AGU Michael H. Freilich Student Visualization Competition

Data Visualization and Storytelling Competition

AGU MICHAEL H. FREILICH STUDENT VISUALIZATION COMPETITION PROGRAM

Competition overview

The AGU Michael H. Freilich Student Visualization Competition Program provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate creative ways to use visualization to present complex problems in the Earth and space sciences as well as transdisciplinary sciences.

The competition is open to individual and teams of undergraduate and graduate students who are legal U.S. residents. This program recognizes the years of support and dedication Michael H. Freilich, former Director of the NASA Earth Science Division, provided students in the Earth and space science community.

Applications are Closed

Congratulations to this year’s winners!

2021 Winners

Eligibility and application requirements

The competition is open to students who are legal U.S. residents and enrolled full-time in two- or four-year undergraduate or graduate institutions in the U.S. Previous grand prize winners of the Data Visualization and Storytelling Competition are not eligible to apply. Individual submissions in the Earth and space sciences as well as team submissions in convergent science are acceptable. Co-authors can be recognized in both individual and team submissions. Team submissions should be comprised of at least two people and no more than five contributors. If submitting as a team, the team must identify a project lead, who is also responsible for submitting the proposal. proposal and identify how award funds will be distributed between team members. All members of the team must be students and at least one team member should be formally enrolled in a degree program in one of the following fields: social, behavioral, or economic sciences; computer and informational science and engineering; education and human resources. Applicants are limited to one proposal per year and may not resubmit a specific presentation proposal more than once.

Applications must contain the following information and applicants should review the Hyperwall How-to Guide for tips.

1

Project lead must be currently enrolled as a full-time student in a U.S.-based degree-granting institution.
2

A one- to two-paragraph statement of purpose describing the data used and what the scientific potential is for that data.
3

Description of data set used, and for any non-NASA data sets, details on the authorization of use.
4

Proposed story and visualization for a presentation no longer than 10 minutes.
5

Static images and planned visualizations in storyboard format with supporting text of narration and details on how the visualization should work.
6

Optional: Up to three MP4 files of a one- to three-minute building block/sample of visualization.
7

For team submissions: Describe the potential benefits of working beyond discipline-specific approaches to collaboratively address common goals.

Evaluation criteria

The competition is focused on innovation and creativity in presenting data in new ways, rather than the scientific problem or specific solution to the problem.

Submissions will be judged on the following criteria:

The creativity of the presentation and the applicant’s ability to present data and complex problems.
The perceived level of impact and engagement the planned presentation incites in audience.
The organization and conceivability of the proposed presentation of data.
For team submissions, contributing participants must demonstrate collaboration in data sharing.

Prize details

The review committee will select a total of 16 winners, eight grand prize winners and eight runners-up, for the competition. Grand prize winners will be provided professional development opportunities for a duration of three years. If a team is selected as a winner, the team lead will designate how to divide the grant funds. Complimentary AGU Fall Meeting registration will only be awarded to the team lead.

Grand prize winners

Grand prize winners will receive the following:

$3000 grant to attend the 2021 AGU Fall Meeting (online on in-person depending on COVID-19 safety protocols)
One complimentary registration to the 2021 AGU Fall Meeting, including registration to the Student and Early Career Scientist Conference
Opportunity to present on the NASA Hyperwall at the 2021 AGU Fall Meeting and potentially other scientific meetings featuring the NASA Hyperwall (decision regarding presentation at other meetings is made by NASA)
Up to $3,000 to participate in one additional professional development or community outreach opportunity
Opportunity to receive mentorship through Mentoring365 and network with other Earth and space scientists

Runners-up

Runners-up will receive the following:

$1000 grant to attend the 2021 AGU Fall Meeting (online or in-person depending on COVID-19 safety protocols)
One complimentary registration to the 2021 AGU Fall Meeting, including registration to the Student and Early Career Scientist Conference
Opportunity to receive mentorship through Mentoring365 and network with other Earth and space scientists

Prize details

Financial grant prizes will be awarded to qualifying participants.

Award funds will be disbursed after each confirmation of attendance. Recipients must submit to AGU receipts of conference attendance.

Funds will be dispersed to recipient via electronic payment by AGU.

Past Winners

Name	Academic institution	Year	Category
Jaime Callejon Hierro	NASA Goddard Space Flight Center	2020	Grand Prize
Adam Chmurzynski	University of Arizona	2020	Grand Prize
Brandi Downs	Ohio State University	2020	Grand Prize
Daniel O'Hara	University of Oregon	2020	Grand Prize
Michael Sautter	Johns Hopkins University	2020	Grand Prize
Richard Thaxton	University of Arizona	2020	Grand Prize
David Clemens-Sewall	Dartmouth College	2020	Runner-up
Monika Ruwaimana	University of Oregon	2020	Runner-up
Solomon Vimal	University of California Los Angeles	2020	Runner-up
Jacob Austin	Columbia University	2019	Grand Prize
Anna Barth	Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory	2019	Grand Prize
Julia Carr	Pennsylvania State University	2019	Grand Prize
Eleanor Lutz	University of Washington, Seattle	2019	Grand Prize
Gigi Pavur	Georgia Institute of Technology	2019	Grand Prize
Amanda Price	Washington University, St Louis	2019	Grand Prize
Veronica Southerland	George Washington University	2019	Grand Prize
Wen-Ying Wu	University of Texas at Austin	2019	Grand Prize
Atieh Alipour	University of Alabama	2019	Runner-up
Riley Brady	University of Colorado, Boulder	2019	Runner-up
Adam Chlus	University of Wisconsin, Madison	2019	Runner-up
Julianne Davis	Syracuse University	2019	Runner-up
Vincent Ledvina	University of North Dakota	2019	Runner-up
Donal O'Leary	University of Maryland, College Park	2019	Runner-up
Aodhan Sweeney	University of Washington, Seattle	2019	Runner-up
Samantha Wallace	NASA Goddard Space Flight	2019	Runner-up
Owen Evans	Columbia University of New York	2018	Grand Prize
Meghan Jones	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	2018	Grand Prize
Megan Link	James Madison University	2018	Grand Prize
Akshay Mehra	Princeton University	2018	Grand Prize
Jack Miller	Iowa State University	2018	Grand Prize
Aleks Siemenn	University at Albany - SUNY	2018	Grand Prize
Alison Thieme	University of Maryland	2018	Grand Prize
Jacob Adler	Arizona State University	2018	Runner-up
Behzad Ahmadi	Portland State University	2018	Runner-up
Anastasia Alexandrova	Wayne State University	2018	Runner-up
Kara Cassano	Texas A&M University	2018	Runner-up
Corbin Kling	North Carolina State University	2018	Runner-up
Rich Pauloo	University of California Davis	2018	Runner-up
Amir Salaree	Northwestern University	2018	Runner-up
Andrea Albright	University of Houston	2017	Grand Prize
Parker Hinton	University of Colorado at Boulder	2017	Grand Prize
Rebecca Lehman	Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies	2017	Grand Prize
Yu Mo	University of Maryland	2017	Grand Prize
Jason West	University of Colorado at Boulder	2017	Grand Prize
Mahkameh Zarekarizi	Portland State University	2017	Grand Prize
Bogumilia Backiel	University of Massachusetts, Amherst	2017	Runner-up
Chelsea Johnson	Georgia Institute of Technology	2017	Runner-up
Akshay Mehra	Princeton University	2017	Runner-up
Yusuf Sermet	University of Iowa	2017	Runner-up
Alison Thieme	University of Maryland	2017	Runner-up
Anne Wilkinson	University of Minnesota	2017	Runner-up
Allison Daniel	University of Alabama, Huntsville	2016	Grand Prize
Kaytan Kelkar	Texas A&M University	2016	Grand Prize
Matthew Ross	Duke University	2016	Grand Prize
Mejs Hasan	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	2016	Grand Prize
Sara Lubkin	Northern Virginia Community College	2016	Grand Prize
Akshay Mehra	Princeton University	2016	Runner-up
John Granholm	Appalachian State University	2016	Runner-up
Lana Narine	Texas A&M University	2016	Runner-up
Meredith Goebel	Stanford University	2016	Runner-up
Sophie Goliber	University at Buffalo, SUNY	2016	Runner-up

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