FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

• WHAT: Dedication of a sundial on the south exterior wall of Olympic View Elementary School in Seattle

• WHO: Bill Nye "The Science Guy," University of Washington astronomy professor and sundial expert Woodruff Sullivan, Seattle Schools Superintendent Joseph Olchefske, representatives of Puget Sound Energy Inc.

• WHERE: Olympic View Elementary School, 504 N.E. 95th St., Seattle

• WHEN: 1 p.m. Thursday, June 17
  

DETAILS: In a program called Project Astro, fourth- and fifth-grade students at Olympic View made 8-inch ceramic discs to decorate a sundial, which was installed on May 22 by Sullivan, a Puget Sound Energy crew and school volunteers. The sundial's gnomon - the post that casts the shadow - is topped by an eagle, the school's symbol. Nye, host of public television's Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Sullivan recently teamed to design a sundial that is to land on Mars in 2002 as part of NASA's 2001 Mars Surveyor mission.

In Project Astro, UW astronomers and amateur astronomers form partnerships with science teachers in schools throughout the Seattle area and visit classrooms several times a year to help students with their projects. The Olympic View project began during the 1997-98 school year.

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For more information, contact Sullivan at (206) 543-7773 or woody@astro.washington.edu