International help wanted: Cassini Scientist for a Day student contest

Dear Space Generation colleagues,

I am working on formal education projects for the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan, and I'm writing to let you know about a contest that is currently open to U.S. students in grades 5-12, but which may be open to international participation on a country-by-country basis, with your assistance.

Cassini's "Scientist for a Day" contest is an opportunity for students in grades 5-8 and 9-12 to learn about Saturn and the Cassini-Huygens mission. Students write a 500-word essay explaining which of four possible imaging targets they think would yield the best scientific results. In the United States, the winning student or team will participate in a teleconference or videoconference with members of the Cassini science team, to discuss the winning image and congratulate the student(s) for their participation. International winners may also be able to participate in this teleconference or videoconference, depending on the technology they have available.

The current competition, which is open to U.S. students, can be found here:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientist/

With an article about it on NASA's website here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini20071022.html

We have received some e-mail from foreign (non-US) students who are interested in participating in the contest, and I thought you would be the best group for me to contact to see if other countries would like to run parallel contests, since the Cassini mission is international (NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency). NASA and JPL can't open this contest to students beyond the U.S., but we can partner with other organizations or space agencies who can run parallel contests.

The rules for the parallel competition(s) would have to be modified slightly to reflect the citizenship of the students who can enter, and students' entries would be sent to a non-NASA point of contact and be judged by an external (but space-savvy) team. The winning essay from each participating country (along with the names and photos of the winners, if appropriate) can be sent to NASA for recognition, but we can't spend U.S. taxpayer's dollars on running contests on behalf of other countries. Excerpts from winning essays (internationally) may be used on NASA websites, and need to be in English.

The United Kingdom is running a parallel Cassini Scientist for a Day contest. Since all of the materials for the contest are available online, anyone can access these materials. Here is the website for the UK's rules for Cassini Scientist for a Day:
http://www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/schools/cassini.shtml

The essay contest deadline is November 15, 2007, and the Cassini spacecraft will take the image(s) of Saturn on November 30, 2007. Due to the short turn-around time for this contest, a quick response would be appreciated in order to give students the maximum amount of time to find out about this contest, learn about Saturn, and write their essays.

The winners of the international contest, as determined by an external panel of judges, may be able to call in to the teleconference for the contest winners.

In order for your country to participate, the international contest(s) will need to be organized by your country's space agency (if there is one), or by an astronomical society, science centre, university astrophysics department, or other space or science related organization. We want to ensure that each participating country has only one national point of contact for making students aware of this opportunity, receiving entries, judging winners, and sending the winning essay (in English) to NASA. Also, if we receive requests from foreign students who are interested in participating, we want to be able to direct them to their country's point of contact (if there is one) so that they can participate in the contest.

If you are interested in coordinating your country's participation in this contest, please let me know, and send me your contact information, so I know which countries are participating. Likewise, if you would like to delegate this to another space or science education specialist in your country, please let me know, and give me their contact information so I can follow up.

I hope that you will choose to participate in this contest. After a few trial runs with small groups of schools in the United States, this is the first time the Cassini Scientist for a Day contest is being held nationally, and -- hopefully, with your assistance -- internationally.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Cassini's Scientist for a Day contest, or how to get your country involved in setting up a parallel contest.

Sincerely,
Rachel

Rachel Zimmerman Brachman
Cassini Formal Education Specialist
Mail Stop 230-260
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
(818)393-6847
Rachel.Zimmerman-Brachman@jpl.nasa.gov