FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Project NANO Tri-Cities Showcase to highlight student scientific investigations at The Reach Museum

Pasco, Wash. – Six teams of Tri-Cities area elementary and middle school students will show off their scientific investigations during an event called Project NANO Tri-Cities Showcaseon Wednesday, May 22 at the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center (The Reach Museum)in Richland, Wash.

During Project NANO Tri-Cities Showcase, student teams will deliver oral and poster presentations which are based on their research using a portable scanning electron microscope (SEM). The schools participating in the Showcase include Captain Gray STEM Elementary School, Chief Joseph Middle School, Horse Heaven Hills Middle School, Carmichael Middle School, Marie Curie STEM Elementary School and Barbara McClintock STEM Elementary School. Each team member of the top presenting team will win a Kindle Fire tablet.

Project NANO began as an initiative which brought a portable SEM to Columbia Basin College (CBC) from Portland four years ago, with the goal of making science fun and exciting for teachers and their students. The Showcase developed as an event sponsored by the special outreach partnership between Heritage University in Toppenish, Heritage University at CBC as well as the Kennewick, Pasco and Richland School Districts. The partnership team includes Drs. Kazu Sonoda, Bob Kao and Marisol Rodriguez-Price from Heritage University, Drs. Sherry L. Cady and Josh Silverstein from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), as well as teachers from schools taking part in the competition.

Project NANO Tri-Cities Showcase runs from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Reach Museum is located at 1943 Columbia Park Trail in Richland, Wash.

For more information, contact Bob Kao at (509) 865-8681 or Kao_R@Heritage.edu.

# # #