42ND SCIENCE FAIR KICKS OFF TODAY AT CONVENTION CENTER

Which .22-caliber hollow point bullet has the fastest velocity?

What are the effects of environmental pollution on chlorophyll concentration?

Those questions and more will be answered at the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair today through Thursday at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Cape Girardeau.

A total of 299 students with 229 entries will start setting up science and engineering projects this morning. They come from 28 schools across the region. Judging starts at 1 p.m. today.

This marks the 42nd year of the annual extravaganza, which includes projects ranging from junior and senior chemistry, botany, earth and space sciences, to mathematics, computer sciences and health.

Last year a record 298 entries were submitted by more than 300 students, said Ruth Hathaway, an instructor at Southeast Missouri State University. This is Hathaway's sixth year as director of the fair.

"This is also a big year for the science fair," said Hathaway. "We have a new award for 1998 from Intel, the computer people." The award will be $100 in cash and an Intel memento.

A number of awards that include savings bonds, cash and scholarships are presented each year in various categories.

The top two senior winners and their teachers will receive an expense-paid trip to compete in the 49th International Science and Engineering Fair at Fort Worth, Texas. The top eighth-grade student and teacher also receive a trip to the international fair as observers.

Ribbons are given for first-, second- and third-place entries in each category of the senior division, which is ninth through 12th grades. Awards in the junior division are presented for outstanding, superior and excellent entries.

Entries are accepted from any public, private or church school in the territory serviced by Southeast Missouri State University.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair was established in 1957.

"The whole idea of the fair is to get talented Southeast Missouri youngsters involved in science," said Hathaway.

As the regional fair has grown in size, so has the complexity of the projects. In the early years, exhibits such as models of volcanoes and illustrations of how the heart works competed for top prizes. Today, students have complex exhibits that have involved studying for years.

Today, Crystal B. Dyer, a sophomore at Sikeston High school, will present her project on the effects of environmental pollution on chlorophyll concentration. She came up with her idea from a book and worked on it a month before reaching a stopping point.

Last year, a Sikeston entry was one of two winners along with an entry from South Pemiscot High School at Steele. South Pemiscot has a number of entries this year, including freshman Emily Brackin's "Control of Gene Expression of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) by Transformation of pGLO Plasmids in E. Coli."

Other projects include "The Chinese Water Torture" by Lisa Kelly, an eighth-grader at Poplar Bluff; "Which .22-caliber Hollow Point Bullet Has the Fastest Velocity?" by sophomore Scott Barnes of Sikeston; "The Dirt on Soap" by Stephen Stahr of Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School; "To Infinity and Beyond" by Justin Lusk of Central Junior High; and "The Cape Girardeau El Nino Watch, 1997-98" by Sarah Dubbs, a seventh-grader at Nell Holcomb School north of Cape Girardeau.

Southeast Missouri State University and the Southeast Missourian sponsored the first fair, which featured 98 entries at Houck Field House. As the fair grew, so did its sponsors and donors.

Major sponsors today include the university, the newspaper, Environmental Analysis South, Drury Southwest and Hathaway Consulting. Donors include St. Francis Medical Center, Southeast Missouri Hospital and Columbia Construction Co.

THE SCHEDULE

Schedule for the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair, Holiday Inn Convention Center:

Today -- Student setups, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.; judging, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.; open to public, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Wednesday -- Open to public, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Thursday -- Open to public, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; awards ceremony, 7 p.m.