State Science Day Scholarship Recipients Take Courses at OSU's Stone Lab | Ohio Sea Grant

State Science Day Scholarship Recipients Take Courses at OSU's Stone Lab

4:49 pm, Mon June 8, 2015 – Four recipients of Stone Laboratory’s State Science Day scholarships are attending summer 2015 courses at the lab, The Ohio State University’s island campus on Lake Erie

COLUMBUS Stamatina Tolias, a rising senior at Carrol High School in Dayton, is one of four recipients of Stone Laboratory State Science Day scholarships that will be attending summer 2015 courses at the lab, The Ohio State University’s island campus on Lake Erie.

Tolias is registered for the Stone Lab course Introduction to Biological Studies – Aquatic Biology, which will earn her 2 undergraduate semester credit hours from Ohio State.

Since 1996, the nonprofit group Friends Of Stone Lab has awarded scholarships to 175 top high school students participating in State Science Day to allow them to experience hands-on science at The Ohio State University’s Stone Lab.

Tolias’s project, presented at last year’s State Science Day, focused on anti-corrosive coatings for stainless steel. Tolias said she was interested in the Stone Lab scholarship because of potential applications for the sol-gel coatings she created for the project.

“One of my coatings is extremely successful and low cost and you could potentially optimize them to have anti-corrosive capabilities against the growth of algae,” Tolias said.

The week-long course Introduction to Biological Studies – Aquatic Biology gives students a basic understanding of the properties of water and the physical and chemical characteristics of lakes through lectures, laboratory assignments and field trips to various lakes, rivers, streams and ponds.

“I’m looking forward to learning a lot of new things about aquatic biology,” Tolias said. “I feel like it will help me in my new endeavors and research in that area. I’m excited for the hands-on experience.”

Tolias’s classmate and close friend, Elise Paietta, was also awarded a Stone Lab scholarship based on her project about fruit fly genetics and will be attending the same class.

Other State Science Day scholarship recipients who will be attending a Stone Lab course this summer are James Bingman from Bowling Green High School in Bowling Green, a 2014 winner, and Bennett Yunker from Tippecanoe High School in Tipp City, who was one of 14 students awarded Stone Lab scholarships at 2015 State Science Day, held May 16.

The 2015 recipients were:

  • Timothy Andrews, Tippecanoe High School, Tipp City
  • Alyssa Armstrong, Canfield High School, Canfield
  • Alan Fong, Sylvania Southview High School, Sylvania
  • Grace Fuchs, Rutherford B Hayes High School, Delaware
  • Emily Gootzeit, Tippecanoe High School, Tipp City
  • Anastasia Johnson, Canfield High School, Canfield
  • Ashley King, Hudson High School, Hudson
  • Claire Kinnear, Hudson High School, Hudson
  • William Kunesh, Archbishop Alter, Kettering * Julian Liber, Sylvania Southview High School, Sylvania
  • Kyle Peck, Geneva High School, Geneva
  • Keara Weiss, Mentor High School, Mentor
  • Bennett Yunker, Tippecanoe High School, Tipp City
  • Frances Zwick, Louisville High School, Louisville

The scholarship covers the cost of room and meals on the island for one week, a value of $415.

Located on the 6.5-acre Gibraltar Island in Put-in-Bay harbor, Stone Laboratory is Ohio State University’s Island Campus on Lake Erie and the education and research facility of the Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Established in 1895, Stone Laboratory is the oldest freshwater biological field station in the United States and the center of Ohio State University’s teaching and research on Lake Erie. Stone Lab offers 25 college-credit science courses each summer for undergraduate and graduate students, advanced high school students, and educators. For information on Stone Laboratory, visit stonelab.osu.edu.

FOSL is non-profit group dedicated to donating time and money to assist with the lab’s educational, outreach, and research programs through volunteerism and financial donation. Since its creation in 1981, FOSL has raised more than $1.3 million in endowments, purchased equipment and supported scholarships for more than 1,000 students, and funded research assistants and visiting professors. Information about joining FOSL can be found at ohioseagrant.osu.edu/fosl.

Contact: Stone Laboratory Columbus Office, 614.292.8949

ARTICLE TITLE: State Science Day Scholarship Recipients Take Courses at OSU's Stone Lab PUBLISHED: 4:49 pm, Mon June 8, 2015 | MODIFIED: 1:01 pm, Thu July 2, 2015
Authored By: Lisa Aurand Rice
Communication and Marketing Specialist, Ohio Sea Grant College Program

Communications and Marketing Specialist Lisa Rice promotes Stone Lab’s summer courses and is the face behind the Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab social media accounts.