The ninth annual ASPIRE Supercomputing EXPO was held May 2, 1998, at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, hosted by UAH, Johnson High School, and East Limestone High School.  More than 150 projects from 26 schools were presented for competitive judging, while 20 elementary school projects were displayed and 15 projects were displayed as works in progress.

ASPIRE (Alabama Supercomputing Program to Inspire computational Research in Education) is a K-12 program that provides a framework for significant scientific explorations in a project environment using the resources of the information highway.

The EXPO is an opportunity for students to submit their completed projects for competition, display elementary projects completed, or showcase Works in Progress.  This year’s EXPO judged:

•  116 high school projects from 20 different schools
•  scientific visualization judged from each project
•  21 middle school projects from 5 different schools
•  10 non-scientific visualization projects from 3 different schools
•  45 written tests taken by students from 7 different schools
•  6 teams of students competed in the programming contest
•  school displays presented by schools submitting student projects

and showcased:

•  20 elementary school projects
•  15 Works in Progress

Over 300 students were involved in developing the projects submitted to the competition, and over 325 students, teachers, dignitaries, and guests attended the EXPO.

The ASPIRE program presented plaques, certificates, cash awards, and 6 scholarships to students who developed winning projects.  Additionally, coordinated by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the Alabama Alliance for Minorities Program (AMP), one four-year scholarship was presented to the minority student with the top project in the high school divisions. Complete list of recognized EXPO '98 Projects Scholarship Winners  

Special Guests

We were honored to have special guests at the EXPO.  Dr. Roscoe Giles, Boston University, brought the Keynote Address on the topic of Computational Science.

We were also pleased to have all of the Adventures in Supercomputing Coordinators from each of the five states present and serving as judges.  Thank you AiS Coordinators for sharing this exciting event with us.

National AiS Competitors

Students from two Alabama schools will join two teams from each of the four other AiS states in the National AiS EXPO to be held in Washington, D. C. on June 18-20, 1998.

They are:

Sterling Huntley from Homewood High School, Richard Butcke,  Teacher
for his project Random Walks as a Model for Gene Mutations

Peter Chung and Frank Huang from Baldwin Junior High School, Kelley Butler, Teacher
for their project Phenomenon in Space
 

Teachers

Teachers were excited about having their students complete and submit projects to the EXPO.  Thank you teachers for a job well done!

More Teacher Pictures

RCI. Ltd., Award

The RCI, Ltd. Leadership Award was presented to Mr. Billy Broadway Superintendent of Madison County School System for his efforts to promote computational science and professional development in the Madison County School System.  This award is presented annually to the individual or school believed to have done the most to promote the goals of the ASPIRE program.  This year the award was announced by Dr. Elizabeth French, Alabama Commission on Higher Education, and presented by Dr. Carl Davis, ASPIRE Director, UAH.

In 1993, RCI, Ltd., a research consortium comprising industry, academic and government organizations interested in high performance computing, with worldwide headquarters in Minneapolis, selected the Alabama Precollege Supercomputing Program (ASPIRE) to receive the RCI High Performance Computing Industry Recognition Award for 1993.  The RCI award designates the Alabama program as "the year's major activity considered by industry leaders to have the most significant impact on and vision for high performance computing". Previous recipients of the RCI award include:

• 1990 IBM, for design of the RISC 6000 Scientific Workstation
• 1991 Then-Senator Al Gore’s National High Performance Computing Initiative
• 1992 National Science Foundation, for the "Metacenter" linking concept
• 1993 ASPIRE Program

We have made this a travelling award, given to the school or individual who has made the greatest impact on education through their involvement in the ASPIRE program.  Past ASPIRE recipients are:

• 1994  Dr. Elizabeth French, Alabama Commission on Higher Education
• 1995 Anniston High School Regional Training Center
• 1996 Arab Junior High School
• 1997 Dr. Albert Lilly and the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science

Students

Students are the key to the EXPO!  Each student who brought a project to the EXPO is a winner!  See a listing of all high school student projects and middle school student projects submitted to the EXPO this year.

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