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What's New
TechTest2010 Update
The SESF TechTest2010 "Survivor Breakfast" is scheduled for Friday May 28th at Tofanellis in Grass Valley. The breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m. All TechTest2010 test takers, donors, and volunteers are invited (each student is encouraged to bring their parents as well). The top 3 placers will be announced at this breakfast while the checks will be presented at each school's Scholarship event or like event. Each "survivor" will be given a "TechTest2010 Survivor T-shirt". Special thank you to our donors and newest corporate sponsor Telestream.
| Prizes: |
| 1st place $6,500 |
| 2nd place $4,400 |
| 3rd place $2,100 |
A copy of TechTest2010 with the solutions can be found here.
TechTest2010 Merit Scholarship Program
The SES Foundation is again sponsoring a merit scholarship program for
Nevada County's high school seniors who are bound for careers in science and
technology. TechTest2009 merit scholarships totaled $15,000, with thirteen merit
winners.
SESF is now seeking donations for TechTest 2010. SESF is a 501(c) (3)
foundation and all donations to the merit scholarship fund are eligible
non-profit tax deductions. Please send your donation to the following address:
SESF, PO Box 1895, Grass Valley, CA 95945
All checks should be made out to the "SES Foundation" with a note in
the memo box "TechTest 2010".
Thank you for contributing to the success of Nevada County’s future
engineers and scientists.
Additional information on the SESF TechTest program can be found here, or click on
TechTest in the left margin.
TechTest2010
On Saturday March 27th at 9am-1pm SESF will again sponsor its
merit scholarship exam for Nevada County’s high school seniors who are bound for
careers in science and technology. The exam will be hosted on the campus of
Nevada Union High School. In preparation for the test two seminars to be given
at the high school on 27 February and 6 March 2010 from 10am to noon (Nevada
Union High School Campus). These seminars will cover the kinds of problem
solving schemas required for solving the more challenging problems found on the
test. The seminars will be conducted by Dr George Rebane who is the author of
the TechTests.
For more information please contact your science/math teacher or
Mr John McDaniel (johnmcd75@hotmail.com).
Executive Director Change At the SESF Board Meeting on
the 25th of January 2010, Michael McDaniel resigned as the Executive Director.
The Board nominated Russell Steele to serve as the SESF Executive Director.
Steele was elected to the position by a unanimous vote of the Board. This change
will take place immediately, however McDaniel will continue to serve as the the
Board Secretary and principal SESF contact for the TechTest2010 competitive
grant program. For more information on these staff changes please see the About
SESF, or contact Russell Steele at 530-273-8085, e-mail: insightworks@me.com
Unfunded Liabilities Update The SESF has been
highlighting the issue of unfunded government pensions liabilities for several
years. SESF's leadership on this issue was recognized by the local Tea Party
Patriots and Mike McDaniel was asked to make a presentation to the Nevada County
Board of Supervisors on this critical issue. Mike's presentation can be
downloaded here.
The same day, Nevada County’s CFO Joe Christoffel gave his scheduled
quarterly report on the county’s fiscal health to the Supervisors, including
some details on the un-funded liabilities. Joe's presentation can be down loaded
here.
TestTech2009 The SESF merit scholarship TechTest2009
was given to all qualifying high school seniors and juniors on 4 April 2009 from
9AM – 1PM at the Nevada Union Science Lecture hall on the NUHS campus. See TestTech2009 for details
of the test.
The TechTest2009 winners are:
1st: Greg McClellan (Nevada Union High School), 2nd:Daniel Price(Bear River),
3rd:Tejasi Patel (Nevada Union High School) Placing 5 through 13 in no
special order are:
Nevada Union High School: Chris Convis, Jake Pasner, Dustin Schmidt, Danny
Smith, Trevor Foster, and Jesse Triplett. Truckee High School: Allee
Macrorie, Corina Harvey, Flynn Rice, and Daniel Brown.
Income Inequality
The distribution of wealth or income over a population is of great interest
to economists, sociologists, and politicians when advancing or defending various
types of governance – e.g. capitalism, socialism, communism, etc. A widely
adopted measure of such a distribution is called the Gini Index. In the short
technical note ‘TN0903-1: Gini Index Made Simple’ (download pdf) we explain how the Gini
Index is constructed so that it reduces the income distribution over a
population to a single number.
Unfunded Liabilities - Our Community’s Fiscal Time Bombs
The TR0712-1: Unfunded Liabilities – Our Community’s Fiscal Time
Bombs report is now available. Please click here to download a pdf(132KB) copy. You can
comment on TR0712-1 at the SESF Blog here.
We encourage all readers to comment on this ground breaking report. Your
feedback is important to developing a much need public dialog on this vital
issue of government responsibility.
Numeracy Nugget #10 The WoRm Formula was posted 19
December 2007 here If you
like hiking, golfing, camping, hunting, boating or any other activities that
take you out of doors, then you will find the WoRm Formula, borrowed from the
military, to be a useful tool to have in that tool-case you carry between your
ears.
Direct link to NN #10 here.
For you investors, this nugget also contains the solution to the inflation
adjusted return problem given in NN9.
New Executive Director at SESF
“On 31 October 2007 the SESF Board accepted Dr. George Rebane’s resignation
from his post as the foundation’s Executive Director. Mr. Mike McDaniel, SESF’s
Director of Communications, agreed to become the new Executive Director and his
new assignment was confirmed by the Board. This reassignment will
allow Dr. Rebane to devote more time to the growing research load of the
foundation, and also its scholarship activities through the ongoing TechTest and TechMentor
programs. He will retain the title and duties of Director of Research. These
changes became effective immediately.”
SESF Board adopts position on global warming
As an environmental studies foundation the SESF is often asked for our position
on global warming. We are not climatologists, but the Board has reviewed the
scientific literature and has concluded that Dr. Fred Singer's views on this
complex issue comes closest to our collective views on global warming. See
details in Reports.
TN0709-1: Foothill Furor – Seeking Basis for Public Policy on
Ozone Pollution
The technical note TN0709-1: Foothill Furor - Seeking Basis for a
Public Policy on Ozone Pollution has been revised and expanded.
This (4oct07) revision supersedes the original 15sep07 version of the report
which was reviewed in detail by Northern Sierra AQMD. The review led to
in-depth work sessions with that agency that corrected and expanded on important
details about how the federal government determines that Nevada County is in
non-attainment, and the process through which the county must now reach
attainment. These procedures are detailed graphically and explained in the
report. Please see Reports.
Numeracy Nugget #9 The latest Nugget was posted 6
September 2007 here.
"Recent reports on the national income inequality issue (e.g. 'A Generation of
Widening Inequality') give the casual reader the impression that something
unnatural or wrong is going on in the country. In this nugget we take a look at
some of the important factors that influence how wages are distributed in an
advanced economy today paced by accelerating technology."
Jonathan Hyland
After winning first place honors in the First Annual TechTest competition
Jonathan Hyland sent a nice thank you note for the $3,000 scholarship he
received. He writes, “Thank you for setting up such a program which helps
promote math and science ... I wish you the best in continuing the Tech Test
program.” And that we will, next years scholarship awards will be even bigger,
and we hope more students can compete for TechTest science and technology
scholarships.
TechTest TechTest now has a dedicated
navigation link for TechTest2007 results, and information on TechTest2008
Union articles on TechTest2007
here and
here.
TM0705-1: Brain-Draining Our Future. A short
memo by George Rebane has been posted to Reports.
Affordable Housing Report (Updated 26 March 2007) This
link will take you to the Affordable Housing Report.
Important Links
You will find the SESF Blog at: http://sesf.typepad.com The blog has more
topical material.
If you would like to comment on SESF resources, please
send us an e-mail at: info@sesfoundation.org
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