Canada's top young scientists visit UOIT

Some of Canada's top young scientists recently spent the day exploring UOIT and honing their project presentation skills before heading to an international science competition in the U.S. Chosen for their innovations by Youth Science Foundation Canada (YSFC), involving a selection team of university faculty, industry researchers, educators and alumni, this year's 19-member Team Canada represented the country at the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (IISEF) competition, held from May 7 to 13 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The UOIT visit was part of a two-day stop in the GTA to prepare the team for the challenging international competition.

A proud sponsor of YSF Canada and Team Canada, UOIT was pleased to give team members an opportunity to engage in social activities and stay in the South Village Residence overnight on May 3, and to practice their project presentations on Physics, Engineering, Life Sciences and Biotechnology the next day. The experience also gave team members a chance to tour the UOIT campus, including its geothermal well field - the second largest of its kind in North America, and its state-of-the-art science labs, as well as meet with faculty one-on-one.

"The interaction with UOIT faculty gave Team Canada members valuable, high-level feedback on their projects and helped the students to clarify their presentations and anticipate potential questions from judges. A bit of last-minute mentorship can often make the difference in a world-class competition like the Intel ISEF," said Reni Barlow, executive director of Youth Science Foundation Canada.

The IISEF is the world's largest pre-university science fair featuring over 1,500 students from more than 47 countries, showcasing their scientific research. Eleven members of Team Canada received top honours at this year's IISEF. Adrian Veres, a Montreal teen who developed a special biosensor to detect infectious pathogens in bodily fluids in half the time as existing technologies, received the top award in the biochemistry division.

Inspired by her autistic cousin Lorena, Kayla Cornale, a Grade 11 student from Burlington, Ontario was honoured with a first-place grand award in the behavioural and social sciences category for using music to teach children with autism. The three-year research project uses a "sounds into syllables" technique to help those with autism link musical sounds to the recognition of written text.

Details of this year's Team Canada winners are available at www.ysf.ca.

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Media contact
Heather Middleton
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Ontario Tech University
905.721.3111 ext. 2197
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