 20 were selected for presentation. Students presented papers on the research they had conducted. Siddharth Shenai won first place with his research project to study sensitivity nulling of inertial guidance systems. Shenai, a student from Country Day School in Beverly Hills, received a $4,000 scholarship from the Academy of Applied Sciences and a Presidential Scholarship to Wayne State.

Jeffrey Powers from Brown City High School placed second with research about glaciers in Sanilac County. Sean Ahmed from Detroit Country Day placed third for his research on the effectiveness of sunglasses and sunscreens.

Fourth and fifth were Melanie Denton of Sandusky High School and Aaron Kilgore of Redford High School in Detroit. Denton compared the efficiency of pelleted feed with ground feed for hogs; Kilgore studied the control of smooth muscle cell growth by sulfated polysaccharides.

Sixth, seventh and eighth place winners become alternates. They are Rishi Mukhopadhyay of Detroit Country Day, Joseph Baysdell of Brown City High School and Jennifer Zech of Carsonville / Point Sanilac High School.

The top five students receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. to attend the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in late April. Shenai will represent southeastern Michigan at the national symposium and compete with other finalists from 47 regions including the United States, Puerto Rico and European and Japanese department of defense schools.

A national winner receives a $16,000 scholarship and two-week trip to London, England, to participate at the international competition.

Rudi Alec says the symposia held at Wayne State have been successful, providing national first-place finalists in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1995 and 1996. Second-place finalists were placed in 1993, 1997 and 1999.

Alec serves on the executive council for the regional symposium and has been the council's chairman for eight consecutive years. He also is on the advisory board representing the 48 symposia.

Since 1996 the WSU Center for Environmental Health Sciences has offered a $500savings bond to the top paper in the area of environmental science. The recipient for this year is Joseph Baysdell of Brown City.

For the humanities interlude portion of the event, Norah Duncan IV of the music faculty directed a performance by the WSU Men's Glee Club and the WSU Choral Union in the Community Arts Auditorium.

The U. S. Army, Navy and Air Force through the Academy of Applied Science fund the symposium. The Association of the U. S. Army and the U.S. Tank Automotive Command also are major sponsors.

For more information call Alec at (313) 577-0960.