Distinguished OSU professor kicks off 2008 Ohio FIRST LEGO League Season

  • Published
  • By Dann Andrews
  • Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Educational Outreach Office
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Dr. Lonnie G. Thompson will present a much anticipated lecture on global climate change, which kicks off the FIRST LEGO League 2008 Climate Connections challenge season, at the Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State University on Sept. 5 from 5 to 6 p.m. The event will be simulcast to sites in Canton, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo, enabling all FIRST LEGO League teams in Ohio to share this opportunity.

Dr. Thompson, a leading researcher in the study of past climates, during his lecture titled , "Global Climate Change: A Paleoclimate Perspective from the World's Highest Mountains," will talk about what he has discovered during his more than 30-year career of studying ice cores that he has taken from mountain peaks in Alaska, Tanzania, China, Peru and Bolivia. He will discuss the past climates of the earth and what the past can tell us about our future.

Dr. Thompson's lecture begins the 2008 FIRST LEGO League Climate Connections Challenge season, a competition season that challenges teams of 9 to 14 year old children to design and program a LEGO Mindstorms robot to complete theme-related tasks on a competition table in a 2.5 minute robot round for points, and to complete a research project assignment surrounding the climate theme. The specific FLL challenge will be revealed on September 5 at noon at the www.firstlegoleague.org web site.

"We are thrilled to be able to present this opportunity to our Ohio FLL teams," said Kathy Levine, director of the Ohio FLL program and Universal Technology contractor at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Educational Outreach Office. "The Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State University is a world leader in climate research, and Dr. Thompson is one of the foremost authorities on paleoclimatology," Levine said.

Dr. Thompson's lecture will be simulcast from the Byrd Polar Research Center in Columbus to the Canton Country Day School; the University of Cincinnati; the University of Toledo; Sinclair Community College and Wright State University. The lecture is expected to reach 600 FLL team members and their coaches from around the state.

"Every year we encourage FLL teams to reach out to experts in the challenge field. This year, we were thrilled to be able to bring the leading expert right to them," said Levine.

Dr. Thompson received a National Medal of Science Award from President Bush in 2007, and he is the subject of the book, Thin Ice: Unlocking the Secrets of Climate in the World's Highest Mountains by Mark Bowen and published in 2005. He has led more than 50 expeditions on five continents, and he has drilled ice cores that date back farther than 750,000 years. 

The WPAFB Educational Outreach Office is the lead organization for FIRST LEGO League in Ohio. Regional qualifying tournaments will be held throughout the state in December, and the Ohio State Championship will be held at the Ervin J. Nutter Center at the Wright State University in Dayton on Jan. 10 - 11, 2009.

WPAFB Educational Outreach will also host the first ever, FLL United States Open Championship on May 7 - 9, 2009 at the Wright State University Student Union, Ervin J. Nutter Center and the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Editor's note: For more information on this event or the Ohio FLL program, contact Kathy Levine, the Ohio FIRST LEGO League Director at (937) 255-5259.