Three winners have been announced in NASA’s Power to Explore Student Writing Challenge, in which U.S. students in kindergarten through 12th grade could participate by writing about imaginary space missions using radioisotope power systems (RPSs). Out of almost 1,600 submitted entries, 45 semifinalists, and nine finalists, Luca Pollack of Carlsbad, Calif. (in the K–4th grade category), Rainelle Yasa of Los Angeles, Calif. (in the grades 5–8 category), and Audrielle Paige Esma of Wildwood, Fl. (in the grades 9–12 category) snagged the top prize in their age groups. The April 25 announcement by NASA includes links to the winning essays.

Novich (left) and Renfrow (right)

Kaelee Novich, a senior at Boise State University, and Robert Renfrow, a junior at Lipscomb University, have been selected to participate in the 2020 Washington Internships for Students in Engineering (WISE) program with the sponsorship of ANS. Both students are majoring in mechanical engineering.

Novich and Renfrow will join students sponsored by other engineering organizations for nine weeks, from May 31 until August 1, in Washington, D.C. While there, they will meet with leaders in the U.S. Congress, the administration, and federal agencies, including the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Each intern will conduct research and present a paper on an engineering-related public policy issue of interest to their sponsoring organization. The papers will be published online in the WISE Journal of Engineering and Public Policy.