Students: Real World Design, Thatcher Environmental Research, Spirit of Innovation, Space Sports Competitions

Spirit of Innovation Awards - Check out the aerospace exploration, cyber security, and clean energy competition launch message from the Conrad Foundation, with information on a deadline extension, Webinar sessions, and more.

The Oregon Space Grant Consortium Educational Resources Blog's Competitions section has updates on a number of student competitions.  Here are some example competitions mentioned recently there:

2011 Thacher Environmental Research Contest - 

From the massive Gulf oil spill to the continued decline of Arctic sea ice, satellites and other observing instruments have proved crucial this year in monitoring the many environmental changes -- both natural and human-induced -- occurring on global, regional and local scales.

The 2011 Thacher Environmental Research Contest, sponsored by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, challenges high school students (grades 9-12) to conduct innovative research on our changing planet using the latest geospatial tools and data ...

Eligible geospatial tools and data include satellite remote sensing, aerial photography, geographic information systems (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS).

Teaching From Space: Spaced Out Sports Design Challenge - NASA Stennis Space Center:

“Spaced Out Sports” is a national student design challenge geared toward grades 5-8.  The purpose is for students to apply Newton’s Laws of Motion by designing or redesigning a game for International Space Station (ISS) astronauts to play in space. ... The top three (3) teams' games will be played on the ISS and recorded for a future broadcast.

Real World Design Challenge - Here's information on the 2010-2011 Challenge (PDF):

The challenge is to design the exterior geometry and internal structure of an airliner wing using aeroelastic tailoring methods to minimize the objective function by varying specified design variables without violating constraints.