By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ
smfernandez@dailylocal.com

PHOENIXVILLE — About 570 young scientists plan to compete in the Chester County Science Research Competition on March 8 and 9 at Center for Arts and Technology Pickering Campus.

The competition offers students the chance to pursue inquiry-based science and be recognized for their efforts through a variety of awards.

Students in grades 6 through 12 will compete in the Lucy Balian Rorke-Adams Fair on March 8, and competitors from grades 4 and 5 will compete in the Jonas Salk Fair on March 9.

The categories for the competition are: behavioral and social science, biochemistry, botany, chemistry, computer science, consumer science, earth and space science, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, medicine and health, microbiology, physics, zoology, and team projects.

The awards ceremony for the Lucy Balian Rorke-Adams Fair are to begin 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, at Downingtown West High School. Only students who have an award designation attached to their project board are asked to attend.

During the judging portion, the competition is closed to the public, including parents and teachers, although there will be an open house from 6 to 7 p.m. both days for anyone wishing to see the projects.---- The Chester County Science Research Competition is sponsored and conducted by the Chester County Intermediate Unit.

The competition is a feeder fair to the Delaware Valley Fair, which provides students with the opportunity to win college scholarships and advance to the International Science and Engineering Fair. The Delaware Valley fair will be held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks, from April 3 to 5. The competition will include about 1,000 students from New Jersey, Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania.

Meghan Shea, 16, a Unionville High School student, was the winner of the Delaware Valley Science Fair in 2011. Shea secured a silver medal for her project, “The Effect of Nitrogen and Sulfur and Phosphorus Compounds on the Bioremediation of Oil by Pseudomonas Fluorescence and Bacillus Subtilis for Use During Oil Spills.”

With the project, Shea attempted to increase the effectiveness of two bacteria at degrading oil for use during the oil spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico.

Students competing at the Delaware Valley fair will have the opportunity to win a share of almost $1 million in college scholarships and move on to the International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be hosted in Pittsburgh this year. Continued...

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Students in grades 6 through 12 take stage in March