jshs presentation guidelines

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Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) at San Francisco State University

Innovation & Entrepreneurship at SF State (I&E @ SFSU) is committed to fostering innovation and encouraging entrepreneurial ventures by partnering with external organizations and institutions, and offering scholarly, mentoring and advising resources. As such, I&E @ SFSU is proud to be the Northern California regional host for the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

As the regional host institution, we help execute on the JSHS mission to encourage and enable high school students to conduct original research in STEM fields. If you are associated with a Northern California high school in need of resources to build out your STEM research programming, please contact us at [email protected] .

The JSHS is a national science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research competition for high school students (grades 9-12). The competition and symposium are supported by the Tri-Services (The U.S. Departments of the Army, Navy, Marine Corp, Air Force, and Space Force), however no military service or obligation to the armed forces is required nor considered for participation, entry, competition, or award.

Students conduct and submit their original STEM research to their regional competition (SFSU for Northern California area high school students). Note, if you are in Southern California, please reach out to the  JSHS National  organization for more information. Three tuition scholarships will be awarded at the Northern California regional competition. Students judged to have given the first, second, and third best oral presentations at the regional competition on February 16, 2024, will receive undergraduate tuition scholarships to the institution of their choosing, payable upon college matriculation, in the amounts of:

• Regional First Place - $2,000
• Regional Second Place - $1,500
• Regional Third Place - $1,000

In addition to the scholarships listed, the top two finalists will be invited to present their research in the oral competition at the National JSHS competition. Third, fourth, and fifth place regional finalists will be invited to present their research in a poster session at the same symposium. $192,000 in undergraduate tuition scholarships will be presented to the top three finalists in each of eight research subject categories at the National JSHS.

2024 Regional JSHS Competition, Information, Dates & Deadlines

The 2024 Regional Symposium competition will be held in-person on the San Francisco State University campus. Key dates and deadlines for participation in the 2023:

• November 2, 2023 – Application and submission opens. Regional symposium submission guidelines available here .   SUBMISSIONS CLOSED. 
• January 12, 2024, 11:59 p.m. PDT – Application submission deadline. High school students submitting a paper or poster to the competition must register and upload their submissions here.
• February 2, 2024 – Acceptance decisions are sent to research applicants.
• February 9, 2024 - Last day to accept the presentation invitation. 
• February 16, 2024 – Northern California Regional JSHS competition hosted by I&E @ SFSU
• May 1 st - 4 th , 2024 - National JSHS in Albuquerque, NM.

Please note - the application system had changed from previous years. Applicants and symposium attendees will need to create an AEOP account (free) to apply/register. 

How to Submit a Research Paper

All Northern California high school students are invited to submit a research paper for consideration in the regional competition. All papers will be evaluated by a pool of judges drawn from the faculty at San Francisco State University, and as needed, subject matter experts as identified by SF State faculty. Researchers will be notified of a decision and may be invited to present their research as a poster presentation at the regional symposium. Based up judging of poster presentations, up to ten (10) students will be selected to give an oral presentation of their research later that afternoon at the regional JSHS competition. Of the ten oral presenters, the top two (2) presenters will be invited to represent the region at the JSHS National Symposium as an oral presenter. Third, fourth and fifth places will be invited to represent the region and present their research at a poster session at the JSHS National Symposium. To submit a research paper to the Northern California Region JSHS:

• Download and review the research submission guidelines: JSHS Core Rules of Competition . Note - National rules of competition for 2024 may differ from those for 2023, please review the rules carefully.
• Download and review the Regional information and instructions packet .
• Fill out the required form: Statement of Outside Assistance .
• Upload your research and Statement of outside assistance. 

JSHS Northern California Region Results

2024 - albuquerque, nm.

The 2024 National Competition will be held May 1-4, 2024 in Albuquerque, NM. Regional competition results are listed below. Regional representative to nationals are denoted with a (*). Regional event photos are available here .

REGIONAL PERFORMANCE AT NATIONALS:

Overall regional results:.

• Jingjing Liang*
• Eddie Zhang*
• Tejasveer Chugh*
• Danika Gupta*
• Yash Ranjith
• Paige  Zhong
• Ishaan Mandala
• Ashmita Appineni

REGIONAL RESULTS BY CATEGORY:

Environmental Science

• Danika Gupta
• Jordan Prawira

Biomedical Sciences

• Paige Zhong

Life & Behavioral Sciences

• Jingjing Liang
• Raymond Feng

Medicine & Health

• Srinitha Sridharan
• Sahithi Cherukuri

Engineering & Technology

• Tejasveer Chugh

Math & Computer Sciences

• Lucas (Zihe) Wang

Physical Sciences

• Samuel Yuan
• Katherine Lee
• Beatrice Roberge
• Angelina Chen

2023 - Virginia Beach, VA

The 2023 National Competition was held April 12-15, 2023 in Virginia Beach, VA. Regional competition results are listed below. Regional representative to nationals are denoted with a (*). Regional event photos of the event are available here .

• Ava Bhowmik  - 1 st Place - Oral Presentation, Engineering & Technology. " A Novel Home-Built Portable Apparatus to Analyze Oral Fluid Droplets and Quantify the Efficacy of Masks."
• Kennesha Garg - 1 st Place - Poster Presentation, Environmental Science. " Effects of RootPipes on Landfill Gas Emissions. "
• Isabel Jiang - 2 nd Place - Poster Presentation, Chemistry. " Sprayable, Biodegradable, Antimicrobial, Reverse-Thermal Gel for Wound Dressing."
• Zeyneb Kaya - Honorable Mention - Poster Presentation, Mathematics & Computer Science. " MADLIBS: A Novel Approach to Multilingual Data Augmentation for Neural Machine Translation. "
• Adrit Rao - 2 nd Place - Oral Presentation, Medicine & Health. "Enabling Ankle-Brachial Index Prediction from Dopplers Using Deep Learning for Peripheral Arterial Disease Diagnosis."
• Ava Bhowmik*
• Isabel Jiang*
• Kennesha Garg*
• Zeyneb Kaya*
• Alexander Mehta
• Nihar Mudigonda
• Kennesha Garg
• Isabel Jiang
• Krish Desai
• Emma Kochenderfer
• Nidhi Mathihalli
• Sucheer Maddury
• Ava Bhowmik
• Shridhula Srinivasan

Math & Computer Sciences, Computer Engineering

• Zeyneb Kaya

Physical Sciences (incl. Physics, Astronomy, IoT)

• Dhruv Trivedi
• Kaitlyn Wang
• Gatik Trivedi

2022 - Albuquerque, NM

The 2022 National Competition was held in Albuquerque, NM. Regional competition results are listed below. Regional representative to nationals are denoted with a (*)

• Nidihi Methihalli - 1st Place - Oral Presentation - Engineering & Technology Category. "A Physical Device to Help the Visually Impaired Read Money Using AI / Machine Learning in Third World Countries."
• Meenakshi Nair -  2nd Place - Poster Presentation - Physical Sciences. "A Novel Deep Learning/Machine Learning Hybrid Technique for Automatic Classification of Nebulae."
• Ayush Raj - Honorable Mention - Poster Presentation -Medicine & Health / Behavioral Sciences. "Mixup-VQ-VAE: A Novel Image Augmentation Technique for Clinical Machine Learning Applications."
• Gatik Trivedi *
• Nidhi Mathihalli * 
• Meenakshi Nair *
• Ayush Raj *
• Priyanka Supraja Balaj *
• Kenneth Shui
• Amith Vasantha
• Aakash Kumar
• Ryka Chopra
• Vedant Janapaty
• Yash Narayan

Biomedical Sciences; Cell/Molecular Biology

• Snikitha Banda
• Selin Kocalar
• Sabrina Zhu
• Rohan Sangameswaran
• Sanskriti Singh
• Meenakshi Nair
• Priyanka Supraja Balaji

Chemistry (incl. Physical Chemistry, Material Sciences, Alternative Fuels, Geochemistry)

U.S. Presidential Scholar Award Nominations

Participants in the regional JSHS are eligible to be nominated for the U.S. Presidential Scholar Award , honored through the U.S. Department of Education. Each year, up to 161 students are named as Presidential Scholars, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students. 

The Northern California Region JSHS is honored to be able to nominate two (2) participant researchers for consideration. For full details on the U.S. Presidential Scholar's Award selection criteria, please refer to the U.S. Department of Education site here . 

Teachers and mentors of regional participants are invited to nominate their students for review by the regional JSHS. Students will NOT to informed of their nomination during the JSHS evaluation process, and not all regional nominations will qualify for nomination and evaluation at the national U.S. Presidential Scholar level. The U.S. Department of Education will only reach out to all official nominees in the January of the students’ graduating year. Criteria used to evaluate nominees at the JSHS regional level are below.

If selected by the JSHS Region as a U.S. Presidential Scholar, the Regional JSHS may contact the student and/or the student’s teacher or mentor for additional information about the student.

• Award Criteria
• Involvement and Service (in school and community)
• Leadership and Character
• Academic Achievement
• Additional discretionary factors
• Current High School Junior (11th grade) – Graduating between December 2024 and August 2025
• A past or current JSHS participant
• A STEM-oriented student who has demonstrated significant independent effort, persistence, and accomplishment despite barriers, hurdles to success for limited access to resources.
• Persistence, problem-solving, level of effort, and leadership characteristics are given higher weight than technical proficiency in STEM competition.
• Accomplishments and leadership roles in extracurricular and community activities
• Social concerns and contributions to others
• Awards/other commendations
• Well-rounded
• Shows initiative
• Character and commitment to high ideals
• Out-of-school responsibilities
• Special talents, skills, interests
• GPA / Rank / Test scores – Minimum overall GPA of 3.0 or better (on a 4.0 scale)
• Advanced or special courses
• Academic awards
• Depth-range-breadth of knowledge / demanding courses

Applicants MUST meet one or more of the following criteria

• Extraordinary achievement
• Heavy workload or extensive family responsibilities. Students have unusual responsibilities such as part-time jobs to help their parents pay bills, care for other family members or live in a single-parent household.
• Obstacles to overcome – Academic or personal obstacle
• Underrepresented 2  - Identity as an underrepresented racial or ethnic minority in STEM.
• Qualify for free and reduced lunch
• First-generation college student
• Students learning English as a second language

1 Representative of diverse intellectual, social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. 2 Underrepresented populations include low-income students; students belonging to race and ethnic minorities that are historically underrepresented in STEM (i.e., Alaska Natives, Native Americans, Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders); students with disabilities; students with English as a second language; first-generation college students; students in rural, frontier, or other Federal targeted outreach schools; and females in specific STEM fields (e.g., physical science, computer science, mathematics, or engineering).

Frequently asked questions (faqs), about the junior science humanities symposium (jshs).

The JSHS is a national symposia program designed to encourage and grow high school (grades 9-12) engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) scholarship. The JSHS supports workshops, panels, career exploration and networking opportunities. To find out more about JSHS, please visit https://www.jshs.org/ .

The JSHS Symposium is made possible through a grant from the National Science Teaching Association and Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) . Learn more about STEM opportunities through the Army Educational Outreach Program.

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• Telephone: (415) 338-1276

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Guidelines/templates

A page within jshs, guidelines: wisconsin/upper michigan jshs.

• Any high school student, grades 9–12, from Wisconsin or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is eligible to present a paper on an original research project if all requirements are met.
• Students may present a report on work done as part of a class project, science fair project, or summer research project.
• Students should report on individual contributions to researc h. If students are part of a larger group, the presentation should focus on individual contributions in the larger project and properly acknowledge the contributions of other students, mentors, and/or teachers.
• In this case, all JSHS directives applying to individual research investigations will apply to group work.
• In the event the group presenter of the regional group is unable to present at the National level, this opportunity will be passed on to the next ranking project.
• This decision is made since the judges’ evaluations and scores pertain to the individual presenter.  

To be considered:

Students will be required to select a research topic (categories described below), conduct an experimental, field, observational, or applied research study, and submit an abstract and paper describing their discoveries.

Paper review and selection for regional event:

Qualified scientists will review the papers and students whose papers are selected will be invited to present their findings orally or in a poster session at the regional symposium on January 18–19, 2025 . The top ten research papers will be invited to present orally at the regional JSHS and all others will present their work in a poster session.

• The student’s teacher or parent/guardian will be required to accompany the student to the regional symposium.
• Please review the deadline dates to know when and what items need to be submitted to participate.
• Environmental science (pollution and impact upon ecosystems, environmental management, bioremediation, climatology, weather)
• Engineering; technology (including renewable energies, robotics)
• Physical Sciences—physics; computational astronomy; theoretical mathematics
• Chemistry (including chemistry-physical, organic, inorganic; earth science-geochemistry; materials science, alternative fuels)
• Life sciences (general biology-animal sciences, plant sciences, ecology; cellular and molecular biology, genetics, immunology, biochemistry)
• Medicine and Health; Behavioral and Social Sciences
• Mathematics and Computer science/computer engineering; applied mathematics-theoretical computer science
• Biomedical Science
• Statement of research assistance (see template). 
• Abstract of research paper is limited to 200 words (see template).
• The paper should be a minimum of 5–6 pages and a maximum of 20 pages double-spaced, including appendices and references.
• PowerPoint for research paper presentation (review guidelines at   https://jshs.org/national-symposium/rules-categories/ ) 
• Look over judging rubric when writing paper and preparing for presentation.
• Presentation of paper must not exceed 12 minutes. Questions from judges will not exceed 6 minutes.
• A session moderator will aid the student speaker in maintaining this schedule and in fielding questions from the audience.  
• The procedure for maintaining time includes a 10-minute signal for the student, and finally a 12-minute signal. 
• Available audio-visual equipment in each session include: 1) LCD projector; 2) projection screen; 3) laser pointer; and 4) PC-based computer with PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat.
• No written handouts or models are permitted.  
• Remember, you are the expert. No one in the audience knows as much about your research investigation as you. Therefore, remember to explain your research in enough detail so the audience will understand what you did, how you did it, and what you learned.
• Whenever possible, avoid jargon or unnecessary terminology. If it is essential to use specialized terms, remember to explain the specialized term briefly. Give your audience enough time to understand what you are trying to convey.
• Graphs, tables, and other representations help explain your results.  Keep them simple and uncluttered. Focus on important information; for example, remember to name the variables on both axes of a graph, and state the significance of the position and shape of the graph line.
• Deliver your presentation at a comfortable pace. It helps to practice your presentation before a non-specialized audience. Practice will help perfect the presentation and the timing. Do listen to the advice of your non-specialized audience but also get help from a teacher or other advisors as needed. 
• The first round of judging will occur when students’ written abstracts and reports are reviewed by a scientist or expert in the field.  
• Judging of the oral presentations is the final step to select student delegates who will advance to the National JSHS.

JSHS Abstract template

The format for the 200-word abstract includes: 1 inch margins, keyed in 12 point font (Times New Roman).  Abstracts must be adequate in length, but not exceed these specifications.  The header proceeding the abstract text includes:

• Title of the research
• Name of your high school, high school city, and state
• Name of your teacher/sponsor/mentor and his or her organization.  Precede the person’s name with a subheading (i.e., teacher, mentor, sponsor)
• Include one line of space between the heading and the body of the abstract.

Abstracts are distributed to all symposium attendees. A good abstract is written to summarize the research paper. The abstract should accurately convey the essential nature of the research conducted and the most significant conclusions reached. A further purpose of the abstract is to attract the interest and curiosity of the non-specialist reader and thus encourage exchange, discussion, and elaboration between various authors and between authors and readers.

JSHS Research Paper template

• The paper should be a minimum of 5–6 pages and a maximum of 20 pages, including appendices. The paper should be double-spaced using 1 inch margins and 12 point font (Times New Roman).
• Photographs, graphs, tables, diagrams, charts, and other graphic representation presented in the paper must be simply presented and comply with the maximum file size limit of 1.8 Mb.
• A maximum size limit for the electronic research paper is 1.8 Mb.
• A title page, or cover page stating the student’s name, school address, and title of the research;
• Acknowledgement of major assistance received – signed by teacher or mentor;
• As applicable, statement that “research involving non-human vertebrates or human subjects was conducted under the supervision of an experienced teacher or researcher and followed state and federal regulatory guidance applicable to the humane and ethical conduct of such research”
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results (data or findings)
• Discussion and conclusions
• References, or literature cited
• Appendices (if necessary but please keep in mind that the introduction is far more valuable in the judging process than appendices and raw data)

The research paper is used as a supporting document to the abstract during the judging process. The judges read both the abstract and paper.

JSHS Research Poster template

Materials for the poster may be pre-printed or hand written and may be attached to a tri-fold board as one large sheet or in pieces. Posters for competition must include and or meet the following standards:

• Tri-fold poster boards will be provided and will be available for participating students when they arrive at the regional JSHS. Other materials that will be provided include staplers, stick pins, double sided tape, clips, markers and scissors. The poster ready, printed materials must fit within the dimensions of the poster board.
• Poster board dimensions are 36" high x 48" wide. The poster board includes two folds; fold dimensions are 12” x 24” x 12”.
• Header boards are allowed and must be no larger than 10” high x 36” wide. The Header board should only contain a title. Header boards are not provided by JSHS.
• Tables will be supplied.
• Posters should be readable from a distance of 4 feet.
• The Title should be at least one inch (72 pts) in height. The student’s name and regional should be included and should be (48 pts). All other lettering should be in 24-point font size. (Point size indicated above is suggested size only).
• The poster should be balanced and organized in a logical, sequential order.
• Keep the amount of text to a minimum.
• There should be more emphasis on graphics, tables, charts, and graphs. These items should be cited on the poster board.
• Photographs in addition to other illustrations may be used. Figures may be in color.
• No hazardous materials are allowed. No laptops, tablets or other electronic devices are to be used. No specimens, no apparatus, no chemical reagents, no models are to be used during the presentation. Only printed material, affixed to the poster, will be allowed for the poster presentation.
• All materials must be prepared (printed) and “poster ready” in advance of arriving and ready to be tacked onto the poster board. Printers will not be available.

Student finalists presenting their research paper at the National symposium must complete this form and submit with final research paper.

Please have the supervising teacher and/or supervising scientist sign form. If you did your work without a teacher or supervising scientist, you will need a signature from your parent and a brief description of their role in your research.

Statement of Outside Assistance form

Resources for parents/teachers/mentors supporting high school students

http://static.nsta.org/pdfs/samples/PB297Xweb.pdf

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3528086

• Emergency Information
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• Ohio JSHS Research Paper Guidelines
• Ohio JSHS Poster Presentation Guidelines
• Ohio JSHS Scholarships and Awards

Poster Presentation Guidelines

The poster presentations will be conducted similar to those made by scientists and engineers at their professional meetings. Be prepared to interact with distinguished faculty from Capital and visitors. Posters for competition must meet the following standards:

• Poster board dimensions are 36" high x 48" wide. We can provide a poster board and easel for you to hang your poster or you may use tri-fold design if you provide tri-fold poster board (fold dimensions are 12” x 24” x 12”).
• The poster should be visible from a four-foot distance.
• The Title should be at least one inch (72 pts) in height. The student’s name and regional should be included and should be (48 pts). All other lettering should be in 24-point font size. (Point size indicated above is suggested size only).
• The poster should be balanced and organized in a logical, sequential order.
• Keep the amount of text to a minimum.
• There should be more emphasis on graphics, tables, charts, and graphs. These items should be cited on the poster board.
• Photographs in addition to other illustrations may be used. Figures may be in color.
• No hazardous materials are allowed. No specimens, no apparatus, no chemical reagents, no models are to be used during the presentation. Only printed material, affixed to the poster, will be allowed for the poster presentation.
• All materials must be prepared (printed) and “poster ready” in advance of arriving.

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• Q&A: Tips for viewing the 2024 solar eclipse

Q&A: Tips for viewing the 2024 solar eclipse

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On Monday, April 8, the United States will experience a total solar eclipse — a rare astronomical event where the moon passes directly between the sun and the Earth, blocking out the sun’s light almost completely. The last total solar eclipse in the contiguous U.S. was in 2017, and the next one won’t be until 2044.

If the weather cooperates, people across the United States — from northeastern Maine to southwestern Texas — will be able to observe the eclipse using protective eyewear. Those in the path of totality , where the moon entirely covers the sun, will have the best view, but 99% of people in the continental U.S. will be able to see a partial eclipse. Weather permitting, those on the MIT campus and the surrounding area will see 93 percent of the sun covered, with the partial eclipse starting at 2:15 p.m. and reaching its peak around 3:29 p.m. Gatherings are planned at the Kresge Oval and the MIT Museum , and a live NASA stream will be shown in the Building 55 atrium .

Brian Mernoff , manager of the CommLab in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is an accomplished astrophotographer and science educator. Mernoff is headed to Vermont with his family to experience the totality from the best possible angle — but has offered a few thoughts on how to enjoy the eclipse safely, wherever you are.

Q: What should viewers expect to see and experience with this solar eclipse?

A: When you’re watching TV (the sun) and your toddler, dog, or other large mammal (the moon) blocks your view, you no doubt move over a bit to try to get a partial or full view of the TV. This is exactly how the path of totality works for an eclipse. If you are exactly in line with the moon and sun, it will be completely blocked, but if you start moving away from this path, your view of the sun will start to increase until the moon is not in the way at all.

The closer you are to the path of totality, the more of the sun will be blocked. At MIT, about 93 percent of the sun will be blocked. Those in the area will notice that things around you will get slightly darker, just like when it starts to become overcast. Even so, the sun will remain very bright in the sky and solar glasses will be required to view the entirety of the eclipse. It really goes to show how incredibly bright the sun is!

Within the narrow path of totality, the moon will continue to move across the sun, reaching 100 percent coverage. For this short period of time, you can remove your glasses and see a black disk where the sun should be. Around the disk will be wispy white lines. This is the corona, the outermost part of the sun, which is normally outshone by the sun’s photosphere (surface). Around the edges of the black disk of the moon, right as totality begins and ends, you can also see bright spots around the edges, known as Bailey’s Beads, caused by sunlight shining between mountains and craters on the moon.

But that’s not all! Although you will be tempted to stare up at the sun throughout totality, do not forget to observe the world around you. During totality, it feels like twilight. There is a 360-degree sunset, the temperature changes rapidly, winds change, animals start making different sounds, and shadows start getting weird (look into “shadow bands” if you have a chance).

As soon as totality ends, and you start to see Baily’s Beads again, put your solar glasses back on as it will get very bright again very fast as the moon moves out of the way.

Q: What are the best options for viewing the eclipse safely and to greatest effect?

A: No matter where you are during the eclipse, make sure you have solar glasses. These glasses should be ISO-approved for solar viewing. Do not use glasses with scratches, holes, or other damage.

If you are unable to obtain solar glasses in time, you can safely view the eclipse using a home-made projection method , such as a pinhole camera or even projecting the image of the sun through a colander.

The best view of the eclipse will be from within the path of totality, but even if you are not within it, you should still go outside to experience the partial eclipse. Use the NASA Eclipse Explorer to find the start, maximum, and end times, and then find a nice spot outside — preferably with some shade — put on your glasses, and enjoy the show.

For a closer view of the sun, find a friend that has a telescope with the correct ISO-certified solar filter. This will let you see the photosphere (or chromosphere if it is an H-alpha scope) in a lot more detail. If you do not have access to a telescope, NASA plans to livestream a telescope view throughout the eclipse. [The livestream will be displayed publicly on a large screen in Building 55 at MIT, rain or shine.]

The only time you can look at or image the sun without a filter is during 100 percent totality. As soon as this period is done, glasses and filters must be put back on.

After the eclipse, keep your glasses and filters. You can use them to look at the sun on any day (it took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that I could use the glasses at any time instead of lugging out a telescope). On a really clear day, you can sometimes see sunspots!

Q: How does eclipse photography work?

A: This year I plan to photograph the eclipse in two ways. The first is using a hydrogen-alpha telescope. This telescope filters out all light except for one wavelength that is given off by hydrogen. Because it blocks out most of the light from the sun’s surface, it allows you to see the turbulent upper atmosphere of the sun, including solar prominences that follow magnetic field lines.

Because this telescope does not allow for imaging during totality as too much light is blocked, I also plan to set up a regular camera with a wide-angle lens to capture the total eclipse with the surrounding environment as context. During the 2017 eclipse, I only captured close-ups of the sun using a regular solar filter and missed the opportunity to capture what was going on around me.

Will it work? That depends on if we get clear skies, and how many pictures of my 1.5-year-old need to be taken (as well as how much chasing needs to be done).

If you would like to take pictures of the eclipse, make sure you protect your camera sensor. The sun can easily damage lenses, sensors, and other components. Here are some examples of solar damaged cameras . The solution is simple, though. If using a camera phone, you can take pictures through an extra pair of solar glasses, or even tape them to the phone. For cameras with larger lenses, you can buy cardboard filters that slide over the front of your camera or even buy ISO-approved solar film and make your own.

Q: Any fun, unique, cool, or interesting science facts about this eclipse to share?

A: If you want to get even more involved with the eclipse, there are many citizen science projects that plan to collect as much data as possible throughout the eclipse.

NASA is planning to run several experiments during the eclipse , and researchers with MIT Haystack Observatory will also be using four different technologies to monitor changes in the upper atmosphere , both locally and across the continent.

If you are interested in learning more about the eclipse, here are two of my favorite videos, one on “ unexpected science from a 0.000001 megapixel home-made telescope ” and one on solar eclipse preparation .

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