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All about participating in STEM Careers Project
THE Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved to initiate National Science Talent Contest (NSTC) for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Careers Project for encouraging youth in the field of science.
NSTC is an extension of National Physics Talent Contest (NPTC) which was launched by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1995 under the directive of President of Pakistan.
Recently HEC has allocated Rs30 million for organizing national talent contests under the auspices of National Science Talent Contest in the subject of physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. The main objective of the project is to encourage the youth of the nation to opt for careers in science and engineering and to prepare a team of talented young students to represent Pakistan in the annual international Olympiads and give the recognition at the highest level to talented students, who excel in the national competitions and represent the country in the international Olympiads in their respective areas of interests and to groom them for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
President Pervez Musharraf is believed to be personally patronizing the activity through additional cash awards to the students and an endowment of Rs 10 million to the NPTC fund — a part of NSTC.
Pakistan first participated in the 32nd International Physics Olympiad held in Antalya, Turkey, in 2001 and the performance of the Pakistani students was quite encouraging in which one of its team members won an honorable mention and the best performance award for the first-time participating country.
During the 33rd Olympiad held in Bali, Indonesia in 2002 the Pakistani Team did even better winning two bronze medals and three honorable mentions. This year in 34th Olympiad held in Taipei, Taiwan in 2003 Pakistan got a bronze medal and an honorable mention.
One of the team members also got the best performance award among the new participating countries in the last three years. This year, in 35th Olympiad that was held in Pohang, South Korea, students won three honorable mentions. Next year, the International Olympiad in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics would be hosted by Spain, Taiwan, China and Mexico respectively.
HEC has also made efforts to involve university, school and college science teachers in this activity through Science Teacher Forum (STF).
A modest beginning in this regard has already been made in Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi. It has also been planned to have chapters of Science Teachers Forum in all the major university towns of the country in the near future. For the purpose, HEC has planned training camps in its four home institutions, which are centers of excellence in the irrespective fields.
These institutions include PIEAS, Nilore, Islamabad, for physics; NIBGE, Faisalabad, for biology; HEJ Research Institute Karachi University for chemistry and SMS GCU Lahore for mathematics.
These camps would help to groom the students who have been selected through a national screening test held at Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Quetta and Hyderabad in January this year.
The screening test for the programme is usually held in seven major cities — Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Quetta and Hyderabad. Last year, 2,100 highly talented students were appeared in the test conducted by the faculty and staff of PIEAS with some help from the NPTC alumni and NPTC resource persons.
The process for selection of the Pakistani team for this event was conducted jointly by HEC and PIEAS. At that stage fifty top students were short-listed in a nationwide screening test and were invited to a one-week training camp at PIEAS.
They were groomed and tested for their theoretical and experimental capabilities and ten top students amongst them were selected for the second camp of the event. On the basis of the performance of December camp, the HEC finalized a five-member team to participate in the International Physics Olympiad held in July 2004.
It is important to know that the screening test of the First National Science Talent Contest (NSTC-1) was held on Feb 22 this year. About ten talented students in each discipline were shortlisted for the next phase of contest and eventually five will be shortlisted for participation in the international olympiads in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics in June-July 2005.
It will be worth knowing that this year the contest type included the National Physics Talent Contested at the PIEAS, Nilore, Islamabad from Aug 22-28.
The First National Biology Talent Contest was held at NIBGE, Faisalabad from Sept 5-11.
The National Chemistry Talent Contest was organized at the HEJ Research Institute, Karachi University from Sept 1-5.
Then National Mathematical Talent Contest was held at the SMS Government College, Lahore, from Aug 22-28. It is notable that students of this phase still have chance to reappear next year however terms and conditions apply.
While the tentative schedule and time table for these contests would be approximately around the periods as mentioned as above.
Nomination form, information about its deadline and sample papers can be down load for the web site.
For further details readers may visit
They can write directly to Dr Abdullah Sadiq, the Chair of NSTC
Alternately, the aspiring participants or their institutions can contact the respective National Coordinators: Dr Muhammad Sarwar Khan (Biology, NIBGE, Faisalabad); Dr Khalid Mehmood Khan (Chemistry, HEJ); or Dr Raza Chaudhary (Mathematics, SMS, Lahore).
After the talent contests in physics, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) has implemented another contest in the area of biology with the support of the Higher Education Commission. The camp was held at National Institute for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad.
NIBGE, a federal premier centre, which has been declared as the Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology by Ministry of Science and Technology, is playing a leading role in the field of innovative biotechnology in the country. In this camp experienced scientists of the country delivered lectures in various disciplines of biological sciences.
In the evening, informal panel discussions were arranged in which eminent scientists of the country — Dr Kauser Abdulla Malik (Member Biosciences, PAEC), Dr Anwar Nasim (Chairman, National Commission on Biotechnology), and the founder of NPTC, Dr Abdullah Sadiq delivered their deliberations and had a healthy scientific dialogue with the students.
At the end of the camp students were formally given Merit Certificates in a ceremony. Dr Ahmad Mukhtar Khalid (Director, NIBGE) informed the participants that this sort of activity is indeed a right step in the right direction for strengthening the scientific base of the country.
National Engineering Competition (NEC) is also being launched on a pilot scale this year under the umbrella of STEM Careers Project.
The main idea behind the NEC is to encourage undergraduate engineering students in public as well as private sector engineering institutions to come up with innovative solutions to problems of national interest. For this purposes a theme regarding such a problem would be circulated each year on which an interdisciplinary team of students could work under the supervision of their teachers.
In addition to fourth-year students, who could work on such problems in lieu of their senior year project, any undergraduate engineering student can participate in this competition.
First step to apply for this programme is that your college must nominate you under any of two categories:
1. If you have 75 per cent or more marks, or an A grade, in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics or Biology in Matric/O-levels;
2. If you are a first-year science or A-levels student (will be taking your part II exam in May-June 2006) of age not more than 18 years on June 30, 2005.
It is worth knowing that colleges that don't have sufficient number of students, who meet the above nomination criteria, may like to nominate up to five other students in each subject of NSTC, explicitly mentioning the criteria used by them. They may also nominate younger exceptionally bright and talented students for NSTC.
However, such students will be disqualified after two attempts. Each student can only apply for one subject at a time.
Please note that content of these tests are mostly from HSC, science level and its prescribed textbooks, apart from other recommended books such as Physics by Halliday, Resnik and Krane or Single and Multivariable Calculus by Hughes-Hallet, Gleason, McCallum et al or Calculus with Analytic Geometry by G. F. Simmons.
STEM Career Project could provide modest funding not exceeding Rs10,000 per team to facilitate work on the project. Each team should preferably consist of 3-4 students belonging to different departments that are relevant to the theme of the project.
It would be highly desirable if each participating university/institute can assign the project to at least three teams.
These teams will first compete amongst each other and the winning team from each university shall compete against winning teams from other universities at the national level.
Cash prizes for the top three projects for university-level competition is Rs10,000, Rs7000 and Rs5000. However, for the national-level competition, the corresponding amount is Rs50,000, Rs30,000 and Rs20,000, respectively.
It is hoped that PIEAS will continue to serve as the home for NPTC with collaboration of HEC and PAEC at the same time facilitating and assisting new pace of STEM Careers Project at NIBGE, Faisalabad; School of Mathematical Sciences of Govt. College University, Lahore, and HEJ Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi.
The writer
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