Future scientists will converge at the Ventura County Fairgrounds on Tuesday for the 54th annual county science fair.

This year's theme, "Science in Our Lives," focuses on how science and technology affect and surround us every day, said John Tarkany, county competition coordinator.

This year, about 725 students from grades six to 12 will present 610 projects.

"The goal is for kids to engage in science and see what it really is, versus what they thought it was," Tarkany said. "We want to personalize it for them. It's a good opportunity to explore their interests."

The 64 students who win first and second place in each category in two divisions will move on to the state competition. The California Science Center will host the state competition May 19-20 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Categories in the county competition have expanded this year from 12 to 16. There will be two engineering categories this year: electrical and mechanical engineering, and materials and bioengineering.

"In past competitions, our criteria just followed the scientific method and didn't lend itself to problem solving," Tarkany said. "Now that we've also added a problem-solving criteria, we can judge the projects more fairly."

Students will set up their experiments from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Judging starts about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, and winners will be announced Thursday night during a ceremony from 6 to 8 p.m.

The public can view the projects from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura.

About 150 judges will inspect the various experiments, from animal behavior and social sciences to zoology.

Microbiologist Mary Meeker, who has judged the competition for eight years, said she looks for creativity.

"We look for how they present the ideas and whether they actually did the work themselves," said Meeker, who works for Baxter in Thousand Oaks. "It's OK to have some help, but they have to show us that they are thinking out of the box."

Students will also have the opportunity to meet those professionals during the fair's interactive Science Career Expo, which will focus on local industry, including biotechnology and agriculture.

Meeker said meeting professional scientists might inspire some students to pursue their interests as a career.

"Science and technology are getting so sophisticated, and I don't think students have as much exposure to sciences in school as they should," Meeker said.

"This might foster that interest to become a future scientist."

On the Net:

http://www.vcoe.org/sc/ScienceFair/tabid/686/Default.aspx