National Aeronautics and Space Administration

link to www.nasa.gov



Watch the entire
FameLab Astrobiology Final
event on YouTube!


FameLab Astrobiology 2012 was a great success! Thank you to all who competed and contributed. Stay tuned for our next competition…info coming soon!

Join us in congratulating Brendan Mullan from Pennsylvania State University on winning the 2012 FameLab Astrobiology competition!


Famelab Winner Brendan


Brendan joins the winners of FameLab competitions from all over the world this June in the UK, and will represent the United States in the FameLab International Final event!

2012 Event
Dates and Locations

Preliminaries:

January 13, Houston, TX

Lunar and Planetary Institute
Winner: Rebecca Turk MacLeod

February 10, Denver, CO

Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Winner: Aomawa Shields

March 9, Washington, DC

NASA HQ/National Geographic Society
Winner: Noah Hammond

January—March: ONLINE

via YouTube
Winner: Kate Follette

Final:

April 12-16, Atlanta, GA

Astrobiology Science Conference
Winner: Brendan Mullan

The 2012 FameLab Astrobiology competition was a science communication extravaganza! Via four preliminary and one final competition, 64 early career astrobiologists competed to convey their own research or related science concepts. Each contestant took the spotlight for only three minutes. No slides, no charts—just the power of words and anything they could hold in their hands. A panel of experts in both science and science communication did the judging.


Winners of the prelims advanced to the final at the Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) in Atlanta, GA in April, 2012. The winner of FameLab Astrobiology will be traveling to the UK to compete in the FameLab International final in June, 2012 as well as to JPL to cover the Mars Science Laboratory mission landing event in August, 2012.

Beyond the competition, at each preliminary event there were science communication workshops, and finalists participated a two-day master class just prior to AbSciCon.

NO powerpoint allowed!




FameLab was set up in 2005 by Cheltenham Festivals to find and nurture scientists and engineers with a flair for communicating with public audiences. Since 2007, thanks to a partnership with the British Council, FameLab has gone global, with competitions now held in 20 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America.


In 2012 Cheltenham Festivals signed an agreement with NASA to run FameLab for the first time in the United States. Globally more than 4000 researchers have taken part. The result is a vibrant network of exciting scientists and engineers engaging international audiences but also engaging with each other, broadening each other’s views of what it means to be working in science right now. For more information, go to: www.FameLab.org