SustainUS - Citizen Science

Citizen Science is the SustainUS program within which science, policy, and youth come together promoting Sustainable Development. The three major components of the program are the annual paper competition, the newly launched listserv, and partnership building.

The Citizen Science is pleased to announce that the winners of the 2008 Paper Competition are

Jonathan Shafer, College/Graduate School and
Eliza Mutino, High School

Winning papers and honorable mentions are published in the 2008 edition of the CITIZEN SCIENTIST journal.

ycosst_highres YCOSST, a joint partnership between SustainUS and AiChE, selects the University of Idaho as the award winner for the 2008 YCOSST P3 Award. The University of Idaho's McCall Outdoor Science School exemplifies youth leadership, education, and direct involvement in creating a more sustainable world. There were fifty six Phase 1 teams considered for this prestigious award. The award consists of a $1,00 prize to continue the development of the project as well as the opportunity to present at the American Institute meeting in November.

A special thanks to our judging panel: Kat Dietrich, Meredith Irwin, Katelyn Keefe, Katie Palanjian and Aneri Patel

Congratulations to our 2007 Citizen Science Paper Competition Winners!

Congratulations to Aneri, Lindsey, and Alex for their papers on energy for sustainable development, industrial development, and climate change, respectively. Read their papers and view their presentation given on May 2, 2007, at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Thanks to all the participants in this years competition, with special mention to the great representation from the high-school level. We look forward to hearing more from you!

April 1st: The Citizen Science Listserv has re-launched!

Those old citizen-science junkies from a couple years back may recall the STAC (Science and Technology Advisory Committee) listserv that has been sleeping for quite some time. Well, it's time for a renaissance, and it's starting with the CitizenScience discussion forum, launched on April 1st.

The purpose of the Citizen Science listserv is to provide a forum where young scientists and politicos can share thoughts and ideas, articles and information, studies and criticisms, of the science that is the backbone of sustainable development and the way that that science is used to inform and influence the policy that directs sustainable development throughout the world. In so doing, we hope to build an informed and interested population of youth that conducts and rules itself in a way that will allow for the perpetuity of a healthy planet and healthy population.

Click to join the CitizenScience discussion and learning community.

New resource available from the Youth Council on Sustainable Science and Technology (YCOSST)

YCOSST, a joint project between the AIChE Institute for Sustainability and SustainUS, is announcing the launch of its new website.

The YCOSST Website

Serves as a resource of undergraduate work on sustainability,
Provides listings of internships for young professionals working in sustainability, and
Links to sustainability programs at hundreds of US colleges and universities

YCOSST intends to provide resources for youth looking for internships in sustainability, access to expert(s) in technical areas of their undergraduate research, and networking. Young people can expand the technical aspects of sustainability by leveraging technical expertise from other Institute for Sustainability activities, namely the Sustainable Engineering Forum (a network of 1000 professionals working in sustainability) and the Center for Sustainable Technology Practices (CSTP) an industry based group working on precompetitive projects such as road mapping of sustainability in industry business practices.

Activities, partnerships, and other things Citizen Science is up to:

CitizenScience is going the

2007 EPA P3 Awards

and National Sustainable Design Expo

(P3 = People, Prosperity, and the Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability)

CitizenScience has been invited to have a booth at the 2007 EPA P3 Awards. Last year Jon Slason and Cat Manzo participated in the ceremonies and awarded the YCOSST Award. Our participation beyond the activities booth is to be determined, but we are now looking for volunteers interested in helping to man the booth and share and network with other like-minded people at this great event!

The 2007 P3 Awards will be taking place in Washington D.C. on the National Mall April 24-25th. Contact us if you would like to get involved! We would love to have some SustainUS members help us man the booth and talk about their views on sustainable development.

CSD 15 - Citizen Science Side Event.

New York City: May 2nd, 2007, 1:45 - 2:15 PM.

Congratulations to Lyndsey, Aneri, and Alex for their great paper submissions. Looking forward to seeing you at the Commission for Sustainable Development!

CSD 14 – 2006 Citizen Scientists Side Event!! May 11th @ 11 AM.

Congratulations and thanks for participating to Miranda Newberry and Christi Electris for their fantastic presentations on Thursday. Read their papers.

"The ability to speak before some of the most influential people in the world was indeed an honor and something that he will remember for years to come." says Lee Blaney, one of last year's winners. Read more about our experiences from last year [PDF].

The competition received great entries focusing on the many applications of science to Sustainable Development from a number of different angles. Congratulations to:

    * Daphne Hollinger
    * Miranda Newberry and
    * Joan Fang

for winning the Science Writing Competition. The winners received: publication of their paper in the Citizen Science Online Journal; and an invitation to join the SustainUS delegation to the 14th Commission on Sustainable Development and present their work at a side event.

Thanks to all our participants and the honorable mentions noted below.

    * Josie Caves
    * Christi Electris

CitSci-er Michael Norelli published in the Philadelphia Enquirer!

Check out Mike Norelli's article on getting US youth involved in the science that is changing our world. (Published 10-10-2006.)

Left to right: Jon Slason, Michael Norelli, Scott Paul, Lee Blaney (2005)

UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) 13

On April 18th, 2005, at the United Nations Commisson on Sustainable Development, SustainUS organized a side event where Citizen Science proundly displayed our two Citizen Scientists.

Michael Norelli and Lee Blaney both did an outstanding job presenting their science papers highlighting science and engineering methods that can be employed to enable developing countries to develop sustainably. These two won the inagural Citizen Science Paper Contest, enabling them to present their papers to the United Nations.

Again, thanks to all of our participants and congratulations as well to our honorable mentions:

Emma Aronson
Julan Smith
Laurel Larson
Ruba Marshood
Katherine Nordgren
Rebecca Sanborn
Kristine Swann
Michael Toom

Youth Council on Sustainable Science & Technology

The Institute for Sustainability (an American Institute of Chemical Engineers Technological Community) has partnered with SustainUS to form the Youth Council on Sustainable Science and Technology (YCOSST). YCCOST's mission is to create an understanding about sustainability issues and principals, raise awareness of the science and technology behind sustainable choices, and develop grass root campus efforts.

United Nations Climate Change Conference: 2005 and 2006

Citizen Science worked with our partners to prepare statements and input into the Conference of the Parties (COP) 11, held in 2005. In 2006, SustainUS sent youth representatives to the 12th COP, held this past November in Nairobi.

To read about their journey, check out their blog. For more information on youth involvement in the climate change effort, Itsgettinghotinhere.org, based out of Canada, provides a wealth of information from student and youth leaders of the global movement to stop global warming.

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