School students from across the Riverina will show their investigative skills at a science competition at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga on Friday 16 September. The Science Investigation Award is being held by the Primary Industries Centre for Science Education (PICSE) as part of a partnership with CSU and involves up to 100 students from Year 6 and Year 10. The students were asked to pose a scientific question and then put together an investigation or experiment to help answer that question. PICSE Science Education Officer Ms Emma Wordsworth said students will present their scientific reports to the judges. “Students are putting the finishing touches to their investigations in preparation for judging on Friday, where they will be able to showcase their work to members of the scientific and wider community,” she said. PICSE aims to encourage students to study science and go on to careers in food and fibre industries.

"Sometimes the only way to manage the daily percolating drip of fear, the corrosive dread of debt and humiliation, is to embrace another sort of terror, to put oneself in danger." The Booranga Writers’ Centre at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga is hosting author Ms Kalinda Ashton as its third writer-in-residence for 2011. Her first novel, The Danger Game was published by Sleepers Publishing in 2009. Ms Ashton was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald Young Novelists of the Year in 2010. Her short stories have been published in journals and anthologies including the Sleeper Almanac, Overland, Meanjin and Kill Your Darlings. Ms Ashton will attend a writers’ workshop from 2pm at the Booranga Writers’ Centre, Mc Keown Drive, CSU in Wagga Wagga on Saturday 17 September and a public reading from 5pm on Thursday 22 September at the Wagga Wagga City Library in the Civic Centre, Baylis Street, Wagga Wagga.

Three Charles Sturt University (CSU) academics are on the 2010-11 judging panel for the prestigious Australian poetry prize, the Mary Gilmore Award, presented by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) for the best first book of poetry published by an Australian in the preceding two years. The academics include panel chair Mr David Gilbey, an adjunct senior lecturer in English at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr Mark Macleod, senior lecturer in English; and Director of Booranga Writers’ Centre at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Dr Derek Motion. Mr Gilbey said, “Poets from all over Australia were represented in this year’s Award and the preoccupations and styles showed the variousness, intensity and virtuosity of the current Australian ‘new’ poetry scenes: metropolitan/rural/coastal; professional/political/personal; formal/free; lyrical/surreal; and in size, from chapter books to full 100-plus page collections.” Six poets have been named on the short list from the 27 titles submitted by publishers. The winner of the Mary Gilmore Award for 2010-11 will be announced at the Association’s annual conference in New Zealand in July. This event draws together many of the people who organise the study of Australian poetry at universities, plus other writers, teachers, postgraduate students and librarians. The winning poet will have opportunities to meet many of these people during the conference.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will formally congratulate almost a dozen staff on Friday 16 September in Wagga Wagga for their lengthy contributions to the institution. During a lunch in the University’s Convention Centre, medals will be presented to nine staff for 30 and 20 years of service to CSU and its predecessor institutions. Among those to receive a medal will be Head of Campus at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Mr Adrian Lindner for his 20 years of service with the organisation. The Vice-Chancellor and President of CSU, Professor Ian Goulter will present the medals to the staff over lunch in the Chancellor's Room in the Convention Centre at CSU in Wagga Wagga from 12noon on Friday 16 September.

From bouncing balls to lava lamps, teenage sleep deprivation to what makes plants grow – 100 school students have put their scientific theories to the test at a competition held at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga. The Science Investigation Awards were held by the Primary Industries Centre for Science Education, in partnership with CSU, on Friday 16 September. The major prize, the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation’s Science Investigation Award, was won by Jasmine Garland, a Year 10 student from Mount Austin High School in Wagga Wagga, for her project looking at plant tolerance to acid, salt and grey water. The effect of different liquids on plants was also a topic explored by Year 6 students Tayla Fisher and Jack Langley from St Joseph’s Primary School in Narrandera. “Science is fun and I’ve learned a lot of things I didn’t know before,” said Jack. “We saw how white carnations turned different colours when we put them in coloured water.” Jack and Tayla won the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s Earth and Environment Award.

Agricultural science students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have again excelled at the Australian University Crops Competition held in Temora in September with two students named in the competition’s top five. An initiative of Grain Gowers Limited, the third annual competition was held from Thursday 8 to Sunday 11 September. The event, covering grains, pulses and oilseeds, involved students from six Australian universities. Two members of the CSU team, Ms Ally Dingjan from Wagga Wagga and Ms Candice Robinson from Whitton finished in the top five, ensuring the pair participates in a study tour to New Zealand in 2012. In addition to the individual winners, CSU took out the University Teams Award. Crop agronomy lecturer in the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Dr Sergio Moroni said, “The Charles Sturt University team performed extremely well throughout the competition. The seriousness of the event did not deter them from enjoying themselves. They made me proud.” The students are studying the Bachelor of Agricultural Science at CSU in Wagga Wagga.

An educational program designed to help local communities deal with confronting issues for young people will be discussed at a Charles Sturt University (CSU) public lecture in Tumut on Wednesday 14 September. The ‘Putting Youth in the Picture’ program was developed in regional Queensland and uses a series of authentic, confronting movie scenes to show how young people can make poor decisions that will alter their lives. CSU has been granted the first NSW licence to roll out the program to all local government areas across its regions. Manager of Residential Operations at CSU in Albury-Wodonga and Wagga Wagga, Mr Peter Bell, said issues presented include sexual assault, binge and underage drinking, and alcohol-fuelled violence. “This program is about empowering local communities through their local councils, schools or sporting groups to use the program’s resources to hopefully prevent their young people from getting into difficulties,” Mr Bell said.

One of the world’s leading veterinary pathologists will talk about some of his most memorable cases at a public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga on Monday 13 February. The CSU School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences is hosting Dr Claus Buergelt from the University of Florida in the United States. Dr Buergelt will deliver the inaugural presentation in the ‘Serendipitous Seminar Series’ which is jointly arranged between the School and the Riverina Veterinary Association. In his talk, Dr Buergelt will touch on areas of both veterinary and human interest, including avoiding ambush by bandits while investigating cattle deaths in a Guatemalan feedlot. Dr Buergelt will also visit CSU’s modern teaching and research facilities, including the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. CSU’s Professor Peter Chenoweth said it’s an opportunity for veterinarians, students, staff and interested members of the public to attend an entertaining session by a world-renowned scientist.

Some Riverina high school students have a new appreciation of careers in food and fibre production thanks to a scholarship program run by the Primary Industries Centre for Science Education (PICSE) at Charles Sturt University (CSU). The 12 students from Wagga Wagga, Cootamundra, Griffith and Narrandera attended a science camp at CSU in November before gaining valuable work experience with a scientist or industry specialist.  The Year 12 students outlined their experiences to CSU staff and industry representatives at a ceremony in Wagga Wagga on Friday 3 February. Although not from a rural background, Cootamundra High School student Ms Laura Bruce is passionate about working in agriculture. “When my science teacher told me about the PICSE program I just had to be involved,” she said. “It’s been an opportunity to gain knowledge, to meet other students interested in agriculture and make connections with people working in the industry.” PICSE Education Officer Ms Emma Wordsworth said the program is part of a campaign to encourage students to study science at university to help meet the skills shortage in primary industries.