(From left) Tucker Gilman, Dalton Chafee and Hayes Griffin attend last summer’s Society for Mathematical Biology annual meeting in Knoxville. Chafee and Griffin are regional finalists in the Siemens Competition.
Two local high school students have been named regional finalists in the 2012 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology with a project on sexual imprinting that they completed at NIMBioS under the guidance of former postdoc Tucker Gilman.
Dalton Chafee and Hayes Griffin, both seniors at Bearden High School, spent several hours each day last summer at NIMBioS working on their project with Gilman, who is now a Lecturer in Environmental Science in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester, UK. The students used a combination of analytical models and individual-based simulations to study the conditions under which sexual imprinting can evolve, as well as specific strategies that should be expected to evolve in nature.
Ninety-three students from 25 states were invited to compete as regional finalists in this year’s Siemens Competition, the nation’s premier research competition for high school students. Regional finalists are invited to compete at one of six regional events held over three consecutive weekends in November. Chafee and Griffin will travel to Georgia Institute of Technology on Nov. 16-17 to compete.
The Siemens Competition awards one $3,000 prize to an individual and one $6,000 prize to a team at each regional competition. Winners of the regional events advance to the National Finals at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, on Dec. 1-4, where $500,000 in scholarships will be awarded, including two top prizes of $100,000.
In the 2012 competition, 2,255 students registered to enter for a total of 1,504 projects submitted.
Congratulations Dalton and Hayes!