Gina Weber and David Kratzer
ABSTRACT
The New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge is an academic program dedicated to increasing interest in science and math among high school
students by introducing them to high performance
computing. This talk provides a summary and
evaluation of the first six years of the program, describes the program and shows the impact that it has had on high school students, their teachers, and their
communities. Goals and objectives are reviewed and evaluated, growth and development of the program are analyzed, and future directions are discussed with the anticipation of gaining more partners.
SUMMARY
The 1995-1996 academic year marked the sixth anniversary of the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge. During these six years, the program has consistently met its goals and objectives and has made a difference in the lives of more than 3300 students and their teachers, schools, and communities.
In 1990 when the Challenge began, both the education and scientific communities expressed concern about the need for improving science education. Publications such as "Nation at Risk" from the National Commission on Excellence in Education and "Report of the Panel on Large Scale Computing in Science and Engineering" by Peter Lax called for action. In response to this concern, a number of innovative programs aimed at exceptional students were begun, but only the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge was open to all interested students regardless of their academic status.
From the very outset, the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge has reached out to students in metropolitan and rural regions, to students from affluent areas with well-equipped schools as well as those from areas with a low tax base and fewer advantages, and to students of all cultural backgrounds.
Through the Challenge, teachers have become more knowledgeable about computing and scientific research. The majority now feel comfortable with using technology in their classrooms. Schools have upgraded their computer equipment, added technical classes to their curricula, and discovered an opportunity for academic achievement through the program.
The Challenge is sponsored by a partnership of businesses, universities, and national laboratories. Over the years the program has grown and evolved to meet the needs of diverse participants and help them to achieve excellence in an academically rigorous program.
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has played a key role in the Supercomputing Challenge with support coming from both the institution as well as from individual members of the staff. The Laboratory has provided hundreds of hours of computing time to Challenge participants, developed and implemented the educational component of the program, and sponsored the final judging and Awards Day activities. The Challenge exemplifies LANL's good neighbor policy of reaching out to improve educational opportunities in New Mexico.
The Supercomputing Challenge is proud of its accomplishments during the past six years. However, many more students are looking for the opportunity offered by this excellent program. Fewer than half of the school districts in New Mexico are participating. The Challenge must continue to build on its already-established solid base and encourage every school district in New Mexico to participate. In order to make that happen, we need your help.
THE PROGRAM
The Supercomputing Challenge is an academic-year-long program that gives high school students the opportunity to do original computational science projects using high-performance computers. The idea for the program was conceived in 1990 when Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Siegfried Hecker commented to Tom Thornhill, President of New Mexico Technet, Inc, that the Laboratory would like to give high school students the experience of working on a supercomputer. With New Mexico Technet providing the networking and LANL the supercomputers, a
partnership was formed with other federal laboratories, state universities, and businesses to quickly develop and set in motion the program, which has been enthusiastically received.
The Challenge is sponsored and conducted by a partnership of New Mexico businesses, universities, and federal laboratories. There is no direct cost to participating teachers or students, and schools are responsible only for phone lines and substitute teachers to allow Challenge teachers to attend program events.
Opportunity is the hallmark of the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge. Participants can take advantage of educational training at workshops, access powerful supercomputers, and tap the expertise of scientists and technical consultants who are available throughout the program. The Challenge also offers an opportunity for the members of the scientific, academic, and business communities to become directly involved in a program that supports, encourages, and nurtures the scientists and engineers of tomorrow.
Features of the Program. Features unique to the Supercomputing Challenge have fostered its success. These include nonselective participation, instruction and ongoing support, access to a variety of computer architectures, and competition.
Participation. The Challenge is open to all students in grades 9 through 12 on a nonselective basis. Participants come from public, private, parochial, and home-based schools in all areas of New Mexico. The program has no prerequisites of grade point, class enrollment, or computer experience. The key requirement for participating is an earnest desire to learn about science and computing. Participating schools form teams of one to five students with a sponsoring teacher and a project advisor from business, academia, or a research laboratory. Each team defines and works on a single computational project of its own choosing. Projects represent all areas of science and mathematics with many teams choosing problems that impact their local environments.
Instruction and Support. Throughout the duration of the program, teams are assisted with instruction, educational materials, online and telephone consulting support, and help in finding a project advisor. The Kickoff Conference and Regional Training Workshops provide instruction on a number of topics, hands-on computer experience, and help from scientists in defining a feasible project. Whenever a problem arises, assistance is available from a number of sources.
Computer Access. The program provides computing time on CRAY, Connection Machine, DEC, IBM, and nCUBE computers. New Mexico Technet provides state-wide network access to these computers and to the Internet via local and long distance (800) phone lines.
Competition. The Challenge is both an educational program and a competition. Teams can compete for scholarships and savings bonds for individual team members and computing equipment for their schools. More than 200 individuals and their schools have received awards during the six years of the program. Teams can choose to submit their final reports in either the competitive or noncompetitive category.
Program Goals
The main goals of the Challenge are to foster creativity in devising computational solutions to original scientific problems and to make a positive difference in students' lives, motivating them to prepare for the workforce of the future. To meet these goals, the Challenge State Executive Committee, which oversees the program, developed the following objectives.
Program Design
Throughout the program year, which spans September through April, the Challenge provides events and services to support students, teachers, and advisors.
Call for Participation. Early in the school year, all high school administrators and math and science teachers receive information about the Challenge and a registration packet, sent out from New Mexico Technet.
Team Formation. Students form teams of one to five members, either as part of an extracurricular activity or class or as an extracurricular activity. Each team must have a teacher as its sponsor and is encouraged to find a project advisor.
Kickoff Conference. The Challenge experience gets its primary impetus in late October with a two-day multitrack conference. The conference, which is held at Glorieta Baptist Conference Center, presents numerous opportunities for students to learn about the Challenge process at both the beginning and advanced level. More than 14 hours of instruction are presented to expose participants to computer networks, supercomputers, software development methods, and programming. Hands-on computer laboratory sessions give students and teachers an oppor- tunity to try new skills in both a structured and unstructured setting. Students have an opportunity to talk with scientists about their particular area of interest.
Project Advisors. Volunteer scientists and engineers from the national laboratories, industry, and academia advise teams on both the science and computing aspects of their projects. A number of former Challenge participants who are now enrolled in college also advise teams.
Consulting. Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Technet, and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) provide electronic and telephone consulting to solve problems when they occur.
Network Support. New Mexico Technet supplies either a local or long distance (800) phone number for students and teachers to access electronic mail, the Internet, and the supercomputers at the participating laboratories.
School Visits. A Challenge staff member visits each team at its school during November to answer questions and ensure that all necessary hardware and network connections are in place.
Regional Workshops. Students and teachers attend a midyear, one-day workshop at a college or university in one of the six regions of the state. Workshop content is tailored to address project and technical questions.
Interim Reports & Project Evaluation. Each team submits a written interim report in January. The report describes the project and relates the progress made. Judges assigned to each region review the reports and, in February, listen to presentations by the teams and give each team a preliminary evaluation of their project.
Final Reports & Judging. Teams submit written final reports in April, and a panel of judge-scientists from throughout the state determines a group of finalist teams. Each of these teams is invited to come to Los Alamos on the day before the Awards Ceremony to present its project to the judges who listen and question the team members. The judges select the overall winners by consensus. Sponsors and groups awarding prizes in special categories choose the winners in their particular area.
Awards Day. The Challenge concludes with participants visiting LANL to see the supercomputers on which they have worked, hear about current scientific and industrial applications, and attend the Awards Ceremony. Challenge sponsors supply numerous awards. First and second place team members receive savings bonds, and their schools gain new computer equipment. Outstanding team leaders receive scholarships; while trophies, plaques, or computing supplies are presented to winners in many different categories.
Evaluation & Feedback. Feedback is continually gathered and monitored to meet the needs of all participants and fine-tune each year's program.
Sponsors
The Challenge is sponsored by a statewide partnership that includes business and industry, institutions of higher education, and scientific laboratories.
Members of the partnership work in conjunction with the education community throughout the state. The generous support of the sponsoring groups is invaluable. They provide major funding as well as equipment, awards and scholarships, and instructors and support personnel. Representatives of the sponsoring organizations sit on the Challenge State Executive Committee, which oversees the general operation of the program.
LANL provides supercomputing capability for all participants, develops and coordinates the educational component of the program, and hosts the final judging and Awards Day. New Mexico Technet handles program administration and network connections. University of New Mexico provides administrative support for the Kickoff Conference and throughout the year. SNL coordinates the project advisors for the teams. Universities and colleges host the Regional Training Workshops and the preliminary project evaluation sessions.
A number of other organizations throughout the state contribute funds, in-kind services, and awards. Personnel from these organizations often volunteer as project advisors. Strong grass-roots support has always been an important part of the Challenge.
EVOLUTION AND GROWTH
While the basic design of the Challenge has remained constant, some details have changed over the years. As a result of observation and assessment
by the program directors and evaluation of participant feedback, procedures have been refined and new strategies have been devised. Changes
have been made to control the cost per participant (especially critical with increased enrollment), ensure a smooth running program, improve the educational experience of the participants, and initiate special
training for teachers.
Cost Control
With enrollment increasing each year, it is imperative
that costs be controlled both by the State Executive
Committee and by the participating sponsors. Both groups search for ways to give participants a quality experience within the constraints of money, personnel, and time. Each sponsor contributes in its particular area of expertise and according to its own constraints. All sponsors are strongly committed to the program.
Program Administration
The Supercomputing Challenge is administered by the members of the State Executive Committee and the Challenge director. Strong and effective management is essential to a program the size of the Challenge. LANL and New Mexico Technet have helped to strengthen the administration by committing resources to that area of the program. Technet has dedicated a member of its staff to be program director, and LANL has assigned staff to the Challenge. Administration of the program has been reinforced by applying strict deadlines at regular intervals throughout the year. With periodic check points, participants are better able to organize their time, and teacher feedback tells us that the deadlines are a positive motivation for continued work--students do not want to be dropped from the Challenge and lose their computer accounts.
Educational Experience The Challenge strives to give each participant the opportunity for a quality educational experience. Curriculum content and pedagogy have been guided by personnel from LANL who have knowledge of the state-of-the-art in computing and who have access to scientists practicing this technology. This input combined with feedback from the participants makes the educational program both practical and exciting. Student and teacher requests have led to increased hands-on opportunities at the Kickoff Conference and classes geared to the different skill levels of the participants.
Teacher Training From the inception of the Challenge in 1990, everyone involved in the program realized that systemic change could best be achieved by educating the teachers. During the first three Challenges, many students knew more about computers than their teachers did. By the sixth year, a number of teachers had been involved long enough to be more knowledgeable than their beginning students, but new teachers and those with advanced students were still at a disadvantage. While special classes for teachers were added to the Kickoff Conference, these did not provide the intensive training that was needed.
In fiscal 1995, LANL procured funding to conduct a long-anticipated Summer Teacher Training Session, and in August of 1995, 27 teachers came to Los Alamos for two weeks of intensive training. While a few were from the metropolitan centers, most came from small rural high schools. Session participants attended classes in C++ programming language, UNIX operating system, Internet navigation, and HyperText Markup Language (HTML). The teachers also received hands-on experience with the National Education Supercomputer Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and designed a course curriculum for their own computer students.
Teachers attending the 11 days of training were provided with housing and a stipend. They earned three units of credit from the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos Branch. Many of the participants requested another workshop. In this first Summer Teacher Training Session, 27 of the 118 Challenge high school teachers were reached, and LANL plans to conduct two sessions the summer of 1996.
SCOPE OF PARTICIPATION
Since the initial announcement of the Challenge in 1990, the program has been enthusiastically received. In the first year, organizers hoped for a response of at least 10 teams--65 teams applied. By the sixth year, 198 teams were participating. The number of students who have participated in each
year of the Challenge has continued to increase and
this trend of increasing participation could continue.
In long-term follow-up surveys taken in 1993 and
1995, former participants unanimously recommended
the Challenge for high school students.
With the nonselective policy of the Challenge, it is expected that some students will be unable to participate for the entire year. In the fifth Challenge (1994-95) the completion rate was 80% of the teams eligible to submit final reports. This number is more than 50% of the initial enrollment. Even though some students cannot complete the entire program, they benefit from the introduction to computer technology, networking, and problem solving.
Female and Ethnic Minorities
The Challenge reaches many students who are historically under-represented in scientific fields. Over the entire six years, 31% of the participants have
been female and 69% have been male. Female and ethnic minority students have discovered that with the instruction and support that is provided, they can successfully participate in the program. In the third
Challenge (1992-93), 77% of the members of the six
winning teams were female, and 83% were ethnic minorities. Of the 15 scholarships awarded for team leadership over the six years, seven of the recipients have been female.
Remote Schools
Over half of Challenge participants are from small
towns and rural areas. Because New Mexico is a
state of vast land area but low population, a large
number of high schools are located far from the metropolitan or technical centers. Isolation is a real problem for these schools; however, with electronic connections, students in these schools can access
the same supercomputing capability as students in
the urban areas. Many schools are located far from
the sponsoring institutions or the major cities.
Knowledge Base
There is a wide variation of knowledge among participating students--from students who do not know any programming language to those who have broad
and diverse knowledge and experience in the use of computers. One of the participants commented, "Before beginning the Challenge, I could have been
classified as virtually computer illiterate. In the end, I
could understand a number of the things that computers are capable of doing and the things that I could do with them."
IMPACT OF THE PROGRAM
Participating students and their parents, teachers,
and school administrators have expressed high
praise for the Supercomputing Challenge. At least
once in each of the six years, a student has said
"Thanks for the Challenge. This is the best thing that
ever happened to me!" The impact of the program
goes beyond the immediate academic environment of
the participants and reaches the community, state, and nation.
Evaluating the Impact
To substantiate the impact that six years of the Supercomputing Challenge has had on the lives of more than 3300 participants, data was gathered and analyzed during each year of the program, and previous
participants were surveyed by mail and telephone.
Impact on Students
All data confirms that the Supercomputing Challenge has had a significant impact on high school students--those who participated successfully, those who for various reasons did not complete the program, and even students who did not directly participate. The successful participants gained knowledge and experience beyond the normal realm of the high school curricula. Students who did not complete the entire year learned some very practical lessons in teamwork and persistence along with an increase in
computing knowledge. Nonparticipating students benefited from the program's spin-off of better equipment and network connectivity, additional class offerings, and a changed attitude toward the importance of technology.
Influence on Attitudes. In long-term follow-up surveys done in 1993 (1990-91 participants) and in 1995 (1992-93 participants), respondents indicated that the Challenge had a positive influence on their attitudes toward science, math, and computing as well as other areas. The 1995 survey also queried the former participants about their attitude toward advanced education. Most (86%) said that the Challenge had a positive influence in this area. The majority of the respondents (80%) had completed their high school education with 87% of that number presently enrolled in college.
Education/Career Choice. In both surveys, the majority of college students (87% in 1993 and 73% in 1995) listed their majors as engineering, science, or computer science. In interviews, former award winners pointed out that the Challenge had helped to define their career paths. One said, "I leaned toward studying engineering, but I didn't really know how engineering worked...the Challenge gave me an insight into computer science, engineering, and math that I didn't have before." A Civil Engineering student observed, "I was impressed by the contact with scientists and engineers who helped with our project. These contacts influenced my career path."
Interest in Scientific Subjects. Science, math, and computing take on new meaning through Challenge participation. A former participant, who has also been a project advisor to an award winning teams, stated, "Most kids see science as dull and mundane. The Challenge gives a `face lift' to science. Many students have learned to love science and embrace it." Another prize winner commented, "The Challenge taught me that science was not mysterious; it is something I can do."
Intellectual Achievement. Along with an increased interest in math, science, and computing, Challenge participants report the benefit of being involved in a mind-stretching endeavor. One award winner said, "I learned a new way of thinking: examining options, working with others and considering their ideas, and carrying the project through to completion." Another participant commented, "I learned new techniques of solving problems. It was an opportunity to work on large sized, complex problems. We learned to take the answers we got, find if they were usable, and keep them in the context of the problem. We learned to analyze what we put in and the results we got back."
Personal Development. Improved self-confidence, character development, and expanded horizons are added benefits of Challenge participation. With the extra work and enthusiasm for learning generated by the program, grades improve, and this success carries over into other areas. Teachers attribute many successes to Challenge participation. One teacher said "I come from an isolated area with many Navajo students. The Challenge lets these students see that they can do it too. It lets them see what is available; it expands their horizons."
Job Opportunities. Technical skills, learned and refined while working on Challenge projects, have led to part-time technical jobs for many participants while still in high schools or in college. One former participant told us, "The Challenge exposed me to the Internet, and now I'm working to get an Internet service provider up and running as a business."
Teamwork Skills. A significant number of previous participants noted the benefits of teamwork. They considered this to be one of the most beneficial aspects of their Challenge experience. In the 1995 survey, 26% of the replies mentioned this aspect. The comments included, "Teamwork is used in all professions; I'm glad that we were introduced to that aspect." and "I learned the importance of group effort and teamwork. We found our individual strengths and divided the tasks. We developed real team solidarity."
Influence on Nonparticipating Students. An unanticipated finding was the positive effect that the Challenge has had on nonparticipating students. One teacher commented, "It is amazing to see how the Challenge has changed the lives of students who are not in the program. Challenge students have had an influence in our area, and now local electronic bulletin boards are springing up because of these students. More regular nonparticipating) students are convincing their parents to buy computers AND modems." Another teacher said that because the Challenge gives weight and credibility to other technology-based classes, he was able to start a computer class for at-risk students. Participation in this class led to a complete turnaround for one student who had been considered incorrigible. During four years in the computer class, this individual went from failing grades, truancy, and a police record to the honor roll.
Impact on Schools
Words abound about the need for reform and systemic change in education, especially in the areas of science and technology. Many theories and plans
have been proposed about how to best do this. One point that is consistently expressed in these proposals is the need for an influx of significant science and computing expertise into the high schools.
The Challenge uses scientific and computational expertise existing in research laboratories, businesses and universities to work in collaboration with the education community to make a difference in high school
science and mathematics education. The Challenge has impacted New Mexico's schools in the areas of equipment, curricula, and opportunity for academic achievement.
Equipment. During the first year of the Challenge, 82% of the participating schools needed to borrow equipment in order to take part, and dedicated phone lines were almost nonexistent. A teacher told of having to bring his personal computer to school and taping down the disconnect buttons on the phone in the school office when they wanted to connect to the network. By the fifth Challenge, 70% of the teachers who had participated previously felt that the equipment at their school was adequate and another 15% said that the situation was improving. A teacher stated, "We have built our system up because of the Challenge." Only two of the 54 schools in the 1994-95 Challenge needed equipment loans.
Curricula Expansion. Both students and teachers attest to the Challenge prompting the offering of new and higher level technical classes in many schools. One teacher mentioned, "The Challenge has helped in getting the backing of the administration for advanced classes. Computers are now used in science and math classes, especially physics and chemistry."
Pride in Academic Achievement. Participants report that the Challenge promotes a feeling of school pride and increases faculty confidence in the ability of the students. These attributes seem to be especially important in small rural schools. One student of a winning team said, "While our school had competed well in some sports in the past, it had never had any sense of academic achievement before winning the Challenge." Another student observed, "The Teachers realized that just because we were from a small school didn't mean we couldn't compete." A student from another part of the state remarked, "It was nice to have our school recognized for its academic achievement instead of all its problems."
Impact on Teachers
Even though Challenge participation adds extra hours to already busy schedules, teachers have enthusiastically supported and taken part in the program from the beginning. At the 1995 Awards Ceremony, 11 teachers were honored for five years of continuous participation. Teachers see the Challenge not only as an advantage for their students but also as an opportunity for themselves to learn and improve their skills.
Teachers value the opportunity the Challenge provides for interacting with their peers from other parts of the state and with practicing scientists. Teacher participants report that they have an increased confidence and enthusiasm for teaching. One student observed, "It gave the teachers more of an insight into what is going on with computers, how they are changing, and how they will affect us, the students." A teacher who has been in all six Challenges said, "The Challenge has had a tremendous effect on my teaching career. It encouraged me to learn programming, UNIX, and the Internet on my own. I now teach a class on supercomputing at my high school and teach a class on the Internet at the Community College."
Impact on Communities
The impact of the Challenge extends beyond the school into the families and communities of the participants. Through the participating students, many nontechnical people have been introduced to the uses and importance of computer technology. One teacher said, "I can attest to the effect the Challenge has had on a small computer illiterate community. The change has been wonderful to see. America Online is now considering supplying the area with a local telephone number because of the demand for the
service in just the last year (mainly from high school kids)."
Many Challenge projects focus on local problems. Teams have tackled such diverse topics as pollution caused by smelter emissions, ground water contamination from fuel storage tanks, breaching of a local dam, and even the sports stadium's parking lot configuration. In a number of cases, the solutions proposed by the students have been presented to local officials for consideration. Such activities instill community responsibility and pride.
Local communities are impressed to see Challenge sponsors and contributors working directly with their students. One advisor to a small-town team said "The community became aware of LANL and the other sponsors helping in their community. They saw the effort and money spent to get their kids involved."
Impact on State and Nation
The economic competitiveness of both the state of
New Mexico and the nation is dependent on a citizenry that is knowledgeable in scientific and technical matters. To maintain a technically literate workforce, we must have an adequate supply of trained workers
in the science pipeline. High school students are eager for the opportunity to learn about computers and how they will affect the work environment of the future.
LANL AND THE CHALLENGE
Los Alamos National Laboratory has strongly influenced the Supercomputing Challenge, and the Laboratory has benefited from its participation in the program. From the initial conversation of LANL Director
Siegfried Hecker and New Mexico Technet President
Tom Thornhill in which the idea was conceived to use
supercomputers as a way of attracting high school
students to science and math, LANL has given whole-hearted support to the program. The Laboratory sees participation in the Challenge as a part of its commitment to increasing science literacy and to broadening
the pool of scientists and engineers in the United
States. LANL's responsibilities include designing and
implementing the program's educational component,
providing supercomputer access, and hosting Awards Day.
Educational Component
The main focus of the Challenge is education. In this
area, LANL contributions have benefited both students and teachers. Laboratory personnel have developed a curricula to address the needs of beginning as well as experienced participants. The curriculum
gives participants a good grounding in the basics of
computing and also enables the advanced students
to explore and develop new skills. Many of the
classes are taught by LANL staff. In addition, a large
number of Laboratory employees have volunteered
their personal time as team project advisors.
Computer Access
Over the six years of the Challenge, more than 3300
high school students and teachers have had the opportunity to work on a supercomputer. The dream of
Director Hecker has flourished. Providing this kind of
experience to such a large number of people is not
duplicated anywhere else in the United States.
Awards Day
The Laboratory has hosted the two-day project judging and awards event for each of the six Challenges. At recent Awards Day activities nearly 100 LANL
employees participated by giving talks and demonstrations or escorting groups of participants on the tours. The staff looks forward to taking part in the event each year because they see the value of the
Challenge and how it positively affects the participants.
Attitude toward LANL The Laboratory's involvement in the Challenge has had a positive effect on participants' perception of the institution. In the 1995 follow-up survey, 88% of the respondents said that the Challenge had positively influenced their attitude toward the Laboratory, and 73% of that number indicated that the influence was "very much" or "a lot."
Interviews with former participants also confirm this fact. One said "LANL stopped being a `mystical hilltop.' Instead I began to think of it as a mecca of technology where people shared my interest and worked on projects that were large scale versions of what I worked on in the Challenge. LANL finally became relevant to me. It became a place that produced things that I cared about, that interested me, that affected me."
FUTURE PLANS
While the Challenge is proud to have reached the six
year mark, the leaders and sponsors are even more
excited about the future of the program. They have a
vision in which every secondary school in the state is
connected electronically to supercomputers, and all
students have the opportunity and support to do scientific problem solving on that equipment. Efforts to
achieve this vision will focus on the areas of increasing the number of schools as well as the participation
by female and minority students, offering additional
teacher training, and locating project advisors for
teams
Participation.
The Challenge executive committee would like to see
at least one school from every school district in the
state taking advantage of the Challenge. New Mexico has 89 independent school districts, and in 1996,
only 44 of those districts had schools participating in
the Challenge. Many of the nonparticipating districts
are in remote parts of the state and will
require extra attention so that they can be electronically connected. Increasing participation by female
and ethnic minorities will continue to be a priority.
Teacher Training.
The first Summer Teacher Training Session was an
outstanding success. This opportunity must be extended to more teachers. The training that the teachers receive benefits not only Challenge students, but all the subjects and classes taught by
those teachers in future years. Technically knowledgeable teachers also have a positive impact on their peers and the curricula of their schools.
Project Advisors.
Having a project advisor can be a critical factor in a
team's success. Teams in remote regions are frequently at a disadvantage because they do not have access to people knowledgeable in the scientific areas of their projects. Strategies must be devised to expand the pool of project advisors in all areas of the
state. These strategies may include recruiting from
professional societies, tapping the retiree community,
making a concerted effort to locate potential advisors
in rural areas, and encouraging electronic communication between a team and its advisor.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
The six years of the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge prove that a program that has strong grassroots support and is nonselective, academically stimulating, and relevant can be successful
in attracting participants and in affecting the lives of
those participants. The program is a link between the
education and the scientific communities. Funding for programs such as the Challenge cannot be considered a luxury or extravagance. The Challenge and programs like it are vital to the future of the United States.
Our country needs a technologically literate population if it is to compete in the world market. The Challenge has proven that it positively contributes interested and trained students to the scientific pipeline feeding the workforce of the future. Evidence shows that participants not only gain immediate personal and academic benefit from the experience but also realize a definite advantage in pursuing future career success. The program positively impacts the educational environment by enhancing equipment, curricula, and teacher knowledge.
In the six years of its existence, the Supercomputing Challenge has made a difference in the lives of students, teachers, schools, and communities. The Challenge looks forward to its contributions to the future participants and the world in which they will live. If you and/or your company would like to help promote technology in education in New Mexico, the Challenge would be glad to accept your help, whether it be helping connect schools, offering awards or scholarships, providing project advisors, or even contributing money.
Gina Weber
CIC-6 MS B251
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
(505) 667-6769
gweber@lanl.gov
David H. Kratzer
CIC-6 MS B251
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
(505)667-2864
dhk@lanl.gov