Science Olympiad brings curious students to campus

No hotel room will be left empty as IU and the city of Bloomington roll out the red carpet for the approximate 5,000 people expected to arrive Thursday and Friday. Middle and high school science students, their coaches, parents and volunteers are coming from across the nation to take part in the "Giants of Science" National Science Olympiad tournament on Saturday. \nTours, demonstrations and pizza picnics will run back-to-back with the intent to awe these future scientists. Everything from star gazing at the Kirkwood Observatory and measuring ozone levels in the air to petting hissing cockroaches will be offered. With all the local events it is no wonder Mayor Mark Kruzan declared May 20 to be National Science Olympiad day in Bloomington. \nThree hundred volunteers -- including most of IU's schools and science departments and local organizations such as Downtown Bloomington, Inc. -- have teamed up to provide a "giant" welcome. Co-organizers Tina Gilliland and Jocelyn Bowie said that this year's events and tournament will be unlike anything the campus and community has ever seen.\n"This kind of cooperation couldn't happen anywhere but in Bloomington," Gilliland said. "The bottom line -- lots of surprises are coming."\nIU departments are opening their doors to students with demonstrations, lectures and videos. Wonderlab is giving discounted passes to all NSO participants and city buses and the shops lining Kirkwood Avenue are running special deals for the NSO. \nThursday night, festivities will be held at the Monroe County Courthouse square and a parents' welcome reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Monroe County Library will welcome parents of the NSO participants.\nAlso on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m., two speakers will attract space and technology enthusiasts. Androids are the topic of choice for Karl MacDorman from the School of Informatics at IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis, who will be speaking in room 223 of the Kelley School of Business. NASA's own "Man In Black," Planetary Protection Officer Dr. John Rummel, is also speaking in the business school in room 219. Rummel's job with NASA is to look out for extraterrestrial micro-organisms should they ever arrive on Earth by hitching a ride on a meteorite or the suit of an astronaut.\nInterested partipants can also follow along with the bug-collecting journeys of Jim Louderman, a curator for the The Field Museum in Chicago, in "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!" from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday.\nFrom 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, at the "Hoosier Jubilee" in the Mellencamp Pavillion, Indiana's entry for the 2005 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contest will make an appearance. The 7,000 pound computer-operated, autonomous vehicle, designed by Indiana-based company Indiana Robotic Navigation, was designed to steer itself across rugged terrain to deliver troops with supplies in dangerous territories.\nAmong the sponsors for the weekend is Robert Greenler, emeritus professor of physics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who donated $34,000 in order to give each student competitor a copy of his memoir "Chasing the Rainbow: Recurrences in the life of a scientist." \nThe largest donor for the NSO tournament is Sallie Mae, who not only provided money to support the competitions, but also gave a $25,000 scholarship endowment for IU's Science Olympiad summer camp. Mae is also hosting a "Paying for College" informational session Friday, in which one high school student will win $500 for college.\nSupport also comes from IU, Eli Lilly and Co., the IU Credit Union, Texas Instruments, Bloomington's WonderLab and several other companies and local organizations.\nThe public is welcome to attend open houses Thursday and Friday and to view many of the competitions on Saturday.