Re: science fairs

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Original poster: "Dr. John Gudenas by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <comsciprof-at-ameritech-dot-net>

BIG SNIP
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 11:59 PM
Subject: Re: science fairs

I would normally avoid these discussions, however, as long as Terry
continues this thread I feel obligated to enter my opinion and experience.

I only entered the science fair during my four years in high school on the
south west side of Chicago. My experiences were all good, perhaps an
anomaly.

Freshman year I had a project titled Faraday to Tesla which was basically a
study on electromagnetic induction and it did include a working VTTC . I
received a first place award at the State level.

Sophomore year I did a project on Electron Diffraction illustrating the
duality of nature. I recall the struggle with my vacuum system. Two Norge
rolator refrigerator compressors and my lime glass oil diffusion pump that I
made myself after finally discovering how to cool down the glass in the
kitchen oven. First place in state and best Physics paper in the state.

Junior and Senior year I modified my electron accelerator to bombarded
polyethylene in order to cross link the molecules.
First place both years at state and scholarship offers for college in my
senior year. I was in Westinghouse competition but the competition at the
ultimate national level was tough.

Neither my Father nor Mother had a clue what I was doing. My Dad never
understood what a Ph.D. was but he eventually had fun calling his son a
professor. However, he never discouraged me and offered to drive me to any
surplus place or junk yard that the CTA didn't get to, after all it was my
cash from part time jobs.

Currently I own and operate www.scifair-dot-org which this September took over
800,000 hits and is on a first page Google search under "science fair". I
answer 20-30 emails each day after my University duties. Some students
questions are trivial and could be answered by a dictionary, but sometimes a
student will write in and ask "What do you think about this" and I see
brilliance.

Nothing is perfect everything has a range of uncertainty. My approach is to
help and correct within my sphere of influence rather than simply complain
and ignore. Perhaps this should end this thread.

John W. Gudenas, Ph.D.
Department Chair of Computational and Natural Science
Aurora University, 347 S. Gladstone, Aurora, IL 60506
Telephone# 630-844-5539