Volume 3 Number 3
The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
December 1983
Seniors Enter Westinghouse Science Competition
By Kenro Kusumi
For the first time in the
North Carolina School of Science
and Mathematics's four-year
history, eight Science and Math
seniors are entering the
Westinghouse Science Talent
Search. This prestigious
competition is sponspred by the
Westinghouse Electric
Corporation and the Science
Service.
In this contest, high
school seniors from across the
United States enter their
completed science or math
research projects? 40 students
are then selected as.
semifinalists and attend a
conference in Washington, DC.
X
Board of Trustees members join students for lunch in the cafeteria.
Trustee Bell Shares Impressions, Advice
By Rae Moseley
and Laura Woodworth
The seldom-seen-on-campus
organization that shapes our
fate more closely than we
realize, the NCSSM Board of
Trustees, met on Friday,
December 2, to discuss
long-range plans for the school
and hear reports on the school's
progress. To help dispel some
of the mystery surrounding this
group of 24 men and 2 women, THE
STENTORIAN spoke briefly with
trustee William Bell.
Bell is a native North
Carolinian who makes his home in
the Triangle area. He is
Manager for Technology and
Development of the IBM
corporation.
Bell is one of the charter
members of the Board of
Trustees, having begun his stint
several years ago before the
school first opened. "As one of
the original board members, I
have seen the school grow," he
says.
When asked what his
favorite thing about being a
board member was. Bell answered
without hesitation, "Meeting
students." He was unable to cite
a least favorite thing about his
position, for he says he enjoys
all of the responsibilities that
are a part of a trustee
position.
Bell exhorts NCSSM students
to work hard to get everything
we possible out of life. He
reminds us, too, that an
education is not a free ride.
He says that students "should be
proud to give something back."*
Winning the Westinghouse
competition is like the "Nobel
Prize" for high school students?
indeed, several nobel laureates
have been among the former
Westinghouse winners.
The eight seniors entering
the competition from the NCSSM
are; Ed Bradford, Will Carr,
Melvin Deal, Laine Doggett,
Lynne Haven, Allen Nuttle,
Tushar Shah, and Craig Steffee.
To get an idea of what these
students have been working on,
the following are brief
summaries of their projects;
Ed Bradford's project is
entitled "An Organic Dye-Laser
Using a Modified Flash System."
In layman's terms, Bradford
worked on a laser which, instead
of using a crystal or gas main
element, uses a solution of the
dye—coumarin 30. Why build an
organic laser? Bradford
explained, " I just wanted to
build a laser, but I couldn't
afford all the expensive
equipment? so I designed a new
approach using low-cost
materials."
Will Carr's research
focused on "'The Spatial
Orientation of Crayfish Using
Plfime Polarized Light." Carr has
been interested in behavioral
research for many years and is
now conducting research with
wood preference in termites.
Melvin Deal worked on
transforming business computers
for use in the Durham Water
Laboratories. This computer
research Involved language
translation to fit the specific
needs of the lab.
While some NCSSM students
spent the summer bumming out at
the beach, Laine Doggett
researched at the Duke Marine
Laboratories in Beaufort. Her
project is titled “Manipulatior
(cont.on p.t'