WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that the student team from North Hollywood Senior High School in North Hollywood, California won the 2021 DOE National Science Bowl® (NSB). In the middle school competition, students from Jonas Clarke Middle School in Lexington, Massachusetts took home first place earlier this month. As the 2021 NSB Champions, the Jonas Clarke Middle School and North Hollywood Senior High School team members will be invited to attend the 2022 NSB Finals as special guests and to be recognized in the 2022 Awards Ceremony.

“Congratulations to Jonas Clarke Middle School and North Hollywood Senior High School for winning the 2021 National Science Bowl—your tenacious drive and curiosity brought your teams to victory in this rigorous competition,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “To all of our gifted science bowl participants, we challenge you to continue pushing forward to solve our nation’s and planet’s toughest problems. America can reach its highest heights when we invest in the next generation of technology and science leaders, and all of us at DOE are excited to witness what you all dream up next.” 

The top two high school teams, North Hollywood Senior High School and Naperville North High School, emerged victorious from a field of 64 high school regional champions in the virtual NSB Finals competition and will receive $2,500 for their school’s science department. 

This year’s contest included 796 high schools and 352 middle schools from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. DOE launched the NSB in 1991 to encourage students to excel in mathematics and science and to pursue careers in these fields and inspire the next generation of science leaders. More than 325,000 students have participated in the NSB since its creation in 1991.  

SEE THE QUESTION—North Hollywood Senior High School, coached by Altair Maine and Leonard Soloff, correctly answered the following question to win the 2021 NSB:  

Q: Scientists at the Department of Energy are exploring the potential of supercritical carbon dioxide as a working fluid in concentrating solar power plants. Which of the following statements is NOT true of energy generation using supercritical carbon dioxide, or sCO2? 

W) Generators using sCO2 need special additives to compensate for the chemical instability of carbon dioxide

X) Generators using sCO2 are typically smaller than those using steam 

Y) sCO2 is more energy dense than steam 

Z) sCO2 is at both a higher temperature and pressure than STP 

A: W) Generators using sCO2 need special additives to compensate for the chemical instability of carbon dioxide

North Hollywood Senior High School team members include: 

• Theodore Dupont 
• Shion Murakawa 
• Lydia Qin 
• Eric Yoon 
• Albert Zhang 

The middle school competition was held on May 8, where Jonas Clarke Middle School from Lexington, Massachusetts was victorious over Wisconsin Hills Middle School from Brookfield, Wisconsin for the title. The members of Jonas Clarke Middle School, coached by Lorraine Grosslight and Joy Wang were:  

• Damon Gurvich  
• Wenbo Jiang 
• William Jung  
• Samuel Wang  
• Jerry Xu  

The top two teams, Jonas Clarke Middle School and Wisconsin Hills Middle School, emerged victorious from a field of 44 middle school regional champions that participated in the virtual NSB Finals and, like the high school winners, each won $2,500 for their school’s science department.   

DOE’s Office of Science manages the NSB and sponsors the finals competition.  

Rounding out the awards roster, the school science departments of the top four high school and middle school teams will each receive $2,000, the top eight teams will each receive $1,500 and the top 16 teams will take home $1,000 for their schools’ science departments. The top 24 teams are awarded $750 and all other participating teams are awarded $500 for winning their regional competition and advancing to the National Finals. 

Teams wishing to compete in next year’s National Science Bowl® competition may sign up in the fall. For additional information visit: https://science.osti.gov/wdts/nsb.