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<p>I think its January 12 for semi-finalists, and about a month later, finalists are announced.</p>
<p>According to the website
Semifinalists will be announced on January 12, 2011 . Finalists will be announced on January 26, 2011 .</p>
<p>2 weeks left!</p>
<p>So if you get announced a semi finalists, you have no chance of becoming a finalist? or you can be both? lol sorry im planning on doing this next year. and what was everyone’s topics on? i may do a project with a research lab from last summer on pathology(obviously more specific). is that a semifinalist/finalist worthy topic?</p>
<p>Any topic is worth of semifinalist/finalist, really. And all of the 40 finalists are once part of the 300 semifinalists.</p>
<p>lol i really hope i get semifinalist… this may get me off the deferred list 
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<p>Best of luck to everyone who’s competing! :]</p>
<p>I’m just here because I have some questions about the whole research thing which I’m really hoping you guys can answer for me, if it’s not too much trouble. D: So, here I go… </p>
<p>Did you guys have to do research at a university with a prof? Did you have to do a lot of background research to be able to digest what was going on to find/get to know your topic? Did you learn any of this stuff in school or did you basically have to teach yourself everything? Did you absolutely need a lab to do your research?</p>
<p>Thanks so much, and good luck once again!</p>
<p>Leftyy:</p>
<p>You don’t need to have a research lab with high-tech equipment to do good research. Finding a lab in the first place can be tough depending on where you are and what policies your local university has. For example, my local university has a complete ban on high school research with animals and has a lot of red tape with cancer/tissue/blood research. The microbiology labs also have insurance policies that don’t allow high school students to even enter the labs. Other universities, however, might be more open and friendly towards high school research. Having a mentor, or even some contacts who can help out, is important (at east in my opinion)- after all, part of the scientific process is interacting with other scientists and sharing knowledge/experience. Many high level projects (that make it to Siemens or STS) do have material that is definitely not taught in school. However, I’ve been teaching myself fluid dynamics for the past year or so (and again having a mentor helps in learning background info.)</p>
<p>I would really like to hear from those people who have been able to do successful (and maybe even prize winning) research without high-tech labs and equipment- kudos to you if you have!</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! :] I really appreciate it.
How do you guys even come up with topics? Do you have to do a lot of research beforehand?</p>
<p>@Leftyy, although, I’m only a sophomore, if I’m interpreting your question correctly, you’re wondering how these seemingly ungodly complicated/abstruse projects come in to being. How does a student, a high school one at that, actually complete and experiment of this kind? I was fortunate enough to go through that process this past semester.</p>
<p>When I was trying to come up with a science fair topic, I searched through countless pages of information that pertained to a general field of study I was interested in. In a random wikipedia article, I found out about a phenomenon that was rather esoteric, but very interesting. Next, came more in-depth information about my topic. I did everything I could to find out more about it and I read many scholarly articles. Unfortunately, not much was known, so I ended up emailing the researcher/professor in Australia who discovered this concept and I was lucky enough to receive an email back. In the email he described to me general procedures used in his experiment and more info about the phenomenon. From this basic knowledge, I composed my experiment design. </p>
<p>The next logical step, was to find somewhere at which I could conduct my experiment. Over the course of the next 2 months, I emailed a large amount of professors from my state university asking for permission to use the university’s equipment and for guidance and supervision in my experiment. None of the professors had even heard of this topic and only one of the many professors I contacted offered her assistance and equipment. </p>
<p>Next, I had to actually carry out my experiment. Over the course of one week, I gathered some local samples and took a plane to my state university (I live in Hawaii, on one of the rural islands. So I took the plane to Oahu.) While there, I worked with my mentor on my experiment. </p>
<p>Even though, this was a very hastily put together project done in only a week, the professor I was working with, said she would gladly procure for me a lab position this upcoming summer, and I am looking forward to the experience.</p>
<p>That’s my story of how I actually started completing real scientific research without any connections at all and very little parental assistance (My parents bought my plane ticket and had no knowledge of my experiment until about 3 days before I actually carried it out.)</p>
<p>P.S. I had no research beforehand.
P.S.S. That was really really long. Perhaps I elaborated a little too much.</p>
<p>@Leftyy I applied to a Science Program- HSHSP.</p>
<p>@asianese: That is the perfect example of the “traditional” way to get into the research. You should set a good example for others.</p>
<p>Like azndarkvader here, I also did a summer program (Clark Scholars). It somewhat simplifies the process of finding a research position (but you still have to apply to the program, obviously). Hopefully, our work will be rewarded come January 12.</p>
<p>The easiest way, probably because it’s most organized and will attract professors who have taken on high school kids before, is through summer programs (Clark, RSI, HSHSP, Simons/Garcia). However, the first year I did research, I took the old approach of emailing professors. If you take this route, I advise you NOT to have a project idea in mind beforehand. That’s the easiest excuse for the professor to not take you on. Once you get into a lab, either read up on work related to the professor’s current work and come up with a project, or ask the professor to come up with a reasonable project for you.</p>
<p>I didn’t work in a lab or anything. Mine’s a theoretical bio project using computational modeling. Research is rather unprecedented in my area, so it was hard to get started. However, I got a mentor who was kind enough to take me after countless lab rejections.
Just for a quick note, when is semifinalist announced?
How many of you are Siemens finalist/semi?</p>
<p>[Society</a> for Science & the Public - Intel STS - Home Page](<a href=“http://www.societyforscience.org/STS]Society”>http://www.societyforscience.org/STS)</p>
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<p>I’m a Siemens semifinalist!! Whoo!! Can’t wait 'til the Intel STS results come out!</p>
<p>Me too =]. I’m nervous; I felt as if I have spent a lot of time on my essays and have further expanded my paper’s discussion since Siemens. I just hope I do somehow make it semifinalist like what I had for SIemens</p>
<p>So, for your project, did your mentor help you with the project? You came up with the idea by yourself, right? How would you think of something like that… since you probably didn’t learn it in school, did you just do a lot of background research on your own?</p>
<p>^ Mentor helps you come up with a project idea ( this is also how it works in graduate school too). Basically, he/she points out relevant materials for you to consult and the direction from which your research builds from, where to find relevant background readings etc. From that point on, you are on your own.
However, I believe there are some engineering projects that are homemade without mentor or any kind of guidance whatsoever, since there isn’t much literature to dive into.</p>
<p>Almost a week left…anyone nervous? I don’t know if I will make it or not, considering that Intel is much harder…</p>
<p>Alright, that’s great! 
I was looking through a bunch of projects that high school kids did for competitions and actually won… needless to say, I was really intimidated and felt pretty stupid. But now that I know that mentors will do that kind of stuff for you… that’s just great. Thanks!</p>