| Amanda Fuller, President, NAAS
Greetings fellow Academy leaders--
I’m pleased to share that your National Association is gaining strength and momentum, and we are here for you. Our board has been working and thinking hard lately, and our Admin & Communications team has been outstanding. Thank you to Rachel Owen and Hallie Thompson and to all of our board members! We are organized and moving in a very |
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positive direction. I’m excited about our recent progress building new partnerships, and I’m excited about our efforts toaddress inequities in the Junior Academy program through our new scholarship program. If you are moved to support this initiative, or our other work, I encourage you to make a donation at https://academiesofscience.org/ Let us know what we can do for you! Is your Academy struggling? We want to be here to support you. Are you thriving or growing? We’d like to share your success and lessons learned. We’re setting up liaisons on our board to stay in touch with each of our Academies—so don’t be surprised if you get a friendly call or email from one of us just to say hello. How YOU can keep building our momentum: Share your Academy’s news & events with us so we can add them to our website, calendar or social media. If you have an email distribution list, add us to it: admin@academiesofscience.org
Tune in to an Academy Chat- What do you want to learn? What successes or ideas would you like to share with your peers? Pitch it to us at admin@academiesofscience.org Join our Partnerships Committee, building our network of relationships locally and nationally. If you’re an extrovert or a big-picture thinker, we need you here!
Join our Member Services committee and help us develop the resources Academies need to be successful – we’re assembling a library of best practices, tip sheets and trainings from our peers. If you like research & treasure-hunting, this is for you! Like & follow us on social media- we now share updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Twitter: AcademiesofSci Facebook: AcademiesofSci
Instagram: junioracadsci/ Stay in touch with us by any of the above methods or contact me directly. I’d love to know how you’re doing and hear your ideas for how we can help you succeed. |
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Philip Winchell, Acting Director of the American Junior Academy of Science Announcing the hybrid AJAS 2023 Annual Conference, March 1st to 5th, 2023, in Washington, DC.
Greetings to everyone! I am honored to serve as the Acting Director of the American Junior Academy of Science. I am also the Archivist of the NAAS and, curiously, an AJAS Fellow from the 1983 Annual Meeting in Detroit. I vividly recall the events of that 1983 meeting. I remember Mr. Bill Schmitt and Ms. Dallas Cocke leading (more like herding) 50 wide-eyed student delegates between poster sessions, lab tours, museums, receptions, banquets, meetings, and theaters (we watched Return of the Jedi). I came to understand that
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AJAS was not a science fair, science class, tour group, field trip, nor any other type of competition (I had already participated in plenty of each). AJAS was totally different; it was honoring the original research projects conducted by the students (not just classroom achievements)! To get to AJAS, we had to develop something unique in a STEM specialty: we had to create knowledge that had never existed before. And while there was hard work involved, it was all without competitions or tests. For me, AJAS was an immersive scientific experience: a first introduction to a “real-world, big-picture, science event” where I could learn, explore, socialize with other students and professionals, visit actual research laboratories, see the professional AAAS exhibits, and generally absorb this giant event going on all around me. Nothing else offered that opportunity to a high school science student. Just a few months later I began a strenuous college curriculum; however, my AJAS memories served to sustain me (even through some difficult times) with a vision of what the future could hold if I made it through. It is clear that the AJAS Annual Meeting was a transformative experience in both my career and my life. Exactly 40-years later, I find myself with the unique opportunity (and great responsibility) to provide the 2023 AJAS student delegates with an experience that will even exceed my own.
The AJAS 2023 Conference Planning Committee has been working since mid-August. We are pleased to announce that 2023 AJAS will be in Washington DC, March 1st to 5th, 2023. Importantly, our 2023 NAAS/AJAS Annual Meeting will be a hybrid event, with both in-person and concurrent virtual options available for the student delegates, chaperones, and other adults. For all student delegates, certain events will start online in early February 2023. The AJAS is one meeting and one group; virtual attendees will have continual opportunities to interact at the live events and with the in-person attendees. As in past years, our meeting will be in conjunction with the AAAS Annual Meeting held concurrently at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.
The complete event schedule will cover a period of just over one month. The AJAS Annual Meeting events will start—online for all student delegates—in early February 2023. Everybody will attend several required preliminary virtual sessions, as well as complete and present their posters, prior to the start of the in-person meeting. The in-person events will start with registration and check-in at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel, Crystal City, Virginia, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm ET on Wednesday, 1 March 2023. Interactive livestreaming for the virtual attendees will also start late afternoon on that same day. The formal in-person events (and the interactive livestreaming) will end late on the evening of Saturday, 4 March 2023. In-person participants should plan to depart Washington, DC, on or after the morning of Sunday, 5 March 2023. This is four nights in the hotel. Reagan National Airport, DCA, is close (one metro stop) to our hotel.
Whether attending in-person or virtually, the general sessions of the annual meeting will resemble our in-person meetings of the past. There will be an opening ceremony with a keynote speaker, multiple lab tours, a breakfast with scientists, a research roundtable, opportunities for attendance at many AAAS events, and a closing banquet with a keynote speaker. There will also—of course—be time set aside for touring the city and socializing.
We realize that Washington, DC, is an expensive city for conventions. While safety is always paramount, I want to assure you that reducing the cost—and thus increasing the accessibility—to participate in this event is driving every planning decision that we make. AJAS is contracting for a block of luxury hotel rooms in Crystal City, Virginia, at a cost of $169 per night per room (two beds in each room). This compares favorably to $295 per night if we joined the AAAS hotel block at the Washington Convention Center, in downtown Washington, DC.
To further reduce costs, we will not use expensive charter busses for transportation. Instead, we will be using Washington’s extensive Metro Rail System. We are arranging everything to have immediate access to a local Washington, DC, Metro Rail station. We will always travel in large, organized, groups and unlimited Metro passes will be provided. This decision alone will save about $25,000 while still providing a wide range of opportunities for planning our events.
All persons—either student or adult, in-person or virtual—attending the AJAS Conference will pay the basic AJAS meeting registration fee plus the AAAS meeting registration fee. The AAAS fee is out of NAAS/AJAS control. Every virtual and in-person student under 18 MUST have an adult registered for the AJAS Conference who will serve as that student’s official chaperone. Adults can chaperone more than one student. Official chaperones are responsible for the safety, welfare, and conduct of their students during the events of the conference. Costs for virtual attendance would be limited to the AJAS meeting basic registration fee plus the AAAS registration fee. In-person attendees would, in addition, pay for five meals, the hotel, and transportation costs to and from Washington, DC. Much remains uncertain regarding the total cost of basic registration and the additional costs of in-person attendance. I can, however, confidently predict that the basic registration fee for AJAS will not exceed $350 per student delegate (virtual and in-person attendance may, or may not, cost the same) and AAAS registration will be $75 per student (same for both virtual or in-person attendance). Virtual adult/chaperone registration costs for the AJAS Annual Meeting will not exceed $100 (plus whatever AAAS may charge the adults as a registration fee for the AAAS Annual Meeting). In-person adult/chaperone registration costs for the AJAS Annual Meeting will not exceed $350 (plus whatever AAAS may charge the adults as a registration fee for the AAAS Annual Meeting). In-person lodging costs for the entire event can be estimated at $400 per student (assuming two students per room, in our hotel room block). Transportation to and from Washington, DC, is not covered in any of the above estimates, and is the total responsibility of the individual academy or student or adult.
I want to express my personal commitment that, whether a student delegate attends in-person or virtually, they will have an impactful experience. Each student delegate will receive the same AJAS Fellowship. For the virtual students specifically, please be assured that AJAS is one meeting and one group—the AJAS Planning Committee is working on several specific efforts to make certain that you will have a robust and meaningful online experience. This includes plans to employ a dedicated “virtual delegate manager” and a “virtual delegate host,” two on-site individuals who will work together to facilitate the interactive livestreaming of as many events as possible out to the virtual delegates.
Finally, please be aware that the NAAS/AJAS is establishing a significant needs-based scholarship program. Details will soon be provided to the individual academies. The intent of this scholarship is to provide support for student delegates who have demonstrated merit to attend AJAS, but where financial limitations would otherwise prohibit their participation. This scholarship program will be structured as follows: The NAAS will request that each interested academy send an individual proposal for their use of this money. An independent working group will evaluate the various proposals, and the selected academies (plural) will be given a sum of money—or a waiver of registration fees—to support their proposal. While it is the intent to distribute the funds as widely as feasible amongst the selected academies, we anticipate receiving more requests for funding than can be provided. Not all who apply may receive funding.
I hope your academy is able to send both student delegates and chaperones/adults to our annual meeting. No matter how you attend, it is going to be a great experience. Please watch the NAAS/AJAS website, the newsletter, and your email for further details as they become established.
Sincerely Philip Winchell, Acting Director, AJAS |
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| Donna Gerardi Riordan, Executive Director, Washington State Academy of Sciences
The Washington State Academy of Sciences is gearing up for a busy fall that builds on the new strategic priorities set by the Board of Directors in May 2022 that include expanding WSAS Service to Washington State, exploring how WSAS can further complement ongoing science education efforts in WA State; and increasing diversity, and inclusion throughout the Academy and its activities. The Academy’s 15th Annual Symposium will focus on “Mitigation of Pandemic Impacts on Children.” It will be held virtually on October 26, 2022, from 10 AM – 4 PM Pacific Time. Register for this free event now!
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Amanda Fuller, Executive Director, Kentucky Academy of Science
The Kentucky Academy of Science is welcoming our Junior Academy of Science into our Annual Meeting for the first time ever in 2022. The Annual meeting includes a kickoff at the Space Science Center for Junior Academy participants, workshops for K12 teachers, oral and poster presentations, networking sessions, a geology field trip, and a keynote from Professor Andrea Armani telling us about her journey "Traveling Through Disciplines". KAS/ KJAS meets Nov 10-12, 2022 at Morehead State University. Thanks to our partner, the Center for STEM+eXcellence at Morehead for making this joint venture possible! Details: https://www.kyscience.org/annual_meeting_overview.php
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Alabama Academy of Science
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| Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science
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Arkansas Academy of Science
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Chicago Academy of Sciences
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Colorado-Wyoming Academy of Science
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Eugene Liu, CWAS / Junior Academy Director 303-735-6307 |
| Delaware Academy of Science
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Robin Broomall, President 302-368-5703 |
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Florida Academy of Sciences
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For more information, contact our secretary, Dr. Norine Noonan via email, nnoonan@usfsp.edu or by phone, (727) 873-4793. |
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Georgia Academy of Science
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Dr. Amanda Duffus, President 678-359-5464 |
| Hawaii Academy of Science
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Illinois State Academy of Science
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| | Indiana Academy of Science
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Kansas Academy of Science
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Kentucky Academy of Science
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| Louisiana Academy of Science
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Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters
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| Minnesota Academy of Science
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Mississippi Academy of Science
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Missouri Academy of Science
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For information, contact Business Manager Robin Dean, University of Central Missouri, W.C. Morris 132A, rdean@missouriacadsci.org |
| Montana Academy of Science
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| North Carolina Academy of Science
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Nebraska Academy of Sciences
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| New Jersey Academy of Science
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| New Mexico Academy of Science
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Massachusetts Academy of Sciences
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James Hamilton, Program Director Boston University School of Medicine Dept of Physiology and Biophysics; W302 Boston, MA 02118 .
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For information, contact Executive Director Michael Woytek, info@ohiosci.org.www.ohiosci.org |
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Oklahoma Academy of Science
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Oregon Academy of Science
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Pennsylvania Academy of Science
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| South Carolina Academy of Science
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Dr. Don Jordan, AAAS, NAAS & MESAS Director; DOD JSHS Director; Secretary Sec Y; Delegate to AAAS http://scacademysci.org/ |
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South Dakota Academy of Science
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Southern California Academy of Science
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| St. Louis Academy of Science
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Tennessee Academy of Science
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Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
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Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences
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| Virginia Academy of Science
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| Washington DC Academy of Science
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Washington State Academy of Sciences
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| West Virginia Academy of Science
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Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters
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New Hampshire Academy of Science
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| Idaho Academy of Science and Engineering
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| Rochester Academy of Science |
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