Agilent-sponsored environmental education competition in China improves...

Agilent-sponsored environmental education competition in China improves student understanding of global environmental concerns

As one of the world's most biologically rich and environmentally diverse regions, China is committed to protecting its air and water quality. The country's focus on the upcoming "green" Olympics in Beijing underscores its efforts in this area which are critical to maintaining China's natural beauty, as well as supporting the health and livelihoods of millions of people. Agilent, a long-time advocate for global environmental and science education, is helping encourage attention to the local and global environment in China through it's sponsorship of the Clean Air Challenge (CAC) and the recent Agilent Cup Youth Clean Air Knowledge and Skills Competition in Shanghai.

CAC is a non-governmental and non-profit organization focused on clean air education. It provides a curriculum for teachers and students that raises awareness of air pollution by focusing on topics such as smog, alternative fuel options and ground-level ozone. The program trains high school teachers on environmental topics and provides education resources and an international communication platform for high school environmental education. Agilent began sponsoring the CAC workshop series in the U.S. in 2003 and introduced it in China in 2005. Since that time, Agilent has assisted in expanding the program throughout China, helping educate more than 350 teachers and 3,000 in environmental awareness through science education.

The Agilent Cup Youth Clean Air Knowledge and Skills Competition focuses on improving students' understanding of environmental concerns, developing their awareness of key environmental issues and improving social responsibility, with CAC fundamental as a key element of the event. Agilent partnered with many organizations to hold the Agilent Cup Youth Clean Air Knowledge and Skills Competition, including the Shanghai Youth Centre of Science & Technologies Education, the Society of Automotive Engineers of China (SAE-China), the Chemistry Department of East China Normal University and the CAC organization.

The competition was divided into two parts, starting with a district-level competition in October. One hundred fifty students and 48 teams were selected from over 1500 students in 17 districts of Shanghai to progress to the city-level competition. The city-level competition, held Dec. 8, divided the winners from the district-level event into two groups, Junior (middle) school and Senior (high) school students. Each team and individual presented environmental experiments they had developed and answered questions from the audience in an open forum. Winners of the city-level competition will be announced at a ceremony mid-January, 2008 that will be organized by the Shanghai Youth Centre of Science & Technologies Education.

"Agilent is committed to helping improve the environment in China and worldwide," said Cynthia Johnson, vice president of Corporate Relations at Agilent. "There were so many interesting experiments in the Chinese 'Clean Air Challenge', which really helped students to learn more about environmental problems from an individual, family and community perspective. It is Agilent's hope to provide a communication platform for professors of universities, industry specialists and students to discuss the environment and what we can do to solve environmental problems, such as pollution, on an individual, local and global level."

Agilent hopes to hold the Agilent Cup Youth Clean Air Knowledge and Skills Competition again early next year in Chengdu and Beijing.