The results for the 2014 Valero & Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Regional Science Fair named a few students from surrounding school districts as those who will be advancing to the state level.

The regional science fair took place on February 20-21 at the American Bank Center. It is open to students between grades kindergarten through 12th grade and whose science fair projects have been selected for advancement to the regional science fair.

Students who participated were up against several other county areas including Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Calhoun, Duval, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio and San Patricio.

The students who advanced will be making their way to the ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair in San Antonio on March 20 through March 23.

In kinder in the physical science category, first place went to William McCall from Calallen Independent School District, second place went to Alexis Farias from the Alice Independent School District and third place went to Evan Hinojosa from the Robstown Independent School District. In the life science category third place went to Lilian Paniagua, Tuloso-Midway Independent School District.

In third grade in the physical science category, third place went to Taylor Grant from Calallen Isd and in the life science category, second place went to team Allison Flower and Ashley Flower from TM ISD.

In fourth grade in the life science category first place went to Addie Lamontagne from TM ISD, second place went to Rubena Casas from Calallen ISD and third place went to Joeli Robledo from Robstown ISD. In fifth grade in the physical science, third place went to JoAnn Robledo from TM ISD.

The Junior/Senior Divisions was made up from grades sixth to twelfth. In the Behavioral and Social Science category, second place went to Nicholas Coleman from Alice ISD.

In the Chemistry-Biochemistry category, second place went to Austin Sannes from Calallen ISD. In the Earth Science category, first place went to Avery Lopez and second place went to Jesaiah Torres both from Alice ISD. In the Plant Sciences category, second place went to Caitlin Sannes from Calallen ISD.

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Results of the 2014Valero & Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Regional Science Fair

Tuesday, February 25, 2014 - 1:33pm

Longview, Texas (KETK) The first annual Pine Tree Middle School Campus Science Fair was hosted on January 31, 2014 under the direction of Mrs. Galyean.

"All 5th grade students were invited to participate," said Galyean. "And 46 students stepped up this first year. I am truly proud that so many of our 5th grade students got involved. They worked diligently on their projects and were ready and anxious to make the presentations for the judges."

To enter, students were asked to have parent permission and to enter a project that fit into one of the assigned categories, which included: Physical/Chemical, Biological, Behavioral, and Inventions. Students created their projects on their own with some help from home.

The Science Fair was set up in the Pine Tree Science Lab.

Students prepared their projects for judging that morning, and the judging began at noon.

The winners were announced at the end of the day after a parent viewing from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on campus.

The 2014 Campus Winners:

1st Place: Brandon Krenick- " Do Dogs Have a Paw Preference?" (Behavioral)

2nd Place: Zoe Green- "The New Mailbox" (Invention)

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Pine Tree Middle School holds first science fair

Teaching swimming to special needs children
Maria Arizmendi of Progressive Behavioral Science discusses teaches swimming to special needs children with Splashes Smiles.

By: Progressive Behavioral Science

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Teaching swimming to special needs children - Video

CASPER -- On Saturday, Feb. 1, approximately 100 students from Casper Classical Academy, Poison Spider, St. Anthonys Tri Parish School, Douglas, Wheatland, Verda James, Sagewood, Manor Heights, Pineview, Midwest, University Park, Excell Academy, Paradise Valley Christian, and children who are home schooled in grades 6 through 12 participated in the District & Regional Science Fair at Verda James Elementary School in Casper.

The competition routinely attracts some of the most gifted and talented students who will represent several scientific disciplines, such as biochemistry, physics, medicine and health, and engineering.

A panel of more than 25 trained judges evaluated the projects and determined scores based on strength of presentation and comprehension of subject matter. Cash prizes were awarded to outstanding participants in the Regional Fair, and the top placing student scientists will advance to the Wyoming State Science Fair.

The first and second place cash prize winners in the Regional Science Fair were:

Animal Science: 1., Decker Anderson, Wheatland; 2., Megan Lovitt, Douglas.

Behavioral and Social Sciences: 1., Emily Wright, Wheatland; 2., Bailee Wistisen, CCA.

Biochemistry: 1., Abram Hansen, CCA; 2., Rachel Battershell, Wheatland.

Cellular: 1., Bastian Hansen, CCA.

Chemistry: 1., Chandra Frank, St. Anthonys; 2., Meghan Dean, St. Anthonys.

Computers: 1., Sam James, CCA; 2., Brandon Florence, CCA.

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District announces science fair winners

8 hours ago Feb. 22, 2014 - 10:30 AM PST

At least 10 new wearable devices were introduced at CES in January, from makers such as Sony, Pebble, Meta, LG, Garmin, Razer and more. Yet despite the enthusiasm in the market, the dirty secret of wearables remains: almost all of the current generation of products fail to drive long-term, sustained engagement and behavior change.

Endeavour Partners research recently found that while one in 10 US consumers over the age of 18 now owns a modern activity tracker, one-third of US consumers who have owned a wearable product stopped using it within six months, and more than half of US consumers who owned an activity tracker no longer use it. Consumers are buying them and trying them, but rarely end up relying on them.

Sustained engagement is the key challenge for companies developing wearable devices or complementary services. A surprising percentage of devices fail to achieve even short-term engagement because they suffer from one or more fatal user experience flaws: they break, theyre a pain to sync with a smartphone, the battery doesnt last long enough, theyre ugly and uncomfortable. Any one of these flaws is enough to turn off a user; more than one often lands these devices in a desk drawer or, even worse, the trash. Unfortunately many of the apps, portals and other services that use data from wearables suffer from similar UX problems.

Even if products and services avoid these traps and provide very powerful functionality, they will end up failing in the market if they fail to have a meaningful impact on users behaviors and habits. This dependence on behavior change means that traditional product design criteria are only part of the key to developing successful wearable products and services.

Human behavior is complex, but behavioral science offers three factors that can lead to sustained engagement over the long term.

1. Habit formation. Sustained engagement depends on a device or services ability to help the user form and stick with new habits. Wearable devices have the potential, all too often unrealized, to make the process of habit formation more effective and efficient than ever before. The best engagement strategies for wearables move beyond just presenting data (steps, calories, stairs) and directly address the elements of the habit loop (cue, routine, reward), triggering the deep-seated psychological sequences that lead to the establishment of new habits.

For example, as users of the Basis Health Tracker navigate the initial goal-setting process, the device sets up a sequence of key habit formation elements cues, routines and rewards. Users can unlock the ability to add new habits by acquiring points (reward) after completing a previous goal related to successfully establishing a habit. From here, daily cues, routines and rewards are continuously sequenced to develop habits for better health.

2. Social motivation. To sustain engagement beyond the initial habit formation, a device or service must be able to motivate users effectively. Social connections are a particularly powerful source of motivation that can be leveraged in many creative ways. In addition to using social connections to influence behavior, social media and networking sites can be exploited to alter habits for positive outcomes.

Three key social mechanisms support motivation and broader goal attainment. First, when users are able to share or compete for goals, they are more committed to achieving those goals. Second, social cognitive theory suggests that we learn not just from our own experiences, but also vicariously from those around us. Third, social factors are huge determinants in our overall health. Connecting socially with others is as basic a need as food, water and shelter. The extent to which wearables facilitate social connections has a broad secondary effect on users health and wellness.

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The three critical factors wearable devices need to succeed

Progressive Behavioral Science presents Teaching Swimming to Special Needs Children
Miss Samantha of Splashes Smiles talks with Maria Arizmendi of Progressive Behavioral Therapy about teacing swiming to special needs childrens.

By: Progressive Behavioral Science

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Progressive Behavioral Science presents Teaching Swimming to Special Needs Children - Video

[DEFCON 19] Why Airport Security Can #39;t Be Done FAST
Why Airport Security Can #39;t Be Done FAST Speakers: Semon Rezchikov Morgan Wang Joshua Engelman Eight years after 9/11 TSA finally decided to fix their securit...

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Dr. Tom Insel, the longest-tenured director of the National Institute of Mental Health in almost half a century in Rockville | credits: New York Times Service

The police arrived at the house just after breakfast, dressed in full riot gear, and set up a perimeter at the front and back. Not long after, animal rights marchers began filling the street: scores of people, young and old, yelling accusations of murder and abuse, invoking Hitler, as neighbors stepped out onto their porches and stared.

It was 1997, in Decatur, Ga. The demonstrators had clashed with the police that week, at the Yerkes National Primate Research Centre at nearby Emory University, but this time, they were paying a personal call on the house of the centres director, inside with his wife and two teenage children.

I think it affected the three of them more than it did me, honestly, said Dr. Thomas R. Insel, shaking his head at the memory. But the university insisted on moving all of us to a safe place for a few days, to an undisclosed location.

Ill say this. I learned that if youre going to take a stand, youre going to make some people really angry so youd better believe in what youre doing, and believe it completely.

For the past 11 years, Insel, a 62-year-old brain scientist, has run an equally contentious but far more influential outfit: the National Institute of Mental Health, the worlds leading backer of behavioral health research.

Insel has not merely survived; he is the longest-serving director since Dr. Robert H. Felix, the agencys founder, retired almost a half-century ago. His tenure stretches over three presidencies and, more important, coincides with a top-down overhaul in the substance and direction of behavioral science.

The extent of this remodeling is not widely understood outside scientific circles nor universally appreciated within them. But in recent months, its author has begun to reveal his instincts publicly, in blog posts and speeches.

Last summer, he questioned whether people with schizophrenia should remain indefinitely on antipsychotic medications a shot at accepted medical wisdom.

A few months earlier, he had called out psychiatrys diagnostic encyclopedia, the DSM-5, as not scientifically valid, weeks before a new edition was released. Psychiatrists were not happy, and they told him so. Days later, he issued a statement saying that the manual was the best currently available, if imperfect.

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Blazing trails in brain science

Eleven Darien High School students took home awards for their work at the Southern Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair at Newtown High School on Feb. 8. Thirty-eight Darien students competed in four categories at the event: life sciences, physical sciences, environmental sciences and behavioral sciences.

Each student was required to create a poster exhibit, make a presentation and participate in a question-and-answer session with two sets of judges.

Katie Tsui and Kate Halabi tied for first place in the health science category for their research proposals. Tsui, a sophomore and Darien Times columnist, proposed work on the role of cardiovascular disease on incidences of Alzheimers disease.

For the past semester, I have been studying Alzheimers disease, primarily focusing on epidemiological longitudinal studies along with specific genes and risk factors for the disease, Tsui said. As a sophomore just starting out in the authentic science research course, it was really surprising and unexpected to win. But I was very pleased with the results all the hard work paid off.

Tsui said she hopes to continue studying Alzheimers, as it is something she is very interested in and passionate about.

Kate Halabis proposed project focused on regenerating neural tissue following a stroke using induced pluripotent stem cells. This type of stem cell can be used to regenerate a variety of damaged tissue types and can propagate indefinitely.

Paige Dripp garnered a second place finish in environmental science for her proposal that examined the effect of chlorothanolil on the domesticated honeybee population.

Sonia Gandhi took home second place in behavioral science for her proposal, Breaking the barriers of self-consciousness: The effects of short-term jazz training on non-musicians.

Christian Kanlian won third place in environmental science for a look at how repeated exposure to 1-MCP effects physiochemical, color and soluble solids of tomatoes during ripening in controlled storage.

Lauren Rutledge also took home a third place in the behavioral science category for her work that studied the formation of herds by Tursiops truncatus in the absence of competition. Tursiops truncatus is the scientific name for the bottlenose dolphin.

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Darien high schoolers take top science honors

Pasco Tribune

NEW PORT RICHEY Pasco County students got a chance to show off their skills to the community last weekend at the Pasco Regional Science and Engineering Fair at the Center for the Arts at River Ridge.

More than 260 students presented research projects in categories ranging from biochemistry and behavioral science to environmental studies and Earth and planetary science.

Their day began early Saturday with a public viewing and several rounds of judging and ended with trophies and plaques awarded.

The level of the experiments is so much greater than it was last year, said Amelia Van Name Larson, assistant superintendent for student achievement.

Many of our students today will hold jobs not yet invented with skills not yet defined, Larson said during the awards ceremony. We must teach them to ask the right questions to shape what is to come.

The fair showed that innovation is not limited by age and that many of the projects filled a practical need of society.

One project studied the solar efficiency of roofing materials. Another focused on finding new ways to clean up oil spills. Raj Warman, a 10th-grade student at Academy on the Lakes, created an original mathematical equation to aid in the early detection of diseases such as cancer.

Winners will be in Lakeland on April 8 through 10 to compete in the 59th State Science and Engineering Fair for a chance to compete at the national and international levels.

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Science fair is learning experience

Awards

Junior Division 1, Alex Hsieh, St. Josephs; 2, London Woods, Hilldale Middle School; 3, Talana Holland, Hilldale Middle School.

Senior Division 1, Ashlee Fletcher and Makenna Hukill, Muskogee High School; 2, Amber Roberts, Westville High School; 3, Hayden Jacobs, Bailey Speake, Muskogee High School.

Advisor/Sponsor of Best of Fair winner, Junior Division Neil Workman.

Best of Fair Ashlee Fletcher and Makenna Hukill, Muskogee High School.

Office of Naval Research, Junior Division Talana Holland, Hilldale Middle School; James Harper, Hilldale Middle School.

Office of Naval Research, Senior Division Hayden Jacobs, Muskogee High School; Bailey Speake, Muskogee High School.

Judges Award in Memory of Dr. C.L. Oglesbee (Most Promising Project), Junior Division Jackson Teegarden, Twin Hills.

Judges Award in Memory of Dr. C.L. Oglesbee (Most Promising Project), Senior Division Brandon Aphonexay, Muldrow High School.

Connors State College Senior Scholarships ($500) Ashley Mayle, Muskogee High School; Michelle Perkins, Muskogee High School; Paige Ennis, Westville High School.

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2014 Muskogee Regional Science & Engineering Fair

Matthew Goodwin - "New Vistas in Emotion and Technology"
Matthew Goodwin, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences and the Department of Computer Information Science at Northeastern University,...

By: NortheasternCOS

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Matthew Goodwin - "New Vistas in Emotion and Technology" - Video

Bankole A. Johnson, DSc., M.D., MPhil, will lead the University of Maryland School of Medicine's new Brain Science Research Consortium Unit. (PRNewsFoto/University of Maryland School of Medicine)

BALTIMORE, Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, Ph.D., MBA, announced today the establishment of a new brain science research unit that will bring together faculty from multiple disciplines to probe the inner workings of the brain and to develop therapies for a wide range of neurological disorders.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140212/DC63473)

The new Brain Science Research Consortium Unit (RCU) will conduct large-scale, multidisciplinary studies on brain function (and dysfunction). Physician-scientists, laboratory scientists and other translational and clinical investigators across the university will collaborate in this important undertaking.

"Tackling an area of research with as much intricacies as brain science requires significant collaboration from investigators across many disciplines because no single person will have all the answers," said Dean E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers distinguished professor and dean of the School of Medicine. "The School of Medicine's Brain Science RCU breaks through the traditional silos, where basic research is separated from clinical work, and brings together a team of experts from multiple fields to understand the body's most important organ. We anticipate unprecedented discoveries that will measurably and dramatically impact the area of brain research."

The Brain Science RCU will set out to answer challenges presented by the NIH BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, also referred to as the Brain Activity Map Project), a national research program announced by President Obama last year. The program was established to revolutionize how we understand the human brain and mind, and to find new ways to identify and treat disorders such as Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, autism, stroke, and brain injury.

University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers will be well poised to align their expertise with the BRAIN Initiative's goals, forming interdisciplinary groups to form large research projects on:

The School of Medicine's Brain Science RCU will be led by Bankole A. Johnson, DSc, MD, MB, ChB, MPhil, Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science. His primary area of research expertise is the psychopharmacology of medications for treating addictions, and he is the author of more than 200 research publications. He is the principal investigator on National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded studies utilizing neuroimaging, neuropharmacology, and molecular genetics techniques. Professor Johnson is a neuroscientist and neuropsychopharmacologist whose work spans basic, translational and the clinical sciences, including the use of molecular genetics and neuroimaging to develop medicines for the treatment of addictions.

Professor Johnson will lead a steering committee of School of Medicine faculty, which will determine research areas for the Brain Science RCU to follow, and develop multidisciplinary centers of excellence to submit research grants, conduct large-scale studies and make joint discoveries in how the brain works and what causes brain disorders. The Brain Science RCU will bolster research ties with other parts of the School of Medicine and University, including the departments of neurology, neurosurgery, neurobiology, and psychiatry, the SOM Center for Shock Trauma and Anesthesiology Research (STAR), the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC), and the University of Maryland Medical System.

"The human brain is arguably the most complex entity in the universe that we know of," said Professor Johnson. "We do not understand all that the brain is capable of, nor how everything functions. The Brain Science RCU will allow us to develop revolutionary techniques, methods and knowledge to help our understanding of brain function that only a large, interdisciplinary enterprise can do."

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University Of Maryland School Of Medicine Establishes New Brain Science Research Consortium Unit To Study The ...

Monisha Rekhraj, a senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, talked about her project with judge Brett Spear during the 30th Annual Kentucky American Water Science Fair at Bryan Station High School, where about 655 Fayette County public, private and home-school students in grades four through 12 competed for awards on Saturday. Rekhraj's project tested the effect of an anti-cancer agent on another disease. HERALD-LEADER|BuyPhoto

About 685 public, private and home-school students in grades 4 through 12 participated Saturday in the 30th annual Kentucky American Water Science Fair at Bryan Station High School in Lexington. The event included 650 projects judged by about 160 professionals, the company said in a news release. A total of 131 student projects received awards. See a list of the winners (PDF).

Judges evaluated the student projects according to the following categories: animal sciences, behavioral and social sciences, biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, chemistry, computer science, earth and planetary science, engineering, energy and transportation, environmental sciences, medicine and health sciences, microbiology, physics and astronomy and plant sciences.

Kentucky American Water initiated the science fair for junior high school students in 1985 as part of the companys centennial celebration. The next year, the company joined with Fayette County Public Schools in coordinating the event. The fair has been expanded twice: first in 1989 to include elementary school science projects, and again in 1991 to include high school projects, according to the news release.

Students who received awards at Saturday's competition advance to the Central Kentucky Regional Science and Engineering Fair to be held at the University of Kentucky on March 1.

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131 student projects win awards at Fayette County science fair

The personalized and the personal: Socially responsible innovation through big data
The possibility of creating data products and services fueled by fine-grained behavioral information, and informed by behavioral science and choice architect...

By: DeloitteLLP

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Olyvia Salter, a junior at the Technology Access Foundation Academy, examines a fuel she made out of bio-ethanol materials at the academys science fair in Kent last Saturday.

image credit: Ross Coyle/Kent Reporter

While powering an electronic with fruit might be unconventional, it could also be a wave of the future, if the students at the The Technology Access Foundation (TAF) Academy go on to get degrees in science and technology.

The TAF Academy, a science, engineering, technology and mathematics school in Kent, hosted its fifth annual science fair last Saturday. The fair focused on student projects that investigated a multitude of different scientific disciplines. Environmental science, energy and transportation, behavioral science and computer science and robotics were just a few of the areas students featured projects in.

One students project looked at whether men or women have better short term memories (spoilers: women do) while another project used bio-electricity in fruit to generate power for LED lights.

Sophomore Favour Orji created a software system that would help recently released inmates find transitional housing. Her father's work with transitional housing strongly influenced her choice of project.

"I love it here," she said. "When I came here in the sixth grade, I wouldn't have imagined doing something like this."

The Academy opened its doors six years ago to sixth-graders and has gradually expanded to include grades seven to 12. It makes its home in Kent, but is a part of the Federal Way School District.

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TAF Academy fair shows science with the latest twist

Feb. 6, 2014

The role psychology and economics jointly play in decisions about food, public health, personal finance and sustainability will be examined in a newly accredited MPS (Master of Professional Studies) in Applied Behavioral Economics and Individual Choice, offered by the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in Cornells College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Cornells newest MPS program is a chance to work with faculty members whose quirky experiments (like Brian Wansinks Bottomless Soup Bowl) lead to fundamental improvements in school lunchrooms (David R. Just) across the country; who wonder why label-reading shoppers continue to buy junk food (Harry Kaiser); and whose analyses track property values near Superfund cleanup sites (William Schulze). Other key faculty include Vicki L. Bogan, associate professor of applied economics and management, and Jurate Liaukonyte, assistant professor of applied economics and management.

Behavioral economics is a relatively new science with a distinguished history at Cornell, said Just, associate professor and director of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition. He points to research pioneers like Richard Thaler (formerly in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management), who is universally regarded as a founder of the discipline, and Thomas Gilovich, Cornells Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology, who is a widely acknowledged expert in the psychology of everyday judgment and decision-making.

Now were ready to build on this reputation by training a new generation of business and policy decision-makers, said Just. Students in the two-semester masters program can choose among three concentrations: behavioral marketing, sustainability and behavior, or behavioral finance.

Applicants to the MPS program are expected to come from undergraduate backgrounds ranging from nutrition, psychology and marketing to economics and business, Just said, but were prepared to be surprised. We will consider anyone who is curious about why people make the decisions they do, and who wants to change the way the world thinks about food marketing, consumer research, consumer research and public policy.

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Behavioral economics is focus of new MPS program

Adrienne Betz. (Mark Stanczak / January 29, 2014)

12:10 p.m. EST, February 5, 2014

"I am honored to have been selected and look forward to contributing research aimed at discovering better treatments for mood disorders through scientific discovery in my lab," she said. "They only fund scientists whose research is reviewed and recommended by a world-renowned scientific council including Nobel Prize winners and chairs of psychiatric departments."

The $60,000 award will enable Betz to continue her research into Major Depressive Disorders (MDD) by examining the molecular mechanisms of stress on the hippocampus, a major part of the brain. Her research will investigate several areas of undeveloped inquiry, thereby helping to elucidate the molecular underpinnings of MDD.

"These experiments, funded by the Young Investigator award, will provide important information about potential mechanisms underlying persistent effects of chronic stress exposure in brain regions relevant to MDD," said Betz, who also expressed gratitude to Mark Yeckel, professor of medical sciences at Quinnipiac's Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, for serving as her scientific mentor on the grant.

Betz earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in psychology/neuroscience from the University of Connecticut. She served as a fellow, associate and affiliate in molecular psychiatry at Yale University. She taught psychology at UConn and Southern Connecticut State University before joining Quinnipiac in 2009.

"Being at Quinnipiac University has afforded me the unique opportunity to mentor students while engaging in serious scientific research," Betz said. "This grant will help me establish a fully sustainable and fundable laboratory and will have a profound impact on my work at Quinnipiac by allowing me to continue high-caliber research, and will be a catalyst in helping me achieve my goals".

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READER SUBMITTED: Quinnipiac University Psychology Professor Receives $60,000 Young Investigator Grant

Marist - School of Social and Behavioral Science
The School of Social and Behavioral Sciences includes: the Department of Criminal Justice, the Department of Education, the Department of Psychology and the Department of Sociology and Social...

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Marist - School of Social and Behavioral Science - Video