Conference Introduces High School Students to Scientific Research
Thursday, February 7, 2008
The summit is an interactive conference designed to get high school and college students interested in scientific research, said LeGrande M. Slaughter, assistant professor of chemistry at OSU.
“Many students fail to see the practical benefits of scientific research and how it leads to useful outcomes,” Slaughter said. “We hope to change that.”
Through an Internet-enabled videoconference, Daniel Nocera, energy expert and chemistry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and George Parks, a research fellow at ConocoPhillips Company, will discuss energy research and answer student questions.
Cushing, Drumright, Glencoe, Morrison, Perkins and Stillwater high schools, as well as OSU college students, were invited to the 2 ½-hour summit, which will be in room 310 of the Math Sciences Building. For more information, phone (405) 744-5941 or e-mail lms@chem.okstate.edu.
The National Science Foundation funds the Cyberspace Research Summit through a five-year grant awarded to Slaughter in 2007. The grant is aimed at creating an educational outreach program that introduces rural Oklahoma high school students to scientific research.
Oklahoma’s only university with a statewide presence, Oklahoma State University is a five-campus, public land-grant educational system that improves the lives of people in Oklahoma, the nation and the world through integrated, high-quality teaching, research and outreach. Established in 1890, the Stillwater campus is the home of the OSU System.