Final Paper FINAL DEADLINES

For Electron, Gluon and Graviton 2010:

1. ELECTRONIC COPY (.doc or .docx)
   Submit prefinal electronic copies for checking to str2kawashima+paper@gmail.com. Do not submit to finalpaperxxx@gmail.com if you are expecting a reply.
   
   Once approved, submit ONLY ONCE your FINAL ELECTRONIC COPY to finalpaperxxx@gmail.com with the subject and filename:
   
   
   2010[SPACE][section code]-[group number][SPACE] [LeaderLastname],[Lastname1],[Lastname2]
   
   
   example (subject line): 2010 El-01 Castro,Garcia,Forbes
   or
   example (filename): 2010 El-01 Castro,Garcia,Forbes.doc
   
   

   This is also a clearance requirement.
   
   
2. HARDBOUND COPY (1 copy)
   Do not have your paper bound until you receive my final approval. This approval will come together with instructions as to how you would go about printing and binding your paper. Follow these instructions strictly. Remember to have the "Consent for Publication" Form signed by your parents/guardian. Failure to follow may forfeit your submission.
   This is no longer due on Monday, March 8, 2010. This is not anymore graded. This is a clearance requirement. Last day of clearance for STR is March 29, 2010.
   
   
3. SOFTBOUND COPY (2 copies)
   Do not have your paper bound until you receive my approval.
   If you have failed to submit a softbound copy last March 3, 2010, do not try to submit a copy until I give you my final approval. Follow these instructions strictly. Remember to have the "Consent for Publication" Form signed by your parents/guardian. Failure to follow may forfeit your submission.
   This is no longer due on Monday, March 8, 2010. This is not anymore graded. This is a clearance requirement. Last day of clearance for STR is March 29, 2010.

If you have any questions, email str2kawashima@gmail.com or YM me at kentkawashima.

Consent for Publication Form

Please append at the back of your bound copies, right before the back blank page. Remember that this form is INDIVIDUAL. Please accomplish accordingly.
Pshs-mc Consent for Publication 2009-2010

George Whitesides: A lab the size of a postage stamp

First Semester STR2 Grades [PROVISIONAL AND UNOFFICIAL]

Q1 Q2 Grades Summary

View more documents from Kent Kawashima.

UPDATE 1:

Latest version of grades uploaded. Computation errors in Results and Accomplishment subsections have been corrected. Graviton has the most heavily revised set of grades.

Notes:

• No Results and Discussion submission (5%): Gl08, Gl09, Gr08, Gr10, Gr12
• No notebook (15%): El11, Gl08, Gr05, Gr11
• Late notebook (15%): Gl06
• No portfolio (10%): El11, Gl08, Gr05, Gr09, Gr11
• No task list and Gantt chart: El06, El11, Gl05, Gr11
• Peer Evaluation of Gl02, Gl03 and Gl06 are projected at 4% pending submission of their peer evaluation paper.

You may still submit your notebooks and portfolios up to 12PM tomorrow Tuesday, November 3, 2009. Deductions will apply.

For questions, YM me or post a comment. If you would like a breakdown of your grades or you find your grade unusual, see me at the STR unit tomorrow before 12PM.

Final Final Final Deadlines

Please use the Research Plan as a guide to make your capsule proposal. Remember your Capsule Proposal contains the Research Plan parts A (problems being addressed), B (hypothesis or engineering goals), C (Methods or procedures, PRESENT A PROCESS FLOWCHART INSTEAD), D (bibliography) and an abstract summarizing your research in no more than 250 words.

Project Planning (task list, network chart) submission deadline has been moved. It will now be submitted anytime before or together with the Final Proposal.

UPDATED SCHEDULE

• Last day for Topic and Group Registration - July 20
• Last day for Capsule Proposal submission - July 24
• UPDATED Oral Presentation Schedule for Electron, Gluon, Graviton and Truth (July 27 - August 7)
• Last day for Project Planning submission (Gantt chart, Task List) - ONE WEEK AFTER presentation
• Last day for Final Proposal submission (Abstract, Intro, RRL, M&M) - ONE WEEK AFTER presentation
• Last day for complete ISEF 2010 forms submission - ONE WEEK AFTER presentation

Truth Oral Defense Schedule

TRUTH

Monday - July 27

1. Tr01 (Cheng, Dumayag, Paderanga)
2. Tr04 (Ramirez, Senosin, Uayan)
3. Tr05 (Almirante, Serrano, Oxales)
4. Tr07 (Doronila, Encarnacion, Alba)

Thursday - July 30

1. Tr09 (Austria, Uy)
2. Tr08 (Endico, Nogales, San Antonio)

Monday - August 3

1. Tr02 (Bernardo, Carag, Mathay)
2. Tr03 (Del Rosario, Suratos, Carreon)
3. Tr06 (Guerrero, Lim, Mariano)

Thursday -August 6

1. Tr10 (Gonzales, Suarez)

STR Topic Registration

If you have previously registered, you do not need to fill up this form again. This has been tested to work more reliably than the old form.

Remember that today, July 17, is our deadline for Topic Proposals. Please submit your proposals for grading before 9:00 PM (+8:00 GMT). If you do not have an approved topic by today, I will have to assign your group a topic.

Deadline of topic registration is on Monday, July 20.

DEADLINES

Due to recent developments, we (Electron, Gluon, Graviton, Truth) will move all our deadlines and schedules.

Our 7 day afters deadline will be scrapped. We will follow the deadlines below:

Last day for Topic Proposal submission - July 17
Last day for Topic and Group Registration - July 20
Last day for Capsule Proposal submission - July 24
Last day for Project Planning submission (Gantt chart, Task List) - July 24

Oral defense will begin on July 27. Please submit your slideshow ONE DAY before your presentation. You cannot change and must use your slideshow after submission.

Note:

• Those who submitted their capsule proposals already are free to resubmit.
• No topic proposal by July 17, no topic proposal grade.
• NO TOPIC by July 17, I will assign you a topic to work on.
• No Capsule Proposal by July 24, no capsule proposal grade.

Gluon Oral Defense Schedule

GLUON

Tuesday - July 28

1. Gl09 (Marquez, Salindo, Soriano)
2. Gl06 (Sanchez, Dealino, Villegas)

Wednesday - July 29

1. Gl04 (De Layola, Jimenez)
2. Gl01 (Bacarro, Jose, Senga)
3. Gl07 (Fontanilla, Sanchez, Tan)
4. Gl10 (Bonifacio, Paz, Tanquintic)

Tuesday - August 4

1. Gl03 (Baduria, Encarnacion, Mendoza)
2. Gl05 (Baterina, Rodriguez, Vinuya)

Wednesday - August 5

1. Gl02 (Cachero, Macahig, Perez)
2. Gl08 (Kasilag, Pascasio, Mejia)

Electron Oral Defense Schedule

ELECTRON

Tuesday - July 28

1. El08 (Cortez, Rojo)
2. El03 (Angangco, Dizon, Hizon)
3. El06 (Quebral, Ersando, Marquez)
4. El10 (Medina, Chua, Negre)

Friday - July 31

1. El02 (Bataclan, Corpuz, Ilaga)
2. El09 (Cacbay, Dela Paz, Juat)

Tuesday - August 4

1. El04 (Catalan, Gan, Mateo)
2. El01 (Castro, Forbes, Garcia)
3. El07 (Bercero, Guadalquiver, Tiongson)

Friday - August 7

1. El05 (Reyes, Belen, Sanchez)
2. El11 (Listano)

Graviton Oral Defense Schedule

GRAVITON

Monday - July 27

1. Gr03 (Perlada, Jose, Agupitan)
2. Gr07 (Quinio, Manalo, Centeno)
3. Gr08 (Viegelmann, Lobitana, Begonia)
4. Gr02 (Aydinan, Ugalino, Dolot)

Thursday - July 30

1. Gr12 (Salvo)
2. Gr10 (Angeles, Trinidad)

Monday - August 3

1. Gr05 (Del Castillo, Pagobayan, Sy)
2. Gr06 (Balite, Dailisan, Santiago)
3. Gr04 (Olega, Utanes)
4. Gr11 (Cueto)

Thursday -August 6

1. Gr01 (Carangan, Imperial)
2. Gr09 (Buencamino, Corsiga, Fajardo)
3. Gr13 (Javier)

Topic Proposal, Capsule Proposal and Oral Defense

Your capsule proposal (see Research Plan - ISEF 2010 form for format) is due 7 days after topic approval OR before oral defense. For topics approved last Monday/Tuesday, your capsule proposal if you would pursue that topic would be due next Monday/Tuesday respectively. If you plan to submit your capsule proposal on the day of your presentation, please submit it as a printed copy.

For those with approved topics but did not submit it as a topic proposal, please be reminded to submit a topic proposal detailing the real-life problem, proposed solution, specifications and scientific basis/conceptual framework for your project. You may submit your topic proposal as a group but please attribute the person/s who came up with the idea. In case your proposal was derived from an idea of a teacher, indicate his/her name for proper attribution. The topic proposal should be submitted BEFORE submitting your capsule proposal.

Submit your requirements to str2kawashima (at) gmail (dot) com following the subject line format:

Groupcode RequirementTitle

example: El08 CapsuleProposal, Gr01 TopicProposal

Failure to follow this format may lead to loss of the submission.

Oral defense schedule will push through next week. Order of presentation will be in random order with weight given to the time of topic approval. This means that groups with topics approved early will for sure present on the first week. Schedule will be posted here shortly.

Please remember to register the topic your group would pursue. It is important that you register your topic early in case similar topics are submitted. Time of registration will not affect presentation order for your oral defense.

Project planning requirements deadline would be due together with your final proposal.

Online Consultations

I'll be online at these times for your to bother me on your topics and other STR2 matters.

• 9pm to 11pm Thursday, July 9
• 9am to 12pm Friday, July 10
• 9pm onwards Friday, July 10

Yahoo Messenger: kentkawashima (at) yahoo (dot) com

Send your Topic Proposal

For those groups who just orally explained their topic proposal but got an approval, please submit your written topic proposal AS A GROUP to str2kawashima (at) gmail (dot) com ASAP.

For groups that still do not have any topic or groups that have an identified field but nothing specific yet, I would like to hear from you by email ASAP.

Intel ISEF 2010 Forms and Guidelines

ISEF_forms2010

STR 2009-2010 Lab Guidelines

STR2 2009-2010 Lab Guidelines

View more OpenOffice presentations from Kent Kawashima.

TED Talks: Robert Full on learning from the gecko's tail

Congratulations ELECTRON 09!

You're done! Finished!

More importantly...

CLEARED.

Actually, until all of you submit your manuscripts, none of you will get your transcripts...

How to avoid crashing in STR2

I've heard, read and even talked with some of you about your cluelessness for an STR topic. So to make things a little "easier" for you, I'll give you an idea of why we reject topics.

1. Recycled topics. Spare us the usual antibiotic and antifungal stuff unless they are truly novel (ie. the quorum-sensing inhibition project). This is not science high school material. Strive to find NEW topics. This is often the pitfall everyone cannot seem to avoid.
2. Very simple topics. Challenge yourself a bit. Don't submit a topic whose entire testing phase will be finished in one day. This includes food topics that are not well thought through (but we do accept interesting food tech projects)
3. Vague topics. Sometimes what you want to do would be both novel and interesting, yet it gets rejected... Why? The most probable reason is that you did not explain it fully. Please understand that we cannot evaluate your ideas if you cannot communicate them effectively. To avoid submitting again, make sure to fully thresh out your topic proposals.
4. Unfeasible topics. I actually like this kind of rejection. It means you have exercised your imagination and thought about something novel, but as it turns out, it just cannot be done due to one or a number of reasons - it's beyond you, it'll kill you, no one has what you need, or science won't allow it. Note that sometimes this gets mixed up with Number 3 because you probably did not fully explain the scientific basis for your solution.

Now to really make it "easy" for you, let me give you some suggestions on what I personally think are interesting fields to explore for your topics...

1. Mathematical Biology. This is quite interesting as these two fields are not usually thought to intersect. These explore the world of biology and try to explain it in terms of mathematics and algorithms.
   One of this year's special award winners in ISEF worked on "sex determination of Philippine Eagles" using anatomical wingspan and claw data only because as it turns out, finding out whether a Philippine Eagles is a boy or a girl is not as simple as it sounds.
2. Physics. Nobody works on physics projects. That alone gives you an edge. Physics is the most fundamental of all sciences and all sciences can be analyzed by Physics so why don't you give it a try. There was one promising physics topic last year, but it lacked the steam to plow ahead.
3. Computer Science. If you do not want to do labwork after classes or resent the fact that you cannot cram your work at home because you lack the equipment, CS projects are perfect for you - all you need it a computer and notepad (and perhaps a compiler).
4. Engineering. Another rarity during YMSAT, almost no one pushes through with an engineering topic yet these are usually the most successful! Cases in point - alternative PCR device won in UP and the microtremor kids went to ISEF.
5. Chemistry and Materials Science. I believe this is hard because we have no equipment but that need not be the case- we can always collaborate! Inventive new materials will not only win awards, but also be relevant in everyday life.
6. Systems Biology. Everything these days seem to be interdisciplinary and systems biology is probably its best example. A new paradigm in biology is emerging, that is, looking at the big picture instead of scrutinizing just one pixel of information. The goal of systems biology is to find emergent properties that are not obvious when we look at things individually. It is in the intersection of biology, chemistry, physics and computer science and mathematics. How exciting.

I'm not dissuading you from doing traditional biology projects, but more often than not, it is the default. Try to explore your options.

There are quite a lot of opportunities waiting for good projects. Aside from the competitions, the prizes, the trips abroad and the TV airtime... there is the fulfillment that when you look back at your fourth year in Pisay, you can proudly say that you had a meaningful research project.

Welcome SY 2009-2010

Welcome to STR2.

For those who were my students in STR1, I believe I have adequately prepared you for the deadlines, requirements and sheer load STR2 brings though you probably hated my guts for it.

Since the official start of the school year has been moved back a week (start on June 15) and you seem to have plenty of time on your hands right now, I'll prepare you already for what's to come...

DEADLINES FOR THE FIRST QUARTER:

• June 19 - Topics Identification (MINIMUM of 3 topics per student, see below for details)
• June 29 - Capsule proposal of approved topic by group
• July 6 - Task list, Network Chart and other project planning work by group
• July 13-24 - Oral defense of approved topic by group

*All email submission of paperwork must be received by 9PM that day.

For your proposed topic, please make sure to state your PROBLEM, PROPOSED SOLUTION and SCIENTIFIC BASIS/CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK behind your solution.

Please avoid common topics that are done year-in year-out (test for antibiotic activity of plants and the like). I suggest you take a look at the past winners of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair to see if what you are thinking is up to par with our expectations. For those who took up SSIP, you still have to apply your topic for approval. It is not automatic.

Good luck. At least now you have something to do. Deadline is Friday, June 19, 2009.