NOAA PRESENTS STUDENT AWARD
AT 2007 INTEL INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration presented awards to students whose outstanding project was judged to further our understanding of Earth’s systems as part of the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. The award, entitled “Taking the Pulse of the Planet,” was sponsored by NOAA’s Office of Education and is designed to recognize the importance of the U.S.-led initiative to develop a global Earth Observation System.

The ISEF, which took place in Albuquerque, N.M., May 13-19, is the preeminent science fair for pre-college students from around the world. Student finalists who compete at the ISEF have gone through a rigorous and sequential competition to qualify, and have won an all-expense paid trip to the event.

NOAA’s award judging team included Dr. George Sharman from the National Geophysical Data Center, Margaret McCalla from the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, and John McLaughlin from the Office of Education. Dr. Sharman has over 30 years of experience with science fairs and served as the lead judge for the team.

The 2007 award recipient was John Christopher Turner, a senior at Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, Florida. John’s project, entitled "The Possible Effects and Predictive Capabilities of the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation on Western Hemisphere Warm Pool Variability,” represented unique and important research that is directly relevant to NOAA science.

John will have the opportunity to participate in a paid summer internship at a NOAA research laboratory. Additionally, he will receive an engraved award plaque and a certificate signed by retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

“NOAA recognizes the outstanding student work presented as part of the ISEF, and encourages the participating students to continue to pursue their interest in scientific research and engineering,” Lautenbacher said.

This is the second year that John Turner has received this award from NOAA. After winning the award at the ISEF in 2006, John performed a summer internship at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami. John’s 2007 project was based in part on research that he performed while there.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources.

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