Science in New York Takes Center Stage as the Siemens Westinghouse Competition Moves to New York City

    NEW YORK, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2005-06 Siemens Westinghouse
 Competition in Math, Science & Technology, America's premier science research
 competition for high school students, will hold its national finals this year
 in New York City, the Siemens Foundation announced today.  Formerly held in
 Washington DC, the national finals will take place at New York University, the
 weekend of December 2-5, 2005.  They are the culmination of a series of six
 regional events hosted by partner universities around the country and
 administered by The College Board.  The deadline for students to enter the
 2005-06 Siemens Westinghouse Competition is Monday, October 3.
     New York City School's Chancellor Joel I. Klein highlights the role of the
 competition in driving student achievement.  "This is an opportunity for our
 students and young people across the country to collaborate with some of our
 country's top researchers and begin to take their place as leaders in the next
 generation of science leaders," said Chancellor Klein.
     "We're excited about the Siemens Westinghouse Competition being at New
 York University this year," said Thomas N. McCausland, chairman of the Siemens
 Foundation.  "As the academic home of many of our nation's leading science
 researchers it makes sense for NYU to host the nation's leading high school
 science research competition."
     "NYU is honored to host the Siemens Westinghouse Competition," said NYU
 president John Sexton.  "The quality of the scholarship and the passion for
 inquiry displayed by the finalists are an excellent fit for NYU's own
 intellectual and creative drive, and we welcome them to our campus."
     Although not always recognized as such, New York is a major center of
 science research in the U.S., particularly in the area of biomedical research.
 Among the internationally recognized science research institutions in New York
 are Brookhaven National Lab, Cold Spring Harbor, Columbia University, New York
 University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Rockefeller University.
 New York also leads the nation in the number of high school students who
 participate in science competitions, including the Siemens Westinghouse
 Competition.  More than 60 percent of the entries received for the competition
 come from the New York metropolitan area and New York State is the only state
 to have produced three top prize ($100,000) scholarship winners (1999, 2001
 and 2003).
 
     The Siemens Westinghouse Competition
     The Siemens Westinghouse Competition awards college scholarships ranging
 from $1,000 to $100,000 in both individual and team categories.  A signature
 program of the Siemens Foundation, the annual competition is administered by
 the College Board.  Entries are judged at the regional level over three
 consecutive weekends in November at six leading research universities:
 Carnegie Mellon University; University of Notre Dame; University of
 California, Berkeley; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Georgia Institute
 of Technology; and The University of Texas at Austin.  Winners of the regional
 competitions are invited to compete at the national level.
     The 2005-06 Siemens Westinghouse Competition National Finals will take
 place December 1-5, 2005, at New York University's new state-of-the-art Helen
 & Martin Kimmel Center for University Life.  The annual National Recognition
 Dinner will take place at the New York Hall of Science on Sunday, December 4.
 The 2005-06 national winners will be announced at a press conference at the
 Kimmel Center on Monday morning, December 5.
 
     The Siemens Foundation
     The Siemens Foundation, based in Iselin, New Jersey, is dedicated to
 providing scholarships and increasing access to higher education for gifted
 students in science, mathematics and technology-related disciplines through
 such programs as the Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement and the Siemens
 Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology.  Established in
 1998, the Siemens Foundation distributes more than $1 million in scholarships,
 awards and grants annually.  The Foundation's mission is based on the culture
 of innovation, research and educational support that is the hallmark of
 Siemens' U.S. operating companies and its parent company, Siemens AG.
     Siemens is committed to academic excellence and to encouraging new
 generations to pursue science, mathematics and technology-related disciplines.
 With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has
 sales of $16.6 billion and employs 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and
 Puerto Rico.   For more information, visit http://www.siemens-foundation.org.
 
 

SOURCE  The Siemens Foundation