Kira Powell headed to London Symposium

 

Jeff Wehr and Kira Powell

Odessa High School junior and advanced science research student Kira Powell returned to Odessa Sunday from the 49th Annual Science and Humanities Symposium in San Diego, Calif., having earned first place in Environmental Science. In July, she will fly to London, England to represent the United States at the London International Youth Science Forum. According to State Science Symposium director Ray Meyers, no one from the State of Washington has ever before earned the position of attending the London Symposium.

LIYSF is a two-week residential event held at Imperial College London, with lectures and demonstrations from leading scientists, visits to industrial sites, research centers, scientific institutions and organizations, including world-class laboratories and universities. There is an active social calendar, with events designed to enable those from around the world to learn about different cultures. LIYSF 2011 will explore future developments in the sciences, with lecture demonstrations, specialist seminars and debates led by a team of scientists and experts and scientific visits.

Powell began her research journey when she observed that her local environment had very little rainfall. Living in a rural dryland farming community, she saw that rainfall was the life force of the economy. Being a junior in chemistry this year, she wondered if there was a way to absorb the modest rainfall near the roots of the crop in the ground. With a little research and trials in the lab, Kira concocted a ratio of a certain chemical she thought would work well with little environmental affect on the crop or the soil. She planted a control crop, a 2.5% experimental crop, and a 5.0% experimental crop and found a statistical difference between all three crops in a variety of tests, such as plant height, kernel mass and price increase.

Kira has presented her science research this year at several state events, including the Inland Northwest Science Symposium in Spokane, the State Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Seattle, the Mid-Columbia Regional Science Fair in Kennewick and the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair in Bremerton. At all of these events she earned the top award and prizes including scholarships, cash, certificates, pins, plaques and the opportunity to attend the International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, Calif., as well as the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in San Diego.

This Saturday Kira flies to Los Angeles, where she will reveal her science research to students from more than 50 other countries in hopes of earning other science accolades. The Society for Science & the Public staff, Intel Corporation and the Los Angeles Host Committee are hosting the 62nd International Science and Engineering Fair May 9 - 13, 2011. The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) is the world's largest international pre-college science competition and provides an annual forum for more than 1,500 high school students to showcase their independent research. It is the premiere global science competition for students in grades 9-12.

Kira has also been selected by the State of Washington as a WAS Program Scholar (Washington Aerospace Scholar), which has her integrated with NASA aerospace and engineering which could provide her with a stay in Seattle this summer working with the WAS program. Washington Aerospace Scholars is an educational program for high school juniors from across Washington state.

The WAS program emphasizes science, technology, engineering and math, and encourages students to consider careers in these fields. Thanks to the Washington Aerospace Scholars Foundation, this educational experience, including Summer Residency room and board, is provided at no cost to participants. During the residency students are guided by professional engineers and educators as they design a human mission to Mars, tour engineering facilities, receive briefings from experts in the field, and compete in hands-on engineering challenges.

On top of that, Kira is also an athlete and is currently defending her title as the Washington State women’s high school 1B/2B golf champion.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Cheney Free Press
Ritzville Adams County Journal
Whitman County Gazette
Odessa Record
Franklin Connection
Davenport Times
Spokane Valley News Herald
Colfax Daily Bulletin

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/27/2024 15:48