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The Olympics of STEM for N.J. Students at Regional Science Bowl Feb 23 & 24

PRINCETON, New Jersey (Feb. 20, 2018) - As the Olympics wrap up in South Korea, top competitors will be gathering  at a different kind of competition this weekend 6,867 miles away at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). But for the dozens of middle and high school students coming to the New Jersey Regional Science Bowl, this competition is centered not on feats of the body but of the mind.

“As the world comes together to participate in the Olympics, the Science Bowl brings together students from all over New Jersey to participate in a contest focused on science, innovation and technology,” said Andrew Zwicker, head of PPPL’s Communications and Public Outreach and the Science Education office. 

Teams of middle school and high school students will come to PPPL Friday, Feb. 23, to Saturday, Feb. 24, for a battle of the minds in 12 fierce rounds of competition answering challenging math, science and technology questions at the DOE-sponsored event at PPPL, 100 Stellarator Road, Princeton, New Jersey.

The winners of each competition will win all-expense paid trips to DOE’s National Science Bowl^® in Washington, D.C., from April 26 to April 30. The middle school winner will compete against 49 other regional teams, while the high school champion will compete against 64 other teams.

This year is the 25^th year PPPL will host the Science Bowl in which 16 middle school teams and 32 high school teams will participate. They will answer up to 46 challenging questions in Earth and space science, physical science, life science, math and technology per round with up to 11 rounds for the middle schoolers and up to 13 rounds for the high schoolers in a double-elimination format.

Last year, the West Windsor-Plainsboro South High School team placed first in the high school competition for the third consecutive year after remaining undefeated in 12 rounds of competition. The John Witherspoon Middle School Team from Princeton, New Jersey, won the middle school contest.

About 50 PPPL volunteers will serve as moderators, science judges, and timekeepers during the two days of competition.

The Middle School Science Bowl on Feb. 23 will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the High School Science Bowl will be on Feb. 24 from 9:30 a.m. to about 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and media. Please contact Jeanne Jackson DeVoe, jjackson@pppl.gov or 609-243-2757, if you would like to cover the event. Directions to the Laboratory are available at https://www.pppl.gov/about/visiting-pppl.

PPPL, on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J., is devoted to creating new knowledge about the physics of plasmas — ultra-hot, charged gases — and to developing practical solutions for the creation of fusion energy. The Laboratory is managed by the University for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which is the largest single supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.