For more information, contact Dr. Rick Abel, 620-792-9333;
Dr. John Simmons, 620-792-9335.

October 15, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Linda Jerke

Area high school students will meet former NASA astronaut Steven Hawley at Barton Community College’s sixth annual Jack Kilby Science Day honoring the memory of 2000 Nobel Laureate in Physics Jack Kilby. Set for 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, on Barton’s campus, the event will offer a variety of science presentations, demonstrations and experiments.

Jack Kilby Science Day is free for high school students from throughout central Kansas. This activity also is open to high school science, technical and vocational teachers, counselors and administrators. Attendance is arranged through pre-registration by the high schools or home schools in the area. A total of 533 students are pre-registered for the day. The event is sponsored by the college and funded in part by Farmers Bank and Trust NA and Kiwanis Club of Great Bend.

Keynote speaker Steven A. Hawley, Ph.D., now a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, is a veteran of five space flights, serving as mission specialist on flights in 1984, 1986, 1990, 1997 and 1999. He logged 32 days in space. Hawley retired from NASA in May 2008.

Hawley was born Dec. 12, 1951, in Ottawa, but considers Salina to be his hometown. He enjoys golf and watching baseball. He graduated from Salina Central High School in 1969 and earned bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy (graduating with highest distinction) from the University of Kansas in 1973, and a doctorate of philosophy in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California in 1977.

He was a research assistant at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., in 1972, and at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, W.Va., in 1973 and 1974. As a graduate student at Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, he did research involving spectrophotometry of gaseous nebulae and emission-line galaxies with particular emphasis on chemical abundance determinations for these objects.

The results of his research have been published in major astronomical journals. Prior to his selection by NASA in January 1978, Hawley was a post-doctoral research associate at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in La Serena, Chile.

Participants in Jack Kilby Science Day have opportunities to explore science and technology in numerous sessions. The primary intent of this event is to kindle and reinforce in students an enthusiasm for science and related careers, Barton’s Dean of Academics Dr. Rick Abel said.

Led by Barton instructors and other instructors from the area, 21 workshops promise to be both educational and entertaining. With assignments based on student preference, demand by other registrants and the availability of space, each student will be assigned to two hours of activities following the keynote speaker’s presentation.

Session topics led by Barton instructors and staff will include the Internet and seeing on the computer how anatomy, movement and animation are linked, both topics; the impact of food packaging on what we eat and how we eat it; Programmable Logic Controllers; physics magic; crime scene analysis; relationships between engine torque, RPM and power; and “disease scene investigation” in diagnosis of wellness and disease.

Additional topics are DNA, fingerprints and chemical crime-fighting in sessions led by the KBI; how astronomers capture, bend and interpret information from the stars led by Barbara Anthony-Twarog from the University of Kansas; satellites placed in space to observe the earth presented by Dr. John Heinrichs from Fort Hays State University; an experiment in sensory perception to evaluate flavors and smells presented by Jennifer Pfortmiller from K-State at Barton; wind farm development led by Don Ford, wind farm manager for Westar Energy; what barn owls capture and eat led by Pam Martin from the Wetlands Education Center; migration miracles from the Wetlands Education Center led by Curtis Wolf; computer networking led by Saeed Khan from K-State at Salina; simple circuit construction led by Aaron Westerman from K-State at Salina; snakes at Cheyenne Bottoms led by Charlie Swank; and raptors presented by Brit Spaugh Zoo.

As part of Jack Kilby Science Day, Barton will host its third annual Math Bowl led by Barton math instructor Jo Harrington. Enrollment will be limited to 16 teams of three students each and will be on a first-come/first-served basis. First, second and third place finishes will be awarded certificates. Each member of the winning team also will receive a TI-84+ Silver Edition Graphing Calculator and the winners’ high school will receive a TI Smartview Emulator for the TI-84+ family, all donated by Texas Instruments. Runners-up also will receive TI Calculators.

The Science Bowl, led by Barton life sciences instructor Dr. John Simmons, will have students competing in teams of two and four to answer multiple-choice questions about biology, chemistry and physical science. The champions and runners-up will receive MP3 players. The champions will have their school name engraved on a plaque in the Science building.

The sessions will be followed by a pizza lunch in the Kirkman Student Activity Center and an expo event offering information on Barton and its services. Numerous booths will represent Barton’s programs and departments as well as off-campus organizations. With the booths, students will have a chance to participate in some fun, hands-on activities, including making their own bouncy-ball and computer graphics.

The science day bears the name of 2000 Nobel Laureate in Physics Jack Kilby. While a young boy, Kilby moved to Great Bend where he lived until he graduated from Great Bend High School in 1941. His invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 while working for Texas Instruments is the genius behind nearly every electronic product used today. Kilby went on with TI to pioneer military, industrial and commercial applications of microchip technology with his invention. Later, he co-invented both the hand-held calculator and the thermal printer that was used in portable date terminals. Kilby died in June 2005 at the age of 81.

Along with winning the Nobel Prize, Kilby received two of the nation’s most prestigious honors in science and engineering. In 1970, in a White House ceremony, he received the National Medal of Science. And in 1982, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, taking his place alongside Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and the Wright Brothers in the annals of American innovation.

Former NASA Astronaut Steven Hawley