Five high school students and one science adviser will soon leave for San Jose, California to compete in the prestigious International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). This year’s batch of delegates include Bernardo B. Mendoza, Jr. of Divisoria High School in Santiago City, with his project The Protein and Carbohydrate Content of RC-64 Rice Variety Exposed to Cobalt Radiation; Reinabelle L. Reyes of Philippine Science High School in Diliman with her entry, Phytoplankton Productivity Forecasting in the South China Sea using Neural Networks; and team mates Noelle Niña G. Gianan, Mendrado V. Canusa and Catherine Rose A. Lu, all of Philippine Science High School – Mindanao Campus for their group project, Bacillus subtilis as a Biological Control Agent of Mycosphaerella fijensis Causing Black Sigatoka in Bananas. The first two are both first prize winners in the Individual Category of the Intel Philippine Science Fair (IPSF) held recently at the UP Bahay ng Alumni, while the team members are the 1st placer in the Cluster 2 -Team Category. Ms. Marion Mallorca of Manila Science High School was also chosen among the Project Advisers to join the Philippine delegation to ISEF 2001.

This year, 44 individual entries and 47 team entries grouped into 2 clusters per category competed for the national grand awards. The winning IPSF projects were again screened for the country’s official entries to the ISEF to be held in San Jose California on May 6-12, 2001.

ISEF is the world’s largest pre-college science fair which brings together more than 1,200 students from more than 40 countries to compete for honors in 14 scientific categories and a team project category. These categories include: Behavioral & Social Sciences; Biochemistry; Botany; Chemistry; Computer Science; Earth & Space Science; Engineering; Environmental Sciences; Gerontology; Mathematics; Medicine & Health; Microbiology; Physics; Zoology and Team Projects.

From 1986 to 2000, the Philippines was able to garner a total of 15 special and grand awards in the ISEF.

Intel Phil. sponsors the IPSF with the Science Education Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (SEI-DOST) implementing the project nationwide with the cooperation of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).