2 awards for Polish students - researchers at pre-college science fair competition

This year\'s Intel ISEF (Intel International Science and Engineering Fair) was held in mid-May in Pittsburgh (U.S.), and attracted more than 1,500 talented students from 68 countries. Polish team, attending the event for the first time, returned with two awards.

Intel ISEF jury awarded third prize of $ 1 thousand in the field of zoology to Anna Kuśnierczak, last year high school student from Poznań, and the fourth prize of $ 500 in the field of biochemistry to Jakub Nagrodzki, high school student from Warsaw.

Anna Kuśnierczak has devoted her work to solitary bees and chances for rebuilding their population. Jakub Nagrodzki focused on the synthesis of a molecule (trimethyl-guasin cap analogue), which in a long term could be of immense importance in the treatment of genetic diseases.

Polish qualifier for the contest for young scientists was held for the first time in March this year, the Festival of Young Scientists E(x)plory, organized by the High Tech Foundation, the Polish Children\'s Fund and the Copernicus Science Centre.

The fair supported by by Intel Corporation has been organised for more than 50 years. The prize budget is $ 3 million and prizes awarded by 70 non-governmental organizations, as well as NASA and Google. This year, besides winners, the opportunity to appear on the world stage was given to third Polish finalist Nicola Leończyk from Słupsk, who examined the effect of wind turbines on living organisms.

This is not the end of the struggle the E(x)plory winners in global competitions: in the autumn, the Polish delegation will participate in the European competition EUCYS (European Union Contest for Young Scientists) in Bratislava.

The E(x)plory festival is Poland’s largest meeting of young researchers with international aspirations, teachers working with gifted youth, popularizers of science, and representatives of business and business institutions that use or want to use the potential of young people.

The Festival aims to inspire scientific work and entrepreneurship, as well as create conditions for the development of young scientific talents. Festival days are filled with workshops for teachers and students, conferences that are on opportunity for meeting of scientists with business practicioners, and scientific competitions.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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