the stentorian I ncssm
december 2005
RChem students journey to Thailand,
give presentations on research
School mystery: a case
of disappeared plates
RV CnNNTF ChTT
T his year, NCSSM was in
vited to send two teams
to the rst International
Thailand Science Fair. Dean
of Science and Research in
Chemistry advisor Dr. Halpin
accompanied seniors Courtney
Fox, May Liu, and Quirm Mor
ris on an all-expenses paid trip
over Thanksgiving break.
The Science Fair took
place in Bangkok with ac
commodations provided by
the Mahidol Wittayanusorn
School (MWITS), the Nation
al Science School of Thailand,
which is a boarding school like
NCSSM.
“Most of the Science Fair
consisted of the opening cere
mony,” said Fox. “The school
was visited by the princess
of Thailand. Then, on Friday
and Saturday, we gave oral
presentations of our research.
It was a lot of fun for everyone
there because it wasn’t actually
a competition That lowered the
stress level a lot.”
“There were not awards or
prizes given out in the end,
as they set up this fair to be
more of a cultural and intellec
tual exchange,” said Liu. “The
country is beautiful, and the
weather was gorgeous. Not only
did we get to see other research
projects from around the world,
but we were also able to learn
about Thai customs, eat Thai
food, and attempt to speak some
Thai words. The students were
so welcoming and the sight
seeing tours showed us a large
variety of places in and around
Bangkok. Meeting the princess
was de nitely a highlight, but
the entire experience was truly
amazing.”
“My favorite part of the trip
was de nitely tte trip to MBK,
the main shopping center in
Thailand and tte biggest mall
in Asia,” said Morris. “We
spent several hours there, and
didn’t even begin to see all of
the stores. ... We got to do a lot
more touring and learning about
the culture than I expected.”
“My favorite part of the trip
was probably our trip to the
Grand Palace, or maybe the JJ
Market,” said Fox. “Everything
in the market was so cheap.”
According to Liu, even Thai
cafeteria food is “incredibly
cheap and good ... about 20
baht (equivalent to 50 cents) for
a full plate for dirmer.”
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Thailand
However, “There was no air-
conditioning or hot water. That
was pretty bad,” Morris said.
Also, Liu said, “Sometimes,
it was hard to communicate to
Thai people who were not stu
dents that had learned Enghsh,
but we learned that smiling and
nodding are universal!”
“The exjrerience exceeded all
of my expectations,’' said Fox.
“Thai hospitality de nitely ri
vals that of the South I learned
a great deal of Thai etiquette
from the students at the school.
For instance, it is rude to point
your foot at another person.”
“[T]hey don’t use a fork in
the same way we do,” Morris
added. “They only use the fork
to push stuff on to the spoon.’
“We found out that it is ex
tremely impohte to put a fork in
your mouth while you are eat
ing,” said Liu, “so we learned
how to use the fork to put food
on a spoon before [eating].”
“This is the rst international
science fair of its type,” said
Liu. “[Hjopefully, NCSSM
can send some students to next
year’s in Korea!”
“To my knowledge,” said
Halpin, “this is the rst time
that students have competed
out of the country.” Fox, Liu,
and Morris started researching
together second
trimester last year,
along with senior
Suman Medda,
who was unable
to attend the Thai-
_ land Science Fair.
“Everyone
wanted to work
with fuel cells,”
said Morris. “Ba
sically, one day we
went to Google,
looked at the mil
lions of articles,
found an article,
and became in
terested in seeing
what ... a bacte
rial fuel cell [is],
... Could w e build
one, and would it
work?”
Fox, Liu, Mor
ris, and Medda
siKceeded in mak
ing a fuel cell by Ihng a beaker
that had dialysis tubing, a semi-
permeable membrane, with bac
teria and sugar. Bacterial fuel
cells use the voltage difference
that results when bacteria break
down carbohydrates and
produce electrons. A
molecule called a media
tor is put in as the elec
trons flow through the
electron transport chain
in this process.
Prior to the Thailand
Science Fair, the group
had taken their project on
bacterial fuel cells to the
Biotech 2005 Conference
in Philadelphia, where
they were received one of
the four prizes awarded,
and to an international
science fair in Phoenix.
In addition, the team
entered a competition
through NASA and was
able to test the effects of
low G forces on bacterial fuel
cells by sending three sets of
two bacterial fuel cells into
space. According to Morris,
“One set of cells supported our
hypothesis that lower G forces
correspond with higher outputs;
the second set of cells was
pretty inconclusive.”
Fox and Liu also did re
search over the summer on
the enzymatic synthesis of the
anticoagulant heparin sulfate.
Heparin sulfate had already
Julie
Brown
leaves
ceive instraction from a new
teacher after winter break.
Currently, ve candidates are
being interviewed for the open
ing position in the biology de
partment. Brown asks that her
students treat the new teacher
with respect.
“Don’t be too hard on him
or her. Everybody has a differ
ent teaching style. Be patient,
and work just as hard for them
as you’ve worked for me,”
Brown said.
Brown plans to continue
her teaching career at Gaston
Community College, where
she will teach part-time. She
also hopes to emoll at UNC-
Charlotte to earn her teaching
license. Although Brown has
taught for several years, she
must have a license before she
can teach at public schools in
Charlotte.
While Brown is excited
about the move and the oppor
tunities it brings, she will miss
NCSSM.
“I’m dreading my last day
of class. I’m afraid I’m going
to cry,” Brown said.
Brown wishes “good luck”
to her students in their future
endeavors at NCSSM and be-
vond.
RY .Stacy Kvtt
A large number of stu
dents criticize the PFM,
yet very few avoid eat
ing there. Each day you can
observe enormous lines of
hungry juniors and seniors,
and sometimes even SLIs and
teachers, waiting to receive
their meal. Nobody looks too
disappointed neither with the
food, nor with the service,
but there is one little problem
which drives everyone crazy.
Of course, we’re civilized
humans, we carmot eat lasagna
with our ngers, if for not any
other reason but because it is
HOT! However, when a poor
hungry student goes to get a
fork, he probably won’t find
one, unless it is his lucky day.
Most students settle out with
getting a spoon (do not ever use
a knife for that purpose- it is too
dangerous!) or a plastic fork.
They may feel silly for eating
macaroni with a teaspoon, but at
least that is a civilized way (and
an easier one than using chop
sticks, unless you’re Asian).
Yet the mystery remains un
solved; where are the forks?
In fact, the forks are not the
only problem. About a month
ago or so
the cafete
ria expe
rienced a
“plate cri
sis”- that
is, there
weren’t
enough
plates to
lastthrough Forks missing from silverware tray in cafeteria
a single #
the past (and this year espe
cially) we thoughtlessly car
ried dishes from the cafeteria
to enjoy meals elsewhere (so
that nobody would know we
actually eat at PFM ?) Then,
of course, the dirty cafeteria
plates never got back and now
they sit somewhere in a lounge,
or even under somebody’s bed
(yikes!).
Some of the poor dishes
may made it somehow back
to cafeteria, but most of them
keep stacking up elsewhere
around the school. An even
worse fate awaits the forks and
spoons: these utensils are small
and standard-looking enough
to be snuck out from cafeteria
without any of the workers
noticing. Even if the workers
do notice, they have no way
of knowing whether that is a
cafeteria utensil or your own.
What is truly horrible about the
fork situation, however, is that
students sometimes throw the
metal utensils into trash. This
happens mostly by accident,
but means no more chances of
seeing the poor forks or spoons
ever again. Sigh.
So, this is elementary,
Watson! However, just being
meal course. You probably
saw desperate signs around tte
school as well as boxes in your
hall lounges for dish pick-ups.
The “Plate Preservation”
campaign was only moderately
successful, though. Right now,
cafeteria uses disposable plates
along with washable ones,
and it seems that most people
prefer using the throwaway
kind. However, there are some
drawbacks to that. First of all,
this way is very impractical:
too much waste is created; ex
tra money is being constantly
spent on new utensils; and poor
cafeteria workservice students
are stripped of their jobs! (Just
kidding on that last statement.)
Yet what happened to those
nice, fun-colored plates? Is
it possible that overly hungry
students accidentally ate them
with their breakfast waffles?
Or did some math geeks steal
them to find their volumes?
You do not have to be Mr.
Sherlock to gure this out. We
as students tend to rob ourselves
without even realizing it. When
we leave the cafeteria messy,
for example, it is only to our
disadvantage, since this will
only mean more control. Same
is tme for cafeteria utensils; in
aware does not help to solve
the problem. On the other hand,
through simple actions you can
improve the situation! First of
all, listen to your consciousness
and nd a minute to bring any
random plates from your closet
back to cafeteria. Also bring
any suspiciously single looking
forks and spoons: these prob
ably belong to PFM as well.
If you care about cutting
back trash, bring your own
plates. (Notice: the cafeteria
servers cannot accept your
plates, but you may transfer
the food from the cafeteria
plate to yours). Bringing
your own cups and utensils is
also a good idea (you’ll never
be caught eating lasagna with
a spoon, and also can get a
larger glass of juice/water).
Lastly, be a good neighbor
and take care to get any utensils
you find anywhere outside
the cafeteria back in. Also,
if you see someone carrying
out a cafeteria utensil, kindly
remind him to return it (as the
cafeteria staff caimot constantly
keep an eye on all people).
Believe me, the plates
will thank you if you fol
low any of the advice above,
and as a result, PFM food
would taste much better.