January 23, 2004

Jason Expedition and Engineering Extravaganza Provide Adventures January 27-30 and February 3-6

Note: Media are welcome to cover this event or take photos. The JASON Project is not open to the general public as students will be visiting in school groups. About 1,900 Treasure Valley students will “go along” on a scientific rainforest expedition via a live broadcast from Panama on Jan. 27-30 and Feb. 3-6, as part of the JASON Project. For the third year in a row, Boise State University is hosting and INEEL is sponsoring the JASON Project, a scientific educational program founded by world-famous explorer Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic. In addition to the broadcast expedition, student participants will also get to see, touch, hear and even taste real-life designs by Boise State students at an Engineering Extravaganza. Related JASON Project events will also be held at the Discovery Center of Idaho. “Rainforests at the Crossroads” is the theme of this 15th annual JASON Project expedition. The live broadcast featuring real scientists conducting real research in a Panamanian rainforest will be held from 9:30-10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.-noon each day in Room 106 of the Micron Engineering Center. Between the broadcasts, students can visit the Engineering Extravaganzas displayed by Boise State students, including the following: The mechanical engineering student club will demonstrate a hydro-turbine and mini-baja and micro-baja vehicles, in the Morrison Civil Engineering Building. The Society of Women Engineers will have fun with liquid nitrogen and make ice cream, in the materials lab in the Morrison Civil Engineering Building. The civil engineering student club will demonstrate the West Point Bridge Design software that will allow participants to design a bridge, test it to see if it would succeed or fail, and modify it to improve the design, in the Micron Engineering Center Room 103. Participants can also see Boise State’s wind tunnel, which tests aerodynamic shapes, lift and drag, how models of buildings behave in wind, and how air flows around a scale model. In the past two years, about 800-900 students attended the JASON Project hosted at Boise State. The event will grow to 1,900 participants this year with students from the following area schools: Pierce Park, Highlands, Carberry, Riverside, Garfield, Cynthia Mann, Shadow Hills, Mountain View, Longfellow, Trail Wind, , St. Mary’s, Meridian Middle, Emmett, Taft, Whitney, White Pine, East Jr. High, Hillcrest, H.E.A.R.T., Adams, Lowell, Valley View, Maple Grove, Amity, Roosevelt, Cole and Boise Homeschoolers. The JASON Project is a program of the JASON Foundation for Education, named in the spirit of the Greek myth of the explorer Jason and the Argonauts. It was founded by Ballard, who, after discovering the wreck of the Titanic, received thousands of letters from students around the world who wanted to go with him on his next expedition. The JASON Project is a year-round scientific expedition designed to excite and engage students in science and technology and to motivate and provide professional development for teachers. The JASON Project has been praised as a leader in distance learning programs and continues to expand its reach by adding more components to the project experience. The JASON Project components include scientific exploration, curriculum, online systems, teacher training and live broadcasts. The JASON Project is made possible by  grants from corporate and national sponsors. For more details on programs and a complete list of sponsors, visit www.jasonproject.org. For more information about the JASON Project at Boise State or the Engineering Extravaganza, contact Leandra Aburusa-Lete at 426-4432. -30- Contact Leandra Aburusa-Lete College of Engineering 208 426-4432 laburusa@boisestate.edu Media contact Pat Pyke communications and marketing 208 426-1987 ppyke@boisestate.edu