Bringing Scientific Research Alive for Young Students

William (Bill) Duax's high school science program has been selected as the regional winner in Time Warner Cable's Super Connector Search. Duax's program for high school students has advanced to the national level among 20 regional winners. From November 28 - December 11 the public can vote for their favorite Super Connector finalist at connectamillionminds.com. The Super Connector with the most votes will be named the "People's Choice Winner" and will receive an additional $10,000 grant for their chosen non-profit. In December, a panel of expert judges will pick the "National Contest Winner".

In his program, Duax has been guiding young students in a computer-based effort to follow three billion years of the evolution of life on earth, to trace the origin of the genetic code, and to create an evolutionary tree of bacteria. The project opens up a totally new area of science which involved making use of the enormous public databases on the web containing the genetic code for many species, but especially some of the earliest forms of life, bacteria. In 2011, 35 students from 20 area schools worked together with great energy for a month on this project, and many of them have subsequently gone on to make presentations at local science fairs, win awards at regional and national fairs, and to present at college level conferences and professional meetings.

Professor Duax is a 70-year old scientist, based at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Buffalo, NY. He was President of the International Union of Crystallography 2002-2005.