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POCATELLO - Brennan Mohr placed an egg on a holder connected to the edge of a mobile wooden tray.

Mohr then allowed a heavy object to pull down a lengthy string, which ran along the top of a wooden frame and down toward a pin that was attached to the back of the wooden tray. The string helped thrust the tray forward as it unpinned itself from the station and rolled several feet toward a wooden board.

Mohr, an 11-year-old sixth-grader from Idaho Falls, was one of more than 50 middle school students who took part in Idaho State University's fifth annual Science Olympiad Saturday morning. The Science Olympiad is a nationwide event that allows public school students to take part in a variety of scientific competitions.

ISU, which hosted the competition in its Physical Science building, ran 10 of the 23 different events that are usually featured at the state tournament and served as a regional tournament venue for teams with five middle schools throughout Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Ammon.

Gary Carlson, a retired Boise engineer who helped organize Saturday's Olympiad at ISU, says the event allows real researchers and engineers to interact with local youth who have developed a significant interest in science.

"What it amounts to is we're all science nerds," Carlson said jokingly. "We want the kids to see real engineers and scientists, and the idea is to encourage them by having the professionals (give them advice on their designs)."

Steve Shropshire, a physics professor, is the faculty member who provided space for the Olympiad while a handful of researchers from the Idaho National Laboratory were also present at the competition Saturday.

The professionals assisted and judged the students who competed in events such as "Trajectory," "Scrambler," "Write it/Do it," "Robo Cross" and "Elevated Bridge," to name a few.

For example, "Trajectory" challenged students to design and build a device capable of launching a projectile onto a target by using elastics. One student designed a waist-high catapult that launched a tennis ball into two square sand pits.

Mohr, who spent most of Friday building his device with his grandfather, took part in the "Scrambler" event, which challenges teams to transport an egg across a 31-foot stretch. To score, the egg has to cross the distance as quickly as possible, but cannot touch the wooden board at the end of the run.

In his best showing, Mohr kept his egg about 7 feet clear of the board and finished his run at between five and six seconds. He dreams of working for the National Aeronautics Space Administration someday.

"I think that would be cool," Mohr said.