25 March 2008

Welcome to the 2008 edition of the Alabama State Finals of the Science Olympiad!

Samford University is again pleased to be hosting the Alabama finals for Division C of the Science Olympiad (SO).  This is the seventh consecutive year that this tournament has been held at Samford, and we continue to be excited about the caliber of science students that will be visiting our campus!  Construction of our new Sciencenter was completed in 2001, and this facility greatly assists our ability to hold competitions such as the SO.  The Sciencenter houses the departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, all of which will be participating in the varied events associated with the SO.  In addition, the departments of Geography and Math & Computer Science will also actively participate in these competitions.  All of us hosting this event have been and continue to be very appreciative of the generous support from the Samford administration.

Many of the events are being held in a public forum. We encourage families, coaches, and team members to turn out and support the participants. The "Boomilever", "Scrambler", and "Wright Stuff" events will return to their previous home at the Seibert Gymnasium. There is plenty of seating area to watch these events from a good vantage point. The event “Robot Ramble” will continue to be held in our Food Court so that many can observe this particular competition during lunch. One other important note is that this year's opening and closing ceremonies will be held in the Seibert Gymnasium, and the time for the closing ceremonies has been pushed back to allow judges the time that they need to thoroughly and accurately score their events.

We look forward to having all the winners from the Division C regional competitions on campus for the Division C SO finals THIS SATURAY on March 29, 2008!  Keep working hard towards improving your scientific skills, and we’ll see you on March 29!

Dr. Brian R. Toone
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Samford University
Director of Division C Alabama Finals