NEW! North Carolina Center for Biodiversity Scholarship for Pitt County High School Students

1. NEW! North Carolina Center for Biodiversity Scholarship for Pitt County High School Students 2012-13 Competition

2. NCCB Biodiversity Scholarship for Pitt County High School Students We invite Pitt County high school students to participate in a biodiversity scholarship competition. Guided by faculty of the ECU Biology Department and North Carolina Center for Biodiversity (NCCB), students will undertake research projects focusing on local biodiversity and submit their findings in a poster presentation. A scholarship of $1000 will be awarded to the best project, as evaluated by a panel of ECU faculty judges. All posters will be exhibited and the prize will be awarded at the NCCB Earth Day event in April 2013. • Program timeline and description • September 2012: Students register for the program. • Students attend a planning session (Sept 29 from 10am-noon at ECU’s Howell Science Complex), in which NCCB faculty and graduate students meet with participating students and help them to begin planning projects • Students may borrow needed materials from a "lending library" of basic field supplies and reference books • Fall 2012: Students conduct independent research, consulting NCCB faculty and graduate students by email when needed • January 2013: Training session for students in poster making • March 2013: Student researchers submit a poster presenting the results of their study • April 2013: Posters are judged by participating NCCB faculty and a winner is selected • Earth Day Event (April 20): All student posters are displayed to public, award presented • All participating students will receive a certification toacknowledge their participation • Student and project eligibility • Pitt County high school students in any grade are eligible to participate. • Students may work in pairs if they choose. If a two-person team is selected as the winner, prize money will be split between the two students. • Children of ECU Biology faculty are not eligible to compete. • Projects must focus on biodiversity of Pitt County. • Projects must be field based. • Projects can be either descriptive (cataloguing and describing biodiversity at a site) or experimental. Students may also elect to present their research in other regional science competitions such as Science Fair or NC Student Academy of Science. For more information, contact Carol Goodwillie at goodwilliec@ecu.edu or 252-328-4225