Google has launched an online science fair, allowing any student with an Internet connection and a Google account to take part in the competitive event.

“You may have participated in local or regional science fairs where you had to be in the same physical space to compete with kids in your area. Now any student with an idea can participate from anywhere, and share their idea with the world,” Google wrote in a blog post.

The Google Global Science Fair 2011 is open to students aged 13-18 years old, working solo or in groups of up to three. Applicants should come up with their own hypothesis, create an experiment to test it, and present the results and conclusion in either a two-minute video or a 20-slide presentation. Current entries from offline local science fairs will also be accepted when embedded into Google’s application. Registration is open through April 4, 2011.

In partnership with the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN), the LEGO Group, National Geographic and Scientific American, Google is awarding 12 prizes, including the grand prize of a 10-day trip to the Galapagos with National Geographic Explorer and a Google scholarship worth $50,000. Select winners will also receive internship opportunities with the sponsors.

For more details on entry rules, judging criteria, and prizes, visit the Google Science Fair website.

Google’s pitch to students includes a feel-good little story about how Google co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page (pictured), discovered Google through a simple science experiment as well: the two hypothesized that there was a better way to find information on the Web.

“They did their research, tested their theories and built a search engine which (eventually) changed the way people found information online,” the blog entry reads.

“Larry and Sergey were fortunate to be able to get their idea in front of lots of people. But how many ideas are lost because people don’t have the right forum for their talents to be discovered? We believe that science can change the world—and one way to encourage that is to celebrate and champion young scientific talent as we do athletes and pop idols.”

Institutions
KAIST was founded with government funding and was initially staffed with a number of Korean engineering and science talents educated in the United States. From the onset, the emphasis has been in theoretical as well as applied research. KAIST continues to be Korea’s foremost center of strategic R&D projects. The University helped pioneer the establishment of competitive research oriented graduate school programs in Korea.

The University’s some 540 faculty conducts research in cooperation with academics and industries all over the world. KAIST offers grants and fellowships to international students.

The President of KAIST, Nam Pyo Suh, is an authority in axiomatic design technology. Soon-Heung Chang, a nuclear scientist, serves as Provost and Ji-won Yang, a chemical engineer, as Vice President for external affairs.

The University has for many decades, recruited faculty from overseas. The current KAIST President Nam Pyo Suh taught for many years at MIT. His predecessor, Robert Laughlin, a Nobel Prize laureate and a physics professor from Stanford University, was the first foreigner to head a Korean university. Professor Emeritus Cho Jang Hee, was a dual professor at both Columbia, New York, and KAIST, and played major role in the development of the PET scanning technology.

The vast majority of professors come from US higher education institutions. The school engages in many international programs with leading European and Asian universities. The university is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of universities in Europe and Asia. It is also a member of the Association of East Asian Research Universities.

KAIST
Established February 16, 1971
Type Government-run
President Nam-Pyo Suh
Faculty 526 (as of September, 2009)
Staff 322 (as of January, 2008)
Students 8,929 (as of September, 2009)
Undergraduates 3,839 (as of September, 2009)
Postgraduates 2,213 (as of September, 2009)
Doctoral students 2,877 (as of September, 2009)
Location Yuseong, Daejeon, South Korea
Campus Urban
1,432,882m² (Daedeok Campus)
413,346 m² (Seoul Campus)
Affiliations AEARU, LAOTSE, AOTULE
Website http://www.kaist.edu