The Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences (PGSS) is a five-week residential summer program held on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University for talented Pennsylvania high school students. The PGSS was initiated and is supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (DoEd). It has been continuously operating since 1982. The student selection process is conducted under the auspices of the Pennsylvania DoEd by a selection committee composed of faculty and staff of the PGSS, high school science teachers and officials from the Pennsylvania DoEd. The 1997 class consisted of 90 students, 46 male students and 44 female students. All had SAT scores, or the equivalent, in the 99th percentile and ranked near or at the very top of their high school classes.

The PGSS was in session from June 29 to August 2, 1997. The program is very intense; students take formal courses in cell biology, organic chemistry, concepts of modern physics, discrete mathematics and a computer science course in which they are taught the JAVA programming language. They also have the opportunity to take a number of elective courses and a laboratory course in biology, chemistry, computer science or physics. A major objective of the PGSS is to provide an opportunity for students to participate in college-level courses, laboratories and research experiences designed to enrich their background in science and to encourage them to pursue technological careers. One of the many student activities during the PGSS is the participation in a team research project in either biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics. Team research projects involve the investigation of an original problem or the solution of a problem by techniques original to the investigators. The students choose the area of science for their project and faculty suggest specific possible topics in these areas. Interested students form teams. While faculty are available for initial direction and advice, most of the accomplishments come from the students' own initiative.

The Journal of the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences reports the results of the students' efforts and is the official record of these team research projects. Each team investigated their chosen problem using resources and techniques appropriate for that topic. These might include library research, experimental laboratory investigation, computer analysis of data, computer assisted computational techniques, and computer graphics. The following reports were written by the student team members. The faculty in each respective area reviewed the final reports and made necessary minor corrections. Major corrections were made by the students. This journal was edited by Geraldine Rensko who assumed the responsibility of converting all the reports to a similar format, reproducing figures, and dealing with other publication problems. Otherwise, the original character of the student-authored papers was maintained to the maximum feasible extent.

The PGSS wishes to thank the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center for its grant of computing time in support of these student projects. The PGSS also acknowledges the continuing support of the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Peter B. Berget, Ph. D.
University Director of the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences
January 1998