Weekly Column: Youtube Space Lab Challenge Winners Show the Power of Freedom, Science, and Innovation

Statement

By Senator Hutchison

I recently hosted a remarkable group of young people on Capitol Hill - the finalists in the YouTube Space Lab Challenge. We're all familiar with YouTube, one of the three most popular sites on the Internet. (If you're a parent, you know this from your children.)

Through the YouTube Space Challenge, 14 to 18 year-old students from around the world were given opportunities to design science experiments that could be carried out in space, with the winning experiments to be performed on the International Space Station (ISS) and broadcast on YouTube. The competition drew thousands of entries from the United States and around the world and hundreds of interesting ideas.

YouTube brought the winning students to Washington, D.C. last month. Senator Jay Rockefeller and I (the Chair and Ranking Member respectively of the Senate committee that oversees NASA) hosted an ice cream social in their honor. The kids had a great time, and it was wonderful to talk to them.

One of the winners was Amr Mohammed, a bright young man from Egypt. The experiment he submitted will show how living things change their behavior in zero gravity aboard the ISS, which could help to anticipate human adaptability to long space flights (e.g., to Mars). I asked Amr how he became interested in science and in submitting an experiment. His reply said a lot about the power of freedom to spark young minds.

"I've always loved science," he said, "I loved watching things under the microscope. I didn't try to do competitions like this before, but after the revolution in Egypt there was hope to change myself. So it was a good opportunity, I just took it and entered the competition, and it just worked."

When asked about the personal meaning of the political revolution in Egypt, he responded, "It sparked hope in me. I wasn't really trying before. Then, when something that seems impossible happens in front of you, you start trying to find new opportunity, and that's basically through science. You begin to believe that it can happen for you, too. So I found the opportunity online with YouTube."

I was also struck by the winning entry from two teenage girls - Dorothy Chen and Sara Ma of Troy, Michigan - who authored the other Space Challenge winning entry. Their experiment will test how bacteria grow in the zero gravity of the ISS, which can shed light on how to fight dangerous germs on Earth. Not too many years ago, it would have been remarkable for a young woman to win a science competition. Today, more and more girls are entering and excelling in the sciences.

We need more girls and boys to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). One of the keys to capturing young minds is more good teachers in the STEM fields. The UTEACH program, which started at the University of Texas, allows undergraduates to earn a core degree in a STEM field while pursuing teacher training and certification as electives. This gives those with STEM credentials an option to teach in high school and enrich the educational experience for students. The program has been so successful that I authored a provision in federal law that provides for replicating the UTEACH program nationally.

Texas is also pioneering collaboration and learning across traditional scientific disciplines. Young students do this instinctively, and they learn more and faster. In 2004, we created The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) to spur research and collaboration among Texas' leading scientists and academic institutions. The pace of innovation among participating institutions has accelerated significantly, opening up new opportunities for the next generation of scientists, and the promise of new technologies and industries for America's future.

Science is truly a universal language. If our children, and more children around the world, have freedom and opportunities to further their educations and pursue their dreams, and stretch the envelope of scientific knowledge, the future will be much brighter.

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