Judges can come from the community; they don't have to be scientists.

The engineering design competition has grown tremendously in the last few years with the increased interest in robotics. The engineering aspect is a discipline that has reached down to the junior high level within the last few years. We've added a junior high level because the kids are sophisticated enough to build their own robots.

We send our students on to the Houston Science Fair. We have students compete in state competitions every year.

Some end up with patents.

All prizes are monetary and range from $10 to $750.

Scientists have to get involved with the policy-making community right from the beginning and try to understand what the constraints on policy-making are.