White Paper Competition

White Paper Competition 2009

Congratulations to Our Finalists!

Graduate Students/Postdocs
1st Place: Magneto-optic technology hits the field: A pilot program to implement a new malaria diagnostic device in Southern Benin by Natasha Vidangos and Terry Yen
2nd Place: Policy Proposals to Reduce Overharvest from Marine Fisheries by Evelyn Chang
3rd Place: KnowPrivacy by Joshua Gomez, Ashkan Soltani, and Travis Pinnick
Berkeley Award: Coal Power and Reversing Climate Change: Can They Work Together? by Anna Sommers
UC Berkeley Undergraduates
1st Place: Medical Smart Card System for Patient Record Management by Changui Xiao and Arthur Yu
2nd Place: Neurological priming of ASD patients in human-robot interaction studies reveal need for novel approach in technology regulation by Julia Piper

.Travel Grants
Julia Piper will travel to Columbia University to develop an interdisciplinary approach to the initiation of a Policy Dialogue adressing the problems brought up by the investitigation of ASD or related syndromes.
Natasha Vidangos and Terry Yen will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Dr. Olusoji Adeyi of the World Bank to promote MOT and to discuss the possiblity of integrating their pilot program into an existing antimalarial campaign.
Anna Sommer will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional staff of Rep. Henry Waxman, Rep. Edward Markey and Sen. John Kerry to address the contribution to climate change from coal.

Judges:
Michael Eisen (Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, UC Berkeley)
Jane Mauldon (Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley)
Tony Kingsbury (Center for Responsible Business, Haas Business School, UC Berkeley)
Brandon Conrad (BlueMap, Inc.)

Writing Advisors:
Stephen Maurer (Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley)
David Winickoff (Bioethics and Society, UC Berkeley)
Rebecca Slayton (Program in Science, Technology and Society, Stanford)

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors:
The Associated Students of the University of California, Berkeley
Big Ideas @ Berkeley
Synthentic Biology Engineering Research Center, UC Berkeley
Invitrogen
Gilead Sciences, Inc
The Elsevier Foundation
The Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program

Overview
Individuals or teams are invited to submit a short White Paper on the interplay between high-impact technologies and public policy. The competition is open to students enrolled at participating universities, including: UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford. Finalists will be invited to present their papers at the Finalists Presentation and Awards Ceremony, which will take place on the UC Berkeley Campus in April 2009. The winning papers' author(s) will receive cash prizes. Over $8,000 will be awarded this year, with $5000 to Bay area students and postdocs and $3000 to UC Berkeley undergraduates. The Intent to Submit deadline is February 23, 2009. The final submission deadline is March 23, 2009.

Prompt
Your essay should explore the interplay between an emergent or existing technology and pressing regional, national, or global policy needs. Suggested essay formats include:

Identify a problem in society and evaluate possible solutions, including at least one technological solution.
-OR -
Identify a technology that is causing a problem and explore policy solutions.

You may additionally write a short proposal (related to your white paper and less than one page) on a political figure, advisor and/or expert that you would like to meet and why. We will award several grants of up to $500 each for travel to meet with these experts and discuss your paper and ideas. Successful travel grant applicants typically provide a compelling reason for traveling and propose to meet with several individuals.

Awards
1) Bay Area Student and Postdoc awards: First place: $2,000; Second place: $1,500; Third place: $1,000; Up to two travel grants: $500 each.
2) UC Berkeley Undergraduate Awards: First place: $1500; Second place: $1000; Up to two travel grants: $500 each.

Awards will only be granted if there are high-quality submissions.

Information Session
STEP organized a White Paper Competition information session on the Berkeley Campus on January 27. Students had an opportunity to get advice from a panel of former competition winners and received an overview of guidelines from the competition organizers.

Powerpoint presentation given at the information session: Overview of Guidelines (pdf)

Timeline
January 27, 2009 (6:30-7:30 pm): White Paper Competition Info Session, UC Berkeley Campus, 621 Stanley Hall
Before February 23, 2009 (5 pm): Intent to Submit Deadline
March 23, 2009 (5 pm): Submission deadline
April 10, 2009: Finalists announced
April 23, 2009 (2:00-6:00 pm): Finalist presentations and Awards Ceremony, UC Berkeley Campus, Boalt Morrison Foerster Lounge, Simon Hall

Guidelines
We recommend that you answer the following questions in your paper:
What is the problem? What is your supporting evidence that this problem exists?
What are some proposed solutions?
What criteria did you use to compare solutions?
Why is your solution the best?
What are the tradeoffs, uncertainties, and risks of your solution?

White Papers will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1) Supporting Science: The clarity with which the supporting science is explained. The relevance of the science to the stated problem. The efficacy of the technology in addressing the problem.
2) Supporting Policy Analysis: Demonstrated understanding of the policy problem. Is the issue significant and supported by evidence?
3) Effectiveness of the Proposed Solution: The clarity and detail with which the solution is explained. Thorough development of the solution, including consideration of the positive and negative implications of implementation. Does the solution seem optimal?
4) Originality: Original ideas and new contributions to the existing debate. Successful submissions are based on documented research, but what are the new ideas or information that you have brought to the discussion?

Specifications
The paper can be from 2 to 8 pages in length. The 8-page limit is just for the body of the paper and does not include references or the abstract. The abstract should be a maximum of 300 words. Collaboration between students in science, engineering, social science, and policy is encouraged but not required.

Papers can have one to three authors, all of whom must be current students. The competition is open to both graduate students and postdocs who are enrolled at participating universities, including: UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford. We encourage students from other universities to participate as well. If you are interested in participating and are not enrolled at one of these universities, please email step.whitepaper gmail.com. Undergraduate authors must be enrolled at UC Berkeley.

If you wish to be considered for a travel grant, submit a brief proposal (related to your white paper and less than one page) on a political figure, advisor, or expert that you would like to meet and why. If you have any questions email step.whitepaper gmail.com.

Sign up for the STEP Google Group (http://groups.google.com/group/step-whitepaper) to find potential teammates and discuss pertinent issues.

Faculty Advisors
STEP has arranged for faculty advisors to provide feedback on white paper drafts. We strongly encourage participants to submit a draft for faculty review and comments prior to their final submission. In previous years, students who discussed their papers with faculty produced high-quality submissions and improved their chances of selection as finalists. If you wish to be put in touch with an advisor, please email step.whitepaper gmail.com

Submission Instructions
If you intend to submit, please e-mail an abstract of no more than 300 words and proposed title for your submission as well as your expected team members, e-mail addresses, and affiliations to step.whitepaper gmail.com as soon as possible. Put "STEP Intent to Submit" in the title line. Only one e-mail is needed per team. This is non-binding and will ensure you are kept up to date with information on the competition. The Intent to Submit deadline is February 23, 2009.

Please submit essays electronically in pdf or doc format by 5pm on March 23, 2009 to step.whitepaper gmail.com. Put "STEP Paper Submission" in the subject line. The name of the file should be the last name of one of the authors. On the cover page, include all authors' contact information, affiliation, and your abstract. We reserve the right to use this paper for the purposes of the STEP group, unless otherwise specified and approved.

Finalist Seminar
All submissions will first be evaluated by a panel of student judges. This student panel will score the submissions, provide general comments and select finalists to participate in the finalist seminar. Finalists will be notified and provided with their scoring sheets on April 10, 2009. During the week of April 20, 2009, finalists will asked to present their proposals to a panel of faculty and expert judges, who will determine the final placement of each submission.

Notes from Science Writing Workshop

Greg Alushin's notes on Good Science Writing Practices (pdf)
Rachel Bernstein's annotated rewrite suggestions (pdf)

Past White Paper Competition Winners

For more information about other White Paper Competitions around the UC Berkeley campus, visit our partners, Bears Breaking Boundaries, at http://contest.berkeley.edu.


About STEP	Events	White Paper Competition	Science Policy Networking Event	Resources	Contact Us
White Paper Competition 2009 Congratulations to Our Finalists! Graduate Students/Postdocs *1st Place:* Magneto-optic technology hits the field: A pilot program to implement a new malaria diagnostic device in Southern Benin by Natasha Vidangos and Terry Yen 2nd Place: Policy Proposals to Reduce Overharvest from Marine Fisheries by Evelyn Chang 3rd Place: KnowPrivacy by Joshua Gomez, Ashkan Soltani, and Travis Pinnick Berkeley Award: Coal Power and Reversing Climate Change: Can They Work Together? by Anna Sommers UC Berkeley Undergraduates 1st Place: Medical Smart Card System for Patient Record Management by Changui Xiao and Arthur Yu 2nd Place: Neurological priming of ASD patients in human-robot interaction studies reveal need for novel approach in technology regulation by Julia Piper .Travel Grants Julia Piper will travel to Columbia University to develop an interdisciplinary approach to the initiation of a Policy Dialogue adressing the problems brought up by the investitigation of ASD or related syndromes. Natasha Vidangos and Terry Yen will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Dr. Olusoji Adeyi of the World Bank to promote MOT and to discuss the possiblity of integrating their pilot program into an existing antimalarial campaign. Anna Sommer will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional staff of Rep. Henry Waxman, Rep. Edward Markey and Sen. John Kerry to address the contribution to climate change from coal. Judges: Michael Eisen (Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, UC Berkeley) Jane Mauldon (Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley) Tony Kingsbury (Center for Responsible Business, Haas Business School, UC Berkeley) Brandon Conrad (BlueMap, Inc.) Writing Advisors: Stephen Maurer (Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley) David Winickoff (Bioethics and Society, UC Berkeley) Rebecca Slayton (Program in Science, Technology and Society, Stanford) Special Thanks to Our Sponsors: The Associated Students of the University of California, Berkeley Big Ideas @ Berkeley Synthentic Biology Engineering Research Center, UC Berkeley Invitrogen Gilead Sciences, Inc The Elsevier Foundation The Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program Overview Individuals or teams are invited to submit a short White Paper on the interplay between high-impact technologies and public policy. The competition is open to students enrolled at participating universities, including: UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford. Finalists will be invited to present their papers at the Finalists Presentation and Awards Ceremony, which will take place on the UC Berkeley Campus in April 2009. The winning papers' author(s) will receive cash prizes. Over $8,000 will be awarded this year, with $5000 to Bay area students and postdocs and $3000 to UC Berkeley undergraduates. The Intent to Submit deadline is February 23, 2009. The final submission deadline is March 23, 2009. Prompt Your essay should explore the interplay between an emergent or existing technology and pressing regional, national, or global policy needs. Suggested essay formats include: Identify a problem in society and evaluate possible solutions, including at least one technological solution. -OR - Identify a technology that is causing a problem and explore policy solutions. You may additionally write a short proposal (related to your white paper and less than one page) on a political figure, advisor and/or expert that you would like to meet and why. We will award several grants of up to $500 each for travel to meet with these experts and discuss your paper and ideas. Successful travel grant applicants typically provide a compelling reason for traveling and propose to meet with several individuals. Awards 1) Bay Area Student and Postdoc awards: First place: $2,000; Second place: $1,500; Third place: $1,000; Up to two travel grants: $500 each. 2) UC Berkeley Undergraduate Awards: First place: $1500; Second place: $1000; Up to two travel grants: $500 each. Awards will only be granted if there are high-quality submissions. Information Session STEP organized a White Paper Competition information session on the Berkeley Campus on January 27. Students had an opportunity to get advice from a panel of former competition winners and received an overview of guidelines from the competition organizers. Powerpoint presentation given at the information session: Overview of Guidelines (pdf) Timeline January 27, 2009 (6:30-7:30 pm): White Paper Competition Info Session, UC Berkeley Campus, 621 Stanley Hall Before February 23, 2009 (5 pm): Intent to Submit Deadline March 23, 2009 (5 pm): Submission deadline April 10, 2009: Finalists announced April 23, 2009 (2:00-6:00 pm): Finalist presentations and Awards Ceremony, UC Berkeley Campus, Boalt Morrison Foerster Lounge, Simon Hall Guidelines We recommend that you answer the following questions in your paper: What is the problem? What is your supporting evidence that this problem exists? What are some proposed solutions? What criteria did you use to compare solutions? Why is your solution the best? What are the tradeoffs, uncertainties, and risks of your solution? White Papers will be evaluated based on the following criteria: 1) Supporting Science: The clarity with which the supporting science is explained. The relevance of the science to the stated problem. The efficacy of the technology in addressing the problem. 2) Supporting Policy Analysis: Demonstrated understanding of the policy problem. Is the issue significant and supported by evidence? 3) Effectiveness of the Proposed Solution: The clarity and detail with which the solution is explained. Thorough development of the solution, including consideration of the positive and negative implications of implementation. Does the solution seem optimal? 4) Originality: Original ideas and new contributions to the existing debate. Successful submissions are based on documented research, but what are the new ideas or information that you have brought to the discussion? Specifications The paper can be from 2 to 8 pages in length. The 8-page limit is just for the body of the paper and does not include references or the abstract. The abstract should be a maximum of 300 words. Collaboration between students in science, engineering, social science, and policy is encouraged but not required. Papers can have one to three authors, all of whom must be current students. The competition is open to both graduate students and postdocs who are enrolled at participating universities, including: UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford. We encourage students from other universities to participate as well. If you are interested in participating and are not enrolled at one of these universities, please email step.whitepaper gmail.com. Undergraduate authors must be enrolled at UC Berkeley. If you wish to be considered for a travel grant, submit a brief proposal (related to your white paper and less than one page) on a political figure, advisor, or expert that you would like to meet and why. If you have any questions email step.whitepaper gmail.com. Sign up for the STEP Google Group (http://groups.google.com/group/step-whitepaper) to find potential teammates and discuss pertinent issues. Faculty Advisors STEP has arranged for faculty advisors to provide feedback on white paper drafts. We strongly encourage participants to submit a draft for faculty review and comments prior to their final submission. In previous years, students who discussed their papers with faculty produced high-quality submissions and improved their chances of selection as finalists. If you wish to be put in touch with an advisor, please email step.whitepaper gmail.com Submission Instructions If you intend to submit, please e-mail an abstract of no more than 300 words and proposed title for your submission as well as your expected team members, e-mail addresses, and affiliations to step.whitepaper gmail.com as soon as possible. Put "STEP Intent to Submit" in the title line. Only one e-mail is needed per team. This is non-binding and will ensure you are kept up to date with information on the competition. The Intent to Submit deadline is February 23, 2009. Please submit essays electronically in pdf or doc format by 5pm on March 23, 2009 to step.whitepaper gmail.com. Put "STEP Paper Submission" in the subject line. The name of the file should be the last name of one of the authors. On the cover page, include all authors' contact information, affiliation, and your abstract. We reserve the right to use this paper for the purposes of the STEP group, unless otherwise specified and approved. Finalist Seminar All submissions will first be evaluated by a panel of student judges. This student panel will score the submissions, provide general comments and select finalists to participate in the finalist seminar. Finalists will be notified and provided with their scoring sheets on April 10, 2009. During the week of April 20, 2009, finalists will asked to present their proposals to a panel of faculty and expert judges, who will determine the final placement of each submission. Notes from Science Writing Workshop Greg Alushin's notes on Good Science Writing Practices (pdf) Rachel Bernstein's annotated rewrite suggestions (pdf) Past White Paper Competition Winners 2008 2007 2006 For more information about other White Paper Competitions around the UC Berkeley campus, visit our partners, Bears Breaking Boundaries, at http://contest.berkeley.edu.