Google Science Fair seeks budding Einsteins and Curies
(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.)
Are you a student who loves science? Do you have a good idea for an experiment that you’d like to share with the world? In 1996, two young computer science students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, had a hypothesis that there was a better way to find information on the web. They did their research, tested their theories and built a search engine which (eventually) changed the way people found information online. Larry and Sergey were fortunate to be able to get their idea in front of lots of people. But how many ideas are lost because people don’t have the right forum for their talents to be discovered? We believe that science can change the world—and one way to encourage that is to celebrate and champion young scientific talent as we do athletes and pop idols.
To help make today’s young scientists the rock stars of tomorrow, in partnership with CERN, The LEGO Group, National Geographic and Scientific American, we’re introducing the first global online science competition: the Google Science Fair. It’s open to students around the world who are between the ages of 13-18. All you need is access to a computer, the Internet and a web browser.
You may have participated in local or regional science fairs where you had to be in the same physical space to compete with kids in your area. Now any student with an idea can participate from anywhere, and share their idea with the world. You build and submit your project—either by yourself or in a team of up to three—entirely online. Students in India (or Israel or Ireland) will be able to compete with students in Canada (or Cambodia or Costa Rica) for prizes including once-in-a-lifetime experiences (like a trip to the Galapagos Islands with a National Geographic Explorer), scholarships and real-life work opportunities (like a five-day trip to CERN in Switzerland). And if you’re entering a science fair locally, please feel free to post that project online with Google Science Fair, too!
To enter, register online and create your project as a Google Site. Registration is open through April 4, 2011. Please note: you must get parental or guardian consent in order to compete. You can check out the complete rules here. After April 4, we’ll begin judging and will announce our semi-finalists in early May.
The semi-finalist projects will be posted on our online gallery, where we’ll encourage the public to vote for a “people’s choice” winner. From our list of semi-finalists, we’ll select 15 finalists to bring their projects to Google headquarters on July 11 to compete in our final, live event, where world-renowned science judges will select a winner in each age category, as well as a grand-prize winner.
Here's an example of a great science fair project site to inspire you. We asked Tesca, a U.S. high school senior from Oregon, to create it for us based on an award-winning project she’s been working on for years. Tesca’s objective is to make hospitals more efficient using artificial intelligence—a world-changing goal, to be sure.
So if you think you're the next Albert Einstein, Marie Curie—or Larry Page or Sergey Brin—sign up today for the Google Science Fair. Prove once again how science can change the world!
Google Policy Fellowship: Last call for applications
There’s still time to apply for a 2011 Google Policy Fellowship – but the deadline is fast-approaching. All applications must be submitted by next Monday, January 17, 2010, at midnight PST.
The Google Policy Fellowship provides support to students and organizations working on the important tech issues of our time. Each selected fellow will receive a stipend of $7,500 to work with one of our host organizations in the U.S. or Canada for 10 weeks this summer. Students of all levels and disciplines are encouraged to apply.
This year is sure to be an important one for tech policy, so check out our website for more information, and good luck on your application.
The App Economy: How mobile developers attract users, win fans and make money
Over the past two years a new and burgeoning economy has grown quietly in the tech sector. Fueled by the boom in smartphones, programers and entrepreneurs have been attracting users and making money by building mobile applications, commonly known as apps. Mobile apps keep us entertained and productive while enhancing communication and information sharing. Today it is estimated there are more than 500 thousand apps running on more than 150 million mobile devices, and many of these apps are making serious money for their creators. The "app economy" is estimated to be $2 billion annually, growing to $4 billion by 2012. As part of our ongoing Google DC Talks series, we invite you to hear from successful app developers about this innovative new sector. How does someone go from creating mobile apps as a hobby to a full-time job? What kinds of apps are most popular with consumers? What's the difference between paying to download an app and making your app free but showing ads? How are app developers making money from their creations? And where is this new growth area going?
Participants are invited to submit questions in advance via Google Moderator at www.googledctalks.com.
Moderator:
Jon Potter, RPG Strategies
Panel:
Leon Palm, Developer, Google Public Sector Team
Ken Yarmosh, Analyst, Developer, & Author: App Savvy (O'Reilly Press)
David Smith, Developer, AudioBookShelf
Natalia Luckyanova, Developer, Harbor Master
Robert Sarvis, Developer, Wertago
Bringing greater transparency to the lawmaking process
There’s a saying: “If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.” As it turns out, a lot of legislative work today is done on paper and outdated templates, with data about the process hard or impossible to come by. This means that very few citizens are able to follow laws as they’re being made.
We think that more transparency in the legislative process would result in better laws, more engaged citizens, and a better understanding of how the system works.
Lucky for the public, the House of Representatives has passed a new rules package that will make available much more information about how laws are made – with bills, amendments, and messages between the chambers and the White House all publicly available in electronic format. Under the new rules, all bills will be posted online for 72 hours before a final vote, and the House will require all committees to webcast their hearings and markups.
The House is also lifting the ban on electronic gadgets on the House floor, and the House Oversight Committee will post all committee hearings on a new, fully searchable YouTube channel called House.Resource.Org.
We’ve been strong advocates for government transparency, so we’re excited to see the House adopt reforms that will give the public more real-time information about what Congress is up to.
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