Thank you to our 2019 Genes in Space contestants!

To the 1721 students who submitted a total of 789 proposals to Genes in Space 2019: thank you so much for your contributions! You made this a banner year for our contest. We saw the number of proposals grow by 40%, with 30% more educational institutions participating. Your words were inspiring to read and we appreciate the hard work and ingenuity you poured into your proposals.

You represent 154 educational institutions from 26 states. Collectively, you wrote nearly 320,000 words on topics ranging from engineering biofuels to support civilization on and off Earth, to plant and animal development in microgravity, to protecting astronauts from threats like bone density loss, cancer, and cataracts. As we read your proposals, we could tell you were thinking deeply about the issues that will face humanity as we spend increasing amounts of time in space.

Your outstanding proposals made our selection process a very difficult one. After careful deliberation, we will announce the Junior Scientist Award and Constellation Award recipients in our next blog entry. The Finalist and Honorable Mention announcement will follow on Tuesday, May 21st.

All contestants should be proud of what they've done to advance DNA science in space. We thank you for allowing us a chance to review your proposals and for inspiring us with your great ideas.

Sincerely,

The Genes in Space Team

Header image credit: NASA