According to the goals set out by the CAMART2 project, ISSP UL puts its effort and uses every opportunity to encourage young people to choose their future profession in science as well as helps educate schoolchildren and supports their growth. Secondary school students’ research work is one of the first steps. Its aim is to improve students’ intellectual potential and creativity by promoting the development of the knowledge society; to promote scientific research activities of students who have an in-depth interest in learning about the more complex content of a subject or a field of science; to direct students to study in higher education institutions and to work in science; to promote students’ professional orientation and career choice.
The scientific research work “Investigation of the photoelectrochemical properties of black anodic titania” developed by the student of Engineering High School of Riga Technical University Otomārs Gulbis under the guidance of the researcher of our institute’s Laboratory of Materials for Energy Harvesting and Storage Ainārs Knoks has won bronze medal in Science / Environmental quality category of the GENIUS Olympiad. The bronze medal is also worth $15,000 renewable scholarship of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), USA.
Otomārs admits that his teacher at school introduced him with the theme and recommended Ainārs Knoks as an adviser. Otomārs explains that he started by extensive reading on the topic, which was followed by studying the theme and consulting his adviser. Ainārs Knoks indicates that Otomārs approached the work scrupulously and very diligently, contemplating and exploring many nuances. The student also asked many questions to clarify the parameters and phenomena and systematically came to the laboratory to understand the processes behind his research theme.
This year, 2,481 projects from 85 countries were submitted, 1,245 projects were accepted (50% acceptance rate) to GENIUS Olympiad. The number of accepted Science projects: 679 out of 1,311 submissions (51% acceptance rate). Four of the awarded projects were from Latvia – all of them in Science category.
GENIUS Olympiad is an international high school project competition about environmental issues. The Olympiad is founded and organized by Terra Science and Education and hosted by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), USA. GENIUS Olympiad promotes a global understanding of environmental issues and the achievement of sustainability through basic science, arts, creative writing, engineering, design, and business development.
List of the 2020 – 2021 GENIUS Olympiad Awardees:
https://geniuscountries.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/GENIUS_2020_2021_Awardee_List.pdf
