Google, the top search engine, is now searching for young scientist around the globe to submit creative projects to its 2011 science fair. The Google Science Fair is open to all students from ages 13 to 18, either working on their own or in a group of two or three students.

“This is different from any other science fair I have been a part of,” junior Annie Liu said. “An online science fair is a cool idea.”

Prizes for contestants include scholarship money and an opportunity to work with CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research), Google, the LEGO Group or Scientific American. The Grand Prize winner(s) and one parent will win a trip to the Galapagos Islands. In addition to the trip, the contestant will get a $50,000 scholarship.

Liu and senior Daniel Brooks plan to enter this fair together and represent Palmetto. Brooks and Liu will analyze genomic drug targets in Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

“I have been working with the University Of Miami School Of Medicine under the mentorship of Jennifer Clarke,” Brooks said. “Annie and I have been compiling results since July and are finishing up the final paper.”

Both Brooks and Liu take or have taking AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Environmental Science and hope to apply some of the information they have learned from teachers throughout their high school careers.

“This is a great opportunity for them [Brooks and Liu] to show off their scientific expertise to the school and the nation,” AP biology teacher Cullen Bullock said. “They should be successful because they usually do really good work in my class.”

Final submission will be accepted until Monday, April 4, and shortly after will be judged alongside the rest of the world’s contestants. Students who make it to the finalist stage will be invited with a parent or guardian to the celebratory event at the Google headquarters in California in July. They will be able to showcase their projects and meet some of the brightest minds in science today. The winner will be announced at this event.

“The science fair is a great way to get a large number of people to be excited about science,” AP environmental teacher Pamela Shachtman said. “It gives students an opportunity to participate in something they might have not been able to otherwise.”