April 22nd, 2010
Local students win prestigious science awards

Nicholas Neighbors, left, and Gus Bates, right, stand in front of their award winning project.

STAFF REPORT

Two local students, Nicholas Neighbors and Gus Bates, won first place in the junior team category at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) Exxon Mobile Science and Engineering Fair state competition.

The team had previously taken first place amongst all projects in every science category from junior high or middle school teams at the Austin Energy Science Fair regional competition in February. From this win, the team was invited to compete at the UTSA state event. Each regional fair is sanctioned by Science Service, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding and appreciation of science among people of all ages.

More than 1,000 students from across Texas competed at the UTSA Exxon Mobile Science and Engineering Fair state competition, held April 9-12. Both of the science fairs in which the team competed are members of the largest international pre-college science competition, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Network.

Students competed in two divisions – junior (grades six through eight) and senior (grades nine through 12) – in one of 19 categories at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center at UTSA.

“For the past 10 years, we have valued this opportunity to recognize and encourage the brilliant minds of the future,” said Truman Bell, senior program officer for education and diversity at the sponsoring Exxon Mobil Corporation. “Whatever their professional aspirations may be, it is clear they will be celebrated leaders in their respective fields. We hope this event serves as an exciting stepping stone to their bright future.”

The Neighbors and Bates  project abstract  for the UTSA Exxon Fair read “Magnetodynamics:  A Novel, Powerful Rare Earth Magnetic Array Exhibiting An Asymmetric Flux Pattern.”  Their project at the Austin Energy Science Fair was “Magnetodynamics – Is it possible to design, engineer and construct a novel magnetic array?”

Nicholas Neighbors is home-schooled and Gus Bates attends the Masters School in San Marcos.

Bates and Neighbors accepting awards and congratulations.