Bauman 2005-eng Blok To the Contestants and Guests of the

Wei-Kang HUANG

City/Region: Taipei City, Taiwan R.O.C.

School: Taipei Municipal Lishan 

Senior High School

Career intention: Engineer

Hobbies: Music, climbing, Computer

e-mail: [e-mail]

85

The Jury

84

Born in Greiz, Germany, 20 June 1941, Dr Ulf Merbold

graduated from Stuttgart University in 1968 with a

diploma in physics. In 1976 he received a doctorate in

Sciences (Dr.rer.nat.). He was the first ESA astronaut to

fly in space and the first non-American to fly on the

Space Shuttle. He became an ESA astronaut in 1978 and

was assigned to fly on the first Spacelab mission STS-9

(FSLP) on board Columbia, from 28 November to 8

December 1983. During his second flight he flew as Payload Specialist on Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-42 (IML-1)

from 22-31 January 1992. His third spaceflight, Euromir'94, took him on a 32-day mission to the Russian Space

Station MIR from 3 October to 4 November 1994, making him the first ESA astronaut to fly to the MIR space station. 

Since the end of 1999, Ulf Merbold has been responsible for the Utilisation Promotion Management in the

Microgravity Promotion Division of the ESA Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, at ESTEC,

Noordwijk, the Netherlands. 

The Jury

Helena Freitas graduated in Biology and obtained her

Ph.D. at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 1993. In

1995 she completed her post-doctoral work at Stanford

University (USA). She is currently Professor of Plant

Ecology at the Department of Botany of the University

of Coimbra since 1997 where she co-ordinates an

interdisciplinary unit involved in several national and

international projects on Mediterranean ecosystems,

bio-diversity, plant-soil interactions, and nature conservation. The unit expertise supports a significant capacity to

interact with other units, through the participation in research programmes and post-graduate courses. Professor

Freitas was President of the Portuguese NGO for the Conservation of Nature (LPN, IUCN member) from 1999 to

2002 and is currently President of the Portuguese Ecological Society.

Helena Freitas

University of Coimbra

President of the Jury

Members of the Jury

Ulf Merbold 

European SpaceAgency/

European Space 

Research and Technology 

Centre, Noordwijk

Since the European Commission took over the running

of the European Contest for Young Scientists in 1989,

the position of President of the Jury was held by:

•

Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, Trinity College,

Cambridge. 1989-1991

•

Professor Galo Ramirez, 

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 1992-1994

•

Professor Gisela Anton, 

Universitat Nurnberg. 1995-1996

•

Professor Sue Kingsman, Trinity College, 

Oxford. 1997

•

Professor Pedro Guerreiro, 

Universidade Nova de Lisboa. 1998-1999

•

Professor Pauline Slosse,

Université Libre de Bruxelles 2000-2002

Currently Ulf Merbold ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk is the

President of the Jury. 

Colin Osborne studied chemistry at the University of Sussex and then took a PhD in physical organic chemistry.

He started work in patents and industrial property but after two years changed career to teaching in schools in

London and Brighton.  

After 24 years he changed career again to manage the Royal Society of Chemistry’s education programme for

schools.  This includes the production of books, videos, cd-roms, events for students and teachers and careers

material.  He still finds chemistry fascinating, especially the applications of chemistry in all walks of life.

Colin Osborne

Royal Society of Chemistry

Professor Vagn Lundsgaard Hansen earned a Master’s Degree in mathematics and physics from the University of

Aarhus, Denmark, 1966, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Warwick, England, 1972.  

He has held positions as assistant professor, University of Aarhus, 1966-69; research fellow, University of Warwick,

1969-72; associate professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 1972-80. 

Visiting professor fall 1986 University of Maryland, College Park, US.

He has produced numerous research papers in topology, geometry, and global analysis and is the author of several

books including “Geometry in Nature” and “Shadows of the Circle”.

Professor Lundsgaard Hansen is President of the Danish Academy of Natural Sciences since 1984, elected member

of the European Academy of Sciences 2004 and member of the Danish Natural Science Research Council 1992-98,

four of the years as vice-chairman.

He is currently professor of mathematics and Scientific Director of Learning Lab at the Technical University of

Denmark. He is chairman of the Raising Public Awareness of Mathematics committee of the European

Mathematical Society.

Vagn Lundsgaard

Hansen

Technical University of

Denmark

Colin Pulham studied Chemistry at the University of Oxford where he obtained a DPhil. in inorganic chemistry.

After a further two years of research at Oxford, he moved to the University of Edinburgh where he is currently a

senior lecturer in the School of Chemistry with research interests that include the study of the effects of high

pressures on molecular compounds such as pharmaceuticals, the use of high-temperature molten salts for metal

extraction, and novel synthetic methods for the preparation of metal nitrides.  For the past ten years he has

developed an outreach programme to promote public engagement with science, which has involved the delivery

to schools and communities throughout Scotland of a series of demonstration lectures and interactive workshops

that highlight the relevance of the chemical sciences to our everyday lives. He was recently awarded the Royal

Society Kohn Award for Excellence in Engaging the Public with Science Communication.   

Colin Pulham

University of Edinburgh

87

The Jury

86

Paola Agostini graduated in Biological Sciences at the University of Milan (Italy) in 1973 and took her permanent

position as a teacher in 1975. Since then, she has been teaching Biology, Biochemistry and Ecology in high schools.

Meanwhile, she was active in promoting life science and research methods among young people preparing projects

for the National Contest. 

She has published in the areas of environment and high school education, and co-operated with the Italian

Ministry of Education in planning new programs in Life Sciences for public High Schools. She also organized

training courses for teachers in ecological, chemical and biological fields. 

Recently she moved to the University of Milano-Bicocca where she is in charge of the organization of Master-

projects in the fields of bioinformatics and environmental sciences.

Paola Agostini

University 

of Milano-Bicocca

Dominique Fonteyn completed his doctoral studies in 1989 at the K. U. Leuven in the field of low temperature

solid state physics before becoming a researcher at the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. His main expertise is

in the field of modelling of atmospheric chemistry. He has successfully extended this to chemical data assimilation

using a comprehensive chemical transport model using the 4D-VAR method. 

His fields of interest range from aerosols, heterogeneous stratospheric chemistry, mesospheric chemistry to

planetary atmospheres chemistry (Martian atmosphere), and is involved in many international co-operations.

Professor Fonteyn is also co-Principal Investigator of SPICAM Light, onboard the ESA/Mars Express probe. 

Dominique

Fonteyn 

Belgian Institute for Space

Sven-Olof Holmgren obtained his PhD in 1970 and a chair in physics in 1992 at the University of Stockholm. His

field of research is accelerator-based experiments in elementary particle physics. He has been engaged in several

big experiments at CERN is and is responsible for detector hardware development as well as physics analysis. His

research group at Stockholm University is presently engaged in analysing properties of the top quark in data

currently collected in the D0 experiment at Fermilab, Chicago and preparing hardware and data analysis for the

ATLAS detector at the CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider) that will start its operation in 2007. He has served as

head of the Physics Department, most recently for six years ending in December 2004. Since 1997 he is engaged

in a program at RSAS for development and supporting teachers to introduce inquiry based science education in

primary and secondary school. The program (NTA, Science&Technology for All), of which he is presently chairing

the steering group, is rapidly growing and is presently engaging over 40 000 students and 2000 teachers.

Sven-Olof

Holmgren

Stockholm University 

and Royal Swedish Academy

of Sciences (RSAS)

Pantelis Kyriakides was born in Kyrenia, Cyprus, in 1949, and has both Cypriot and British nationalities.

Mr Kyriakides grew up in Cyprus and completed his education in Britain. 

After working as an electronics engineer he joined the UK Patent Office in 1976 before transferring to the

European Patent Office (EPO) in 1981. 

Mr. Kyriakides has been involved in a wide variety of tasks within the EPO including examination, administrative

organisation, technical project leadership as well as directing an examining directorate. 

After the position of Principal Director in the technical fields of  mechanics and electricity/physics, he was

appointed Vice-President of the EPO at the end of 1999.

Pantelis

Kyriakides

European Pattent Office,

Munich

Michèle Peron obtained her Master's degree in applied mathematics from the University Pierre and Marie Curie,

Paris in 1985. She started her professional career as an engineer at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. In 1989

she joined the European Southern Observatory where she has worked as a scientist ever since. 

From the outset, she participated in the development of MIDAS, a data analysis system used widely by the

astronomical community to process observational data.  

In 2000, she became Head of the Data Flow Systems Group (DFS) at the ESO. This group of ~30 physicists,

mathematicians and software engineers is responsible for the design and implementation of a set of software

components which are critical for the end-to-end operations of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) located in Chile's

Atacama desert. 

The VLT observatory is the World's largest and most technologically advanced ground-based optical astronomical

facility. The DFS system includes, in particular, observation preparation tools, archival systems and data

processing packages.

Michèle Peron

European Southern

Observatory

Professor Bagdasaryan, member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, is the first social scientist to be invited

as a jury member. 

She has published extensively in the areas of university education, sociology and philosophy of culture, and cross-

cultural communications and has worked in collaboration with UNESCO.

Since 1969 she has held a post at the Bauman Moscow Technical University where currently she is the chair of

sociology and cultural anthropology and senior Professor for sociology and cultural sciences.

Nadezhda

Bagdasaryan

Bauman Moscow 

Technical University

Uuno Puus studied mathematics and psychology at the University of Tartu where he obtained his Master’s Degree 

in informatics.

He was been working 12 years as a teacher in the specialized school of mahtematics, physics and chemistry and

participates as a supervisor in the international summer school for young programmers in Novosibirsk in 1986 and 1987.

Since 1998 he is working as Head of a laboratory  in Cybernetica, and is active in the field of data security and

software development. Currently, he is doing a PhD in the field of informatics at the University of Tartu.

Uuno Puus

University of Tartu,

Cybernetica AS

Awards and Prize-Winners 

of the EU Contest

88

Seppo Pohjolainen was born in 1948. He received the M.Sc. degree in engineering in 1974, the Licentiate of

Technology degree in 1977 and the Ph.D. degree in applied mathematics in 1980 all from Tampere University of

Technology (TUT). From 1972 he has been with the Department of Mathematics at TUT, where he has been as an

Assistant, Senior Assistant, Lecturer, Associate Professor and from 1998 as a Professor. During 1980-1986 he has

been a Research Fellow at the Academy of Finland. In 1994 he founded the Hypermedia Laboratory at TUT.

Currently he is head of the Department of Mathematics and director of the Hypermedia Laboratory. His research

interests include mathematical control theory, mathematical modelling and simulation, distance learning, open

learning environments, and development of hypermedia courseware. He has led several research projects and

written a number of journal articles and conference papers on all these fields.

Seppo

Pohjolainen

Tampere University 

of Technology

Tampere, Finland

Born in Valencia, Spain, Dr. Rausa March received a Bachelor’s and PhD degree in Chemistry from the University

of Valencia.  She completed her PhD thesis at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) in the

field of biochemistry. After completing her dissertation, she conducted research in the Chemistry and Chemical

Engineering Departments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T) in the field of enzyme technology.

Dr. Amparo Rausa March assumed her duties as Advisor in European Union relations to the Dean of the University

of Valencia in 2004. Prior to this position, she was the Director of the Spanish Interministerial Commission of

Science and Technology (C.I.C.Y.T) office in Brussels.  She has also worked for the European Commission in

research programmes targeted at SMEs, the Regional Government of Valencia, and the United Nations

Development Organization (U.N.I.D.O) in Vienna in the Industrial Information Section.

Dr. Rausa’s fields of expertise and interest range from chemistry to RTD Policy and International Relations.

Amparo 

Rausa March

University of Valencia

Piotr Chrzastowski-Wachtel completed his master and doctoral studies at the Institute of Informatics, Warsaw

University in the area of concurrency. He has been employed at Warsaw University since 1980. 

During the recent years he has also worked at the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology and in

Warsaw School for Social Psychology, where he is involved in organizing a novel type of studies combining

computer science, psychology and art. 

He teaches informatics and mathematics at various levels and in various types of studies, including primary school

level (5-12). 

Prof. Chrzastowski-Wachtel has held the positions of Vice-director of the Institute of Informatics at Warsaw

University and was Vice-president of the Foundation for Information Technology Development. He was also a

member of the Program Committee of Olympiad in Informatics in Poland, for which he designed over 20 original

problems during the past 12 years and takes active part in the popularization of science in Poland. 

Piotr

Chrzastowski-

Wachtel 

University of Warsaw

The Special Donated Prizes

The European Patent Office

The European Patent Office in Munich offers the

possibility to the contestants of up to three projects

to attend a 5-day programme of activities to deepen

their knowledge of intellectual property, and

encourage the development of certain skills that are

essential to a successful inventor. 

The prize-winners will be provided with an insight

into patents and the European Patent Office, as well

as an introduction to the technical and cultural

heritage of Munich, including organized trips and

visits to local industry. (The prize covers the travel,

accommodation, meals and participation to the

programme activities)

The judging criteria for this prize for originality 

are based on:

•

Quality and clarity of the written report.

•

The application of original 

(i.e. self-generated) ideas in solving 

a problem or set of problems.

•

The logical exploitation 

of scientific/technical theories or principles 

in order to achieve a practical solution 

to a problem or set of problems.

The prize will be awarded to those contestants showing

the best ability across all three of the above areas.

Further details of the prize and its requirements are

available from Sven Jonda, European Patent Office –

Munich, [e-mail]

EIROForum

EIROforum is a collaboration between European

intergovernmental research organisations.  As world

leaders within their respective fields of science, the

member organisations of the EIROforum constitute the

vanguard of European science, enabling European

scientists to engage in truly cutting-edge research and

be competitive on a global scale.

In support of the Young Scientist competition initiative,

each of the seven EIROforum organisations is pleased

to offer a prize of a 1-week placement for 1 person in

their organisations.  

The 7 EIROforum organisations are briefly described

below.  More information on EIROforum and each

member-organisation can be found at

http://www.eiroforum.org/

CERN

: The European Laboratory for Particle Physics is

one of the world’s most prestigious research centres.  Its

business is fundamental physics – studying the nature

of particles and forces by creating conditions in the

laboratory close to those which prevailed at the time of

the big bang, thereby finding out what makes our

universe work and how it evolves.  CERN was founded

in 1954 as one of Europe’s first joint ventures.  Since

then it has become a shining example of international

collaboration, growing from the original 12 signatories

of the CERN convention to its present 20 Member

States.  Its top priority at present is to bring the Large

Hadron Collider (LHC) and the associated experiments

into operation during 2007.

EFDA:

The European Fusion Development Agreement

was established in 1999 between Euratom and its

partners in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion.

It provides a framework for European scientists to

participate in the JET project, which is the world's

leading research facility in magnetic confinement fusion

and holds the world record of generating 16MW fusion

power. Fusion power, which drives the sun and stars, is

investigated on Earth as a potential source of virtually

limitless, safe and environment friendly energy.

EMBL:

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory is

one of top molecular biology institutes in the world.

EMBL consists of five sites in four countries (Germany,

France, Italy and the UK) with more than 1300 staff

members from 60 nations. The institute has five missions:

to carry out basic research in molecular biology, to train

scientists at all levels, to offer vital services in the life

sciences, to develop new instrumentation for biological

research and to actively engage in technology transfer

initiatives. EMBL was established in 1974 and is

supported by 18 Member States.

ESRF:

The European Synchroton Radiation Facility,

inaugurated in 1994, is Europe’s strongest X-ray

light source.  Synchroton radiation is a special kind

of X-ray light, many orders of magnitude brighter

than that of conventional X-ray tubes.  The X-ray

beams produced can be focused to spots on the

nanometer scale, thousands of times smaller than

the diameter of a human hair. Using diffraction,

fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging, alone or in

combination, researchers gain valuable insights

into – not only the static nature of matter – but,

also, the dynamic behaviour of atoms and molecules

on a timescale down to the picosecond level.  ESRF

is financed by 18 countries.

ESA:

The European Space Agency is Europe’s gateway to

space.  Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s

space capability and ensure that investment in space

continues to deliver benefits to the people of Europe.  The

Agency’s projects are designed to find out more about the

Earth, its immediate space environment, the Solar System

and the Universe, as well as to develop satellite-based

91

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The projects compete on the basis of their work and

interviews with the Contest Jury for a number of ‘core’

prizes. In addition to this, a limited number of special

donated prizes are also offered to some contestants where,

in the judgement of the Jury, they would benefit from the

specific experiences that these prizes offer. At the

discretion of the Jury, a prize winner can receive both a

core prize and a special donated prize. 

The Core Prizes  

•

Three first prizes worth 

€ 

5000.

•

Three second prizes worth 

€ 

3000.

•

Three third prizes worth 

€ 

1500.

Associated with the 1st Prizes:

London International Youth Science Forum 

Up to three contestants will have the opportunity of an

all expenses paid trip to London to attend the London

International Youth Science Forum which will take

place from 26th  July to 9th  August 2006 (The prize

covers the costs of travel from country of origin,

accommodation, meals; registration, and participation

in full programme of activities).

The Youth Science Forum brings together 250 science

students from about 60 countries world-wide. The

programme, including visits to research establishments,

and lectures, demonstrations and seminars from

leading scientists, underlines the links between

individual fields of study, and introduces all participants

to the latest thinking across the broad range of science. 

Participants are able to question the speakers, to debate

issues, and to explore the way in which their chosen

subject relates not only to other studies, but also to

their impact on the world at large. 

Each year's Science Forum becomes a multi-cultural

community, and, with its busy social activities programme,

provides a unique opportunity to meet and develop

friendships and contacts across the world. The participants

in the forum are usually between the age of 17 and 22 years.

For further information, contact London International Youth Science Forum,

PO Box 159, London SW10 9QX, United Kingdom.  

Tel: [phone], Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7835 1070.  

E-mail: [e-mail]  Website: [e-mail] 

Stockholm International 

Youth Science Seminar

Up to three contestants will have the opportunity of an

all expenses paid trip to Stockholm to attend the

Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS)

which will take place from 3rd to 9th December 2005.

(The prize covers the costs of travel from country of

origin, accommodation, meals; registration, and

participation in the programme of activities).

Participants in the Youth Science Seminar must be at

least 18 years old. They generally are prize winners

within the field of natural sciences and must have the

ability to speak a satisfactory level of English.

During the week the participants will take part in

scientific activities, attend lectures and have the

opportunity to render an account of their own

interest in science. Furthermore the students are

introduced to Swedish science and research and get

some knowledge of Sweden and Swedish customs.

The programme brings together young people from

all over the world with similar interests and thus aims

to promote international understanding and

friendship.

The highlight of the week will be attendance at the

Nobel Prize Awarding Ceremonies and a unique

occasion to meet the laureates.

For further information, contact Stockholm International Youth Science

Seminar, Swedish Federation of Young Scientists, Drotninggatan 120, SE-

11360 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. 

E-mail: [e-mail]. Website: http://www.fuf.org/siyss 

EU Contest prizes

90

93

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technologies and promote European industries.  ESA also

works closely with space organisations outside Europe to

share the benefits of space with the whole of mankind.

ESA has 17 Member-States.

ESO: 

The European Southern Observatory is the leading

European organization for  astronomical  research, with

11 member-states, and operating the  world's  most

advanced  optical telescope,  the  Very Large Telescope

Array (VLT).  The VLT is located at the Paranal

Observatory  in  the Chilean Atacama desert. It is the

foremost facility for  ground-based  optical astronomy,

both in terms of versatility, efficiency  and capacity.  In

addition, ESO operates the La Silla observatory in Chile

with state-of-the-art medium-sized telescopes.  ESO is

currently engaged, together  with  North  America,  in

the construction of the Atacama Large  Millimeter

Array  (ALMA).  Japan may join this project. ALMA is

being erected  at  a  high-altitude  site in Chile. Design

studies for OWL, a 100-m optical telescope, are also

being undertaken.

ILL:

The Institute Laue-Langevin is the world's leading

centre for research using neutrons. The ILL operates the

most intense neutron source in the world. Its suite of 35

high-performance instruments is used to probe the

structure and dynamics of existing and newly created

materials in the finest detail. 

The range of scientific disciplines covers fundamental

and particle physics, condensed matter physics,

magnetism, chemistry, biology, crystallography and

materials science. The ILL has 10 member states.

To ensure the optimum value of the experience to the

eventual winner, placements will be offered on the

basis of the relevance of the activities of the host-

organisation to the field of interest of the nominated

student.  In addition, for reasons of safety and

sometimes security, some of the placements will be

more ‘hands-on’ than others and may also involve an

age-restriction.  

These and other such considerations will be made

known to the competition organisers via designated

points of contact in each organisation. 

An unforgettable experience since 1989, more than a

thousand young students from all over Europe and

beyond have been exhibiting their projects at the

Contest.  Irrespective of whether they win prizes or not,

the Contest gives talented young scientists an

unforgettable experience and many have gone on and

established themselves as highly acclaimed professional

scientists in their own right.

Russian Youth Politechnic Society

(RYPS)

Russian Youth Polytechnic Society (RUPS) unites more

than ninety thousand young people – school pupils,

students, young specialists, involved in scientific

research in the field of engineering, and development

of modern technical equipment. RUPS was founded in

1995 which was initiated by the Bauman University and

nowadays is presented in 24 regions of the Russian

Federation. Youth design bureaus and educational

laboratories, scientific research teams, groups, and open

classes all over Russia are working actively supported by

RUPS. RUPS sees its main purposes in developing

scientific competence of the young and promoting

education of specialists from early school years. The

specialists who possess skills of research work and who

are able to present the results of their intellectual labour

to the consumers of science-intensive products. 

92

EU Contest prizes

Youth Jury of RYPS

President of the RYPS Jury

Svetlana graduated from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University in 2003, the department of “Ecology and

Industrial Safety”. At present she is working at the BMSTU as Deputy Head of Analytical Sector of Educational and

Scientific Programmes Development within the Department of “Educational and Scientific Youth Programmes and

Projects”. Svetlana has participated in London International Youth Scientific Forum and the 9th European Union

Contest for Young Scientists. Since 1999 she has been responsible for international links and events within the

programme “Step into the Future” and is currently the Head of the office of the Russian Host Organizer. Svetlana

has repeatedly escorted the “Step into the Future” finalists to international fairs and conferences such as Intel ISEF,

Expo Science Europe, Taiwan Youth Science Fair. In 2005 Svetlana was awarded a lapel badge “For Development

of Scientific and Research Work of Students” by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

She is interested in ecology and environment protection, literature. Her hobbies are sport, music, and dancing.