Supercomputing Challenge

“Cash contribution: 10,126 cash contribution: 13,200”

“Expenses bank fees 130 computer and equipment 909 travel 259 annual program events 47,102 food 131 materials and supplies 863 graphic media services 500 total 49,894”

“Prior period adjustment 0”

“Accounts payable and accrued expenses 360 0 nmbt credit card 0 495”

“Teach teams of middle school and high school students how to use powerful computers to analyze, model, and solve real world problems during a year- long project.”

“The supercomputing challenge is a program encompassing the school year in which teams of students complete science projects using computational science. Each team of up to five students and a sponsoring teacher defines and works on a single computational project of its own choosing. Throughout the program, help and support are given to the teams by their project advisers and the supercomputing challenge organizers and sponsors. The supercomputing challenge is open to all interested students in grades 4 through 12 on a non-selective basis. The program has no grade point, class enrollment or computer experience prerequisites. Participants come from public, private, parochial, and home-based schools in all areas of new mexico. The important requirement for participating is a real desire to learn about science and computing. Supercomputing challenge teams tackle a range of interesting problems to solve. The most successful projects address a topic that holds great interest for the team. In recent years, ideas for projects have come from astronomy, biology, geology, physics, ecology, mathematics, economics, sociology, and computer science. It is very important that the problem a team chooses is what we call real world and not imaginary. A real world problem has measurable components. We use the term computational science to refer to science problems that we wish to solve and explain using computer models. The challenge year opened with a kickoff at the new mexico institute of mining and technology where students attend talks and tutorials on essential knowledge for successful completion of the challenge. During the year, teams met milestones which included report writing and public speaking/presentations of their projects. The year culminated at the los alamos national laboratory in late april with a project expo and judging, tours of the laboratory and an awards ceremony. Seventy-one percent of the teams that began the year submitted final reports and 50% of the participants were female and 75% were from under- represented ethnicities in the stem fields.”