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WASHINGTON, D.C.—May 14, 2002—Ten teams of middle-school students from around the country have been selected as finalists in the Bayer/National Science Foundation Award, a nationally recognized program that challenges teams of middle-school students to use science and technology to make their communities better places to live.

The teams have won all-expenses paid trips to the Walt Disney World® Resort June 14-21 to compete for up to $36,000 in prize money. One finalist team will win the $25,000 Columbus Foundation Community Grant, seed money to help the team bring their idea to life. While in Florida, the students will present their entries to a prestigious panel of national judges and will take part in both the Columbus Academy, a custom-designed educational experience that explores the science-behind-the-attractions in the theme park as well as NASA’s Space Shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center.

Finalist entries address a wide range of community issues including:

• Baby beeper that alerts a driver when a baby has been left unattended in a car
• Braking mechanism that prevents runaway shopping carts
• Paging system that replaces noisy car alarms by alerting drivers when a car is being stolen
• Natural filtering system to clean litter at a Texas watershed

Sixty percent of the more than 2,500 entrants are girls, a percentage that has been consistent over the six years of the program. This is unusual for science competitions that historically have attracted a majority of boys. In addition, the Bayer/NSF Award receives 25% of its entries from inner-city youths, and another 25% from rural areas – again tracking ahead of other academic competitions.

"We believe the focus on community issues and team-building helps us to attract more girls and also inner-city youths," said Susan Mason, managing partner of the Bayer/NSF Award. "From the outset, the award program was designed to appeal to the everyday student who might not normally enter into a science competition."

Sponsored by Bayer Corporation as part of its Making Science Make Sense program, the National Science Foundation, and the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, the Bayer/NSF Award was created after studies revealed that middle school is the stage where U.S. students fall behind their peers around the world in science achievement. Now in its sixth year, the program is endorsed by the National Middle School Association and incorporates many of the recommendations of the National Science Education Standards, emphasizing teamwork, inquiry and real-world settings to attract students to science, technology and community service.

The 2002 Bayer/NSF Award National Championship judging panel includes: Renee Wilkerson Anderson, Teacher, Grant High School; Steve Culbertson, CEO, Youth Service America; Greg Hale, Vice President Design & Engineering and Regulatory Compliance, Walt Disney Company; Dr. William Warren, CEO, SCIPERO, Inc.; and Dr. James Youniss, Life Cycle Institute, Catholic University.