American Society For Nutrition

ASN as a Challenge Partner for the Spirit of Innovation Challenge

ASN as a Challenge Partner for the Spirit of Innovation Challenge

Excellence in Nutrition Research and Practice

American Society for Nutrition (ASN) would like to present to our members an exciting opportunity to judge and/or mentor high school students as they compete in the Conrad Foundation's Spirit of Innovation Challenge. This competition allows student teams to develop technology-based products and solutions that address real-world issues, including health and nutrition. Click here for flyer .

The competition will include three categories: Aerospace Exploration; Clean Energy; and Health and Nutrition. ASN is a partner in the “Health and Nutrition” category which will challenge student teams to create solutions that address healthy lifestyle challenges (e.g., obesity, malnutrition and lack of exercise).

This is the first time that ASN will be reaching out to the high school population, and we believe this is a great opportunity for the Society to get young people involved in nutrition and open their eyes to all the possible opportunities in our field. Click here for the 2011-2012 Spirit of Innovation Challenge Handbook, for more information.

We would like to recruit ASN members to serve as mentors and judges in the competition. Attached please find a Mentor/Judge flyer , the competition flyer and handbook . I welcome you to review these documents to get a better idea of this competition and decide if you want to be a part of it.

As you can see in the Mentor and Judge opportunities PDF , the online judging will take place between November 14 and December 9, 2011; with full proposal review January 25-Februrary 13, 2012. The time commitment is about 8-10 hours total to review, comment and score 10-20 abstracts. This does overlap with abstract reviewing for EB 2012. If you would like to do both, please make sure your schedule will allow the time commitment.

Please, also notice that online mentoring is a year round opportunity. The time commitment for this is 10-20 minutes per week (not bad at all)! You will create an online mentor profile and answer questions through the online forum.

Please see  timeline and opportunity description for more detail.

Before committing to being a judge and/or mentor, please attend one of the following webinars.

Two webinars will be held to provide information to mentors:


Thu, Nov 3, 2011 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM CDT (click here to register)


Wed, Nov 9, 2011 1 PM - 1:30 PM CST (click here to register)



To register as a mentor, please go to http://www.conradawards.org/signup. Under profile type, select. Create a profile and start answering questions through the online forum.

If you are interested in becoming an judge, contact ASN's Moira Holt or The Conrad Foundation's Jennifer Fotherby.


If this interests you, please email Moira Holt to be added as a judge and/or mentor, or if you have further questions.