WHEN and WHERE the Program Will Take Place

 

Participation begins with your decision to compete and ends with our receipt of your team's Final Report, which is due by June 11, 2004.

Finalist Teams Selection (Finalists' Announcement: Friday, December 12, 2003)

A Peer Review Committee, consisting of representatives of NASA, industry and universities, will select from among the proposals received up to five student teams to participate as Finalists in the NMB2004 competition. The Committee will assess each proposal according the following criteria:

  1. Presence, creativity, and effectiveness of two (2) PSA storyboards, accompanied by descriptive materials setting forth the intended target audience(s) for each, as well as the strategy and underlying rationale for communicating the intended messages to each audience targeted. We are particularly interested in work that clearly articulates in everyday language what the International Space Station will accomplish and how it is important to everyday life.

    A PSA can be either 30 or 60 seconds in length. At the team's option, a single (1) 3-5 minute video production may be proposed as a substitute for the two-PSA requirement.

    We strongly suggest you review the work of previous NASA Means Business teams for insight into your target audiences.

  2. Ability of the team to form strategic alliances (e.g., partnerships with advertising agencies, news media organizations, etc.) with a description of how they will be useful and effective in the team's activities.

  3. Presentation of team members' credentials (students, professors, mentors, etc.)

  4. Institutional and community resources obtained in support of the team's proposal-writing and post-selection activities (e.g., course credit, coverage of expenses, local publicity, community outreach support, etc.)

  5. Presence of a Team Outreach Plan to implement effective strategies for the team to transfer the experience and knowledge it gained through participation in the NMB2004 program to other audiences, including faculty and students in all levels of education as well as the general public; and,

  6. Presence of a formal, written commitment of the proposing team's home institution and/or other qualified organization (e.g., National Space Grant state consortium, corporate underwriter, etc.) to arrange for funding to cover all costs associated with its participation, except those covered by NMB2004 for travel to the Sixth Annual NASA Customer Engagement Conference in Houston (see below).

We strongly encourage teams from underrepresented institutions to submit proposals.

Review Criteria Weighting

Reviewers will assign to each proposal a numerical score of 1-10 (10 being the highest) in each of two categories -- "Technical/ Procedural" and "Outreach."

The weighted average of those two scores will constitute an overall score, which will be used to rank-order the proposals received. "Technical/Procedural" will comprise 70% of this score; "Outreach", 30%. Selection of the participating teams will be made according to the teams' rankings based on their overall scores.

Finalist Teams' Competition (Spring 2004 Semester)

At the beginning of the Spring 2004 semester, the Finalists' Competition will begin with the following activities:

  • The Finalist Teams will be given a set of format parameters within which to prepare their ISS Promotion Plans and PSA productions.  The purpose of this step is to provide a framework that ensures that the Finalists' work will "fit into" established NASA program planning practices and television production standards, while providing the broadest creative latitude within those parameters.

  • Judging criteria will be published.

  • Each of the five Finalist Teams will be partnered with key scientists, engineers, and administrators in NASA and/or the aerospace industry, who will act as information sources or mentors. These NASA contacts will also provide access to other professional NASA and industry personnel as required by each team.

International Space Station Orientation: Each Finalist Team will send one of its student members an International Space Station Orientation seminar to be held on January 7-9, 2004, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Students will learn about its program goals, technical capabilities, and history. Among the resources available to the students during this seminar will the crew of the Station itself through a real-time uplink. NASA will cover the cost of this trip for each team representative.

Midpoint Videoconferences: During the week of March 8, 2004, each team will deliver a presentation of work to date at a "Midpoint Videoconference" with NASA program officials. The principal purpose of these videoconferences is to help each team refine its effort based on the officials' responses. The videoconferences will be confidential in that no information about what any Finalist Team is doing will be shared with any other team.

Sixth Annual NASA Customer Engagement Conference (May 3-5, 2004)

NASA will convene the Sixth Annual Customer Engagement Conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on May 3-5, 2004. A Grand Prize Recipient will be selected and announced at the Conference. Judging will be based on how well each team's entire work effort responds to the criteria to be set forth at the beginning of the Spring 2004 semester.

In addition to providing a forum for the presentation of each student team's work, the Conference will be structured to allow dialogue among NASA, industry and university community professionals; provide status reports on the progress of exploration missions and programs; and introduce updates on new systems, technologies and approaches to the exploration and development of space.

Students may also expect to initiate relationships at the conference that could ultimately lead to professional employment opportunities.

Team Outreach Program Implementation (The Entire Program Period)

Each team must undertake and complete a Team Outreach, the details of which are to be set forth in its proposal. Outreach activities are those that communicate a team's work to, and thereby engage, a variety of audiences, including the university community, school children, community leaders and the public at large.

Teams are encouraged to apply a great deal of originality in the design of their proposed Outreach activities. In past programs, teams have undertaken a broad range of activities, including real-time and videotaped presentations, interactive CD programs and mall kiosks.

A team web site is a mandatory element of each team's Outreach Program. Within two weeks of receiving notice that it has been selected as an NMB2004 Finalist Team (if not sooner), a team must publish its site on the Internet. The contents of the web site must be described in the team's proposal.

NMB2004 Wrap Up (Deadline: Friday, June 11, 2004)

NMB2004 will officially end on June 11, 2004, which is the deadline for the submission by each team of its Final Report. The Final Report is to consist of electronic copies of all work done. This includes a team's ISS Promotion Plan, PSAs, Conference presentations, web site source files, and a full review of its completed and ongoing Outreach Program activities.

 
 
Questions or comments? Contact: fort@mail.utexas.edu

Last Modified: Mon Aug 23, 2004
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