Congratulations to the Winners of the Google Global Science Fair -- All Girls!

The results are now in and congratulations are in order.

The winners of the Google Global Science Fair 2011 are not only all from the US but they all are girls.

They are: Shree Bose, the Grand Prize Winner, Age 17-18,
Naomi Shah, Age 15-16, and
Lauren Hodge, Age 13-14.

You can read about their respective projects on ovarian cancer and drug resistance, environmental pollution, grilled chicken and PHPs on the competition website. The prizes that they have won are pretty fantastic.

The three were selected from a pool of 7,500 entries from 91 countries!

The New York Times has an article on the competition and the results.

Congrats to the Winners of the Boston Marathon -- Both the Kenyans and the Japanese!

Perhaps it was a good omen.

Last Friday, one of my undergrads, who had taken my Transportation & Logistics class last Fall, presented me with an unexpected gift -- a beautiful handmade woven cloth that he had brought back from Kenya for me. He gave it to me during the reception that preceded our Meet The Executive event. He told me that it is the kind of cloth that many Kenyan women wear and he remembered the beautiful silk scarf that I had brought to show my class that had been made in Bellagio, Italy, and that the participants in the Humanitarian Logistics: Networks for Africa workshop that I had organized had given me on the last day, in appreciation. My student has done amazing things in Kenya, including being part of the AfricaGoal project, and will return there to work after his graduation from UMass Amherst.

Yesterday, two Kenyans finished first in the men's and women's (Caroline Kilel) divisions in the Boston marathon (frankly, not surprising, but a thrilling race, nonetheless). A Kenyan has won the men's race 5 out of the last 6 years. Geoffrey Mutai won for the men this year and Caroline Kilel for the women (and beat the American Desiree Davila by only a few seconds).

As for the top finishers in the wheelchair division, it was the Japanese who placed first, with Masazumi Soejima winning it for the men and Wakako Tsuchida for the women. Not only was the Japanese sweep unprecedented, but it marked the first time a racer from Japan had won either wheelchair race. Given the difficulties that they had even in training because of the triple disaster in Japan, this is quite wonderful news and a great accomplishment!

The above photo is of a set of pearls that a former student of mine, who is originally from Japan, gave me upon his graduation, from his family. I placed it on the lovely Kenyan cloth, to mark, in a small way, the incredible endurance of this year's Boston marathon winners (and all runners), which also made me think of my wonderful students!

And the Winners Are!

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of attending the sixth annual Innovation Challenge at UMass Amherst in which 11 teams competed during this first phase in the 2010-2011 challenge. These 11 teams were the finalists out of 25.

I highlighted this competition in an earlier blogspost. What impressed me was the number of teams with green / social entrepreneurship themes.

In my humble opinion, ALL of the TEAMS are winners -- they delivered their 2 minute elevator pitches to a large audience and a panel of judges and were subject to intense questioning from the judges about their startup company ideas and business plans. There was at least one case of stage fright when the speaker could not go on. Another team-mate stepped in to save the team.

The event took place on the tenth floor of the UMass Campus Center with gorgeous views, even of the sun setting.

The teams that were selected to receive financial funding (all from private donations) for this phase are:

o 3D Therapeutics - $2,500
o Aha! Productions - $1,000
o Bacteriotix - $2,500
o Flexolyte - $2,500
o Posytive - $1,500.

Both the first and third teams above had ideas dealing with drug delivery (and testing) mechanisms as service providers. Flexolyte proposed a battery for electric cars that would not be sensitive to exploding (as lithium batteries can be). Posytive has developed software to assist in engineering design and Aha! Productions competed last year and also has potential engineering apps.

Note that out of all the "green" teams only Flexolyte received funding, at this stage.

I was impressed by GreenAgency with its potential to "jump over" the smart grid, and with GreenNav's thrust into determining optimal routes of travel using different criteria (but as someone who researches this topic I hope that a distinction is made between system-optimization and user-optimization). Climate Risk Planning has a potential partner already with an insurance company. I am interested in finding out which peer-reviewed climate models that group would actually be using at a high level of disagreggation. Safety Through Green proposed specially-treated bamboo and house designs so that cement would not be used in production and these structures would be more resilient to earthquakes (and their production more environmentally-friendly, apparently).

I also enjoyed listening to Last Mile Wireless with potential to bring broadband to parts of western MA which lack it now.

The last team, SHM, may give Groupon a run for the money, some day.

What also impressed me was that several teams mentioned the importance of algorithms to their proposed companies.

All can still compete in the second phase with the date of April 28, 2011.

Congrats to all the teams for their passion and ideas and best of luck!

Thanks to VCRE Dr. Mike Malone and to Ms. Heather Demers for a truly thrilling event!

It was an honor to serve as a Faculty Advisor for this competition.