Alex presents her game, "Body Pod", during our session at Science Online '10.

Science Online is surely an experience my classmates and I will always remember. It was a fun, enriching experience that I’m sure is one of the highlights of my 2010.  Against all odds, the tangible feelings of nervousness and inadequacy from the terrifying plane to hotel bus ride melted away as we made our way through Sigma Xi.

Not exactly looking forward to a weekend of boring lectures and concepts you need a PhD to comprehend, my 14 year-old mind rebelled against Science Online. But, much to my surprise- Ms. Baker and Dr. Ward were right. Despite my obvious lack of a college diploma, I somehow understood what was going on. And seconds after the beginning of Carl Zimmer’s presentation on journalism in science (which eventually turned into a session on ‘duck sex’), I realized I could do more than learn to understand science and technology- I could learn to love it, too.

Nothing can beat the rush when you realize “I get it!” and that you’re excited about science. And ever since I returned, all I want to do is get everyone else excited about science. My main goal: to remind people that science isn’t all memorization and structure. Science is a way to change the world- whether it’s through blogging and video games, or journalism and duck sex jokes. All I can hope for is that Science Online will continue to grow along with an appreciation for science among students.

After introducing myself and explaining what a high school student was doing at the conference, I had the opportunity to learn about his experiences as a journalist, scientist, and a celebrity of sorts. Shortly after, the conference attendees congregated to listen to what quickly became a riveting keynote speech. I was extremely fascinated by what Mr. Specter had to say and, at some points, befuddled with the viewpoints that some groups of people that he mentioned had regarding vaccinations and genetically modified foods. The fact that several scientists in the audience openly denounced the ideology of Mr. Specter made the speech that much more enthralling. Although I was ultimately in concordance with what Mr. Specter was saying, it was quite interesting to hear the story from someone else’s point of view. After the conference, I maintained interactions with Mr. Specter by sending him a follow-up email. I was very glad to see that he responded with alacrity and was glad to hear my outlook on his speech and participation in the conference.

(L to R) Michael Specter talks with Jack, Ammar, and Mike.

The one presentation at the conference which truly stood out to me was “Art and Science: Visual Metaphors- Glendon Mellow and Felice Frankel”. Traditionally, I have not been someone who is terribly interested in art. However, after seeing how digital imagery, photo manipulation, and science can all blend into one, I become truly fascinated in the presentation. Although I was extremely intrigued in how Glendon Mellow was able to take several religious ideologies and merge them with scientific principles in artwork, I gravitated more toward Felice Frankel’s presentation. I believe this can be attributed to the fact that I have a personal inclination toward photography and photo manipulation rather than traditional artwork. The way that Ms. Frankel was able to take a simple image and have it portray science on such an in-depth level was amazing. For example, I was especially impressed in how she portrayed quantum mechanics in her photo of the ‘Quantum Apple’ with no shadow. This supported the idea that in quantum mechanics, everything is not as we actually see it. For this reason, amongst others, my impression of Ms. Frankel was not only that she was an excellent photographer, but that she was a remarkable thinker as well. Her photos were truly worth a thousand words. 

In conclusion, I would like to thank both Staten Island Academy and the Science Online conference leaders for presenting me with the opportunity to attend the conference this year. My experiences at the conference were amazing and I formed memories and ideologies which I will carry with me for many years to come.

One project that just immediately connected with me was the FoldIt project. It seemed awesome to know that by playing a game you are creating real possible proteins that may be useful for all sorts of scientific discoveries and advancements.

At the second citizen’s science presentation I went to, I was introduced to ChemSpider and Spectral Game. Too bad the content on these two sites were a few levels above my education, but knowing that there exists multiple opportunities for anyone to participate in science is incredible.  The internet really is a great tool for scientists.

Still, the most interesting experience for me at the conference was being able to present my flash project in front of what seemed to me to be a pretty big audience. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was able to talk to people like Beth Beck.

Students and Ms. Baker pose together after winning the Google Sidewiki Challenge!

On January 15, eight students from Staten Island Academy traveled to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina for the 4th Annual Science Online Conference.  Four freshman – Mike S, Jack, Alex, and Carl – joined four juniors – Melina, Salina, Brooke, and Ammar – to spend the weekend with scientists, journalists, educators, and web developers from all over the world.

In addition to meeting amazing people, the students attended specific sessions on a wide variety of topics and they will be publishing posts about each of those sessions on this blog in a few days.

On Sunday, the students presented at their own session titled, “Blogging the Future: The Use of Online Media in the Next Generation of Scientists”.

Here are some video segments from our session:

• Jack’s Games
• Carl and Alex’s Educational Video Games
• Mike’s Blogs
• Ammar’s Dynamic Websites
• Brooke and Melina’s iPhone Apps
• Salina’s Web Survey

Session attendees have blogged really nice responses to our presentation:

• Beth Beck
• TGAW
•  ideonexus
• i.e. science

Check out this video for “Sights and Sounds” from the Conference.  The very end is our favorite part for obvious reasons.

During the conference, we interviewed some conference participants:

• Salina interviews Beth Beck from NASA
• Mike interviews Marine Biologist David Shiffman
• Melina interviews artist Glendon Mellow
• Melina interviews Ammar, Brooke, and Salina

Lastly, here is a video collage of our entire experience at the conference: