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Twenty high school teams to compete in Ocean Sciences Bowl Saturday

Twenty teams of North Carolina high school students will face off at the fifth annual North Carolina Ocean Sciences Bowl on Saturday (Feb. 2) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education.

During the preliminary competition, which begins at 8:30 a.m., students will answer questions on a wide variety of ocean sciences-related questions in rapid succession. The goal is to advance to the double-elimination rounds and make it to the semi-finals later that afternoon. The public is invited to attend the event.

The winning team advances to the nationals April 26 through 29 in Providence, R.I., and each member of the winning team receives a $1,000 scholarship to North Carolina State University’s College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

This year’s N.C. Ocean Sciences Bowl partners are UNC, N.C. State and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Regional sponsors include North Carolina Sea Grant, the North Carolina Coastal Federation, Wachovia Bank, Centura Bank, Grayhawk Government Services, Domino’s Pizza, UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences and Duke University.

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Public health virtual training center debuts on Web

The Southeast Public Health Training Center, part of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health based at the UNC School of Public Health, has created www.asksphere.org, a new centralized clearinghouse on the World Wide Web, to provide training opportunities for public health practitioners.

A searchable database of training resources and materials, www.asksphere.org includes a directory of face-to-face courses, videoconferences, satellite downlinks and Web courses, aimed at health care professionals and those who train them. Resources for trainers also will include multimedia and publicly accessible curricula and manuals that may be modified for use by others. Training units may submit courses and resources they would like to market.

"This project began with us putting together an inventory of best practices in public health training, particularly in the states we primarily serve – the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee," said training center director Janet Place.

"We weren’t out to reinvent the wheel," she added, "but to showcase what’s already out there. The goal was to share the information with all those interested in various topics or skills to improve public health practice."

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