Young Naturalist Awards

Ellen V. Futter, President American Museum of Natural History

It is with great pleasure that I congratulate the awardees and all the participants in the American Museum of Natural History Young Naturalist Awards. We were delighted with the range and quality of the submissions. This year's winning entries represent outstanding examples of student initiative and originality and, importantly, students' ability to venture into their own communities and examine the corners of their local universe with rigor and enthusiasm. The essays offer strong evidence of our young people's interest in the process of scientific exploration, as well as an understanding of the importance of effectively communicating their observations, analysis, and conclusions to others.

This marks the fifth year of the Young Naturalist Awards, an annual program supported by The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, to recognize young people in grades 7-12 for their excellence in the natural sciences: biology, Earth science, and astronomy. Each year the Museum's scientists and educators meet to review the submissions with great excitement. The Young Naturalist Awards is part of a Museum initiative to extend our scientific and educational resources - which include a research staff of over 200 scientists, 32 million artifacts and specimens, and a world class program of on-site exhibitions‹beyond our walls to a national audience. It is one of the many Museum programs that provide opportunities to connect young people to real scientists and real science. The quality of work presented in the following pages offers tangible proof that these connections are being made.

The young people of today will be the stewards of our planet tomorrow. Through the study and observation of the natural world, we and they acquire a sense of responsibility and appreciation for the Earth.

Expeditions provide an excellent opportunity for such study and are a core component of many scientists' work. Scientists from the American Museum of Natural History go on approximately 100 expeditions each year to collect new evidence and to follow up on previous fieldwork. With each careful, detailed field study, scientists add to the existing body of knowledge. Exploring the world of science through expeditions is the continuing theme for the Young Naturalist Awards. Using biology, Earth science, or astronomy as a departure point, the Young Naturalist Awards 2002 invited students to choose a scientific topic or question and embark upon an expedition of their own. Applicants were asked to document their research, observation, or analysis of the natural world. Scientists and educators at the Museum judged and selected the awardees whose outstanding projects are published in this catalog.

Once again, I offer warm congratulations to all the participants, awardees, supporting parents, guardians, mentors, and teachers. The exceptional work of this year's awardees is an inspiration to all of us here at the Museum and a reminder that the possibility for scientific endeavor surrounds us in our everyday lives. We are heartened to witness today's youth continuing this tradition of intellectual pursuit. We hope that the students participating in the Young Naturalist Awards will be motivated by their science experiences to further question, observe, and explore, as the scientists, thinkers, and leaders of tomorrow.

Ellen V. Futter, President

American Museum of Natural History