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Embry-Riddle Public Relations Students Win NASA Contest

Daytona Beach, Fla., May 15, 2007 -- A plan to help NASA promote science and math among middle and high school students earned first prize for a team of six students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University who created the marketing plan. It was the first time the university entered the annual NASA Means Business Competition, which is sponsored by the Texas Space Grant Consortium.

Tying Embry-Riddle for the top spot was a combined team of 84 students from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Art Institute of Phoenix.

“I thought we were underdogs from the start, so being named finalists was a shock,” said Embry-Riddle student Melanie Pugh, a communication major who created the group’s web site. “But once that wore off, we worked together well. Some of our work for the 24-hour ad-hoc assignment was better than pieces we had all year to work on.”

On the first day of the three-day competition, each team made a one-hour presentation of its strategic marketing communication plan. The Embry-Riddle plan, “The Solution for Inclusion,” included 30-second public service announcements in English and Spanish, a print ad campaign, outreach activities, and a web site, www.morethanrocketscience.com.

At the end of the first day, teams were given 24 hours to create a strategic marketing proposal to get university educators involved in science, technology, engineering, and math projects in middle and high schools. The proposal included storyboards for a 30-second public service announcement, a web site, and a comprehensive strategic plan.

The Embry-Riddle students pitched a campaign featuring superheroes, and they impressed the judges by creating a live web site. They also included results of a poll they conducted with the online survey tool Zoomerang.

The Embry-Riddle team consisted of group leader Kelly Billon, a junior majoring in communication; Joe Antonucci, a junior majoring in business administration; Ken Baylor, a senior in communication; Ivens Jean, an MBA student; Kevin Mock, a senior majoring in aerospace engineering; and Pugh. The team’s adviser was Joanne Detore-Nakamura, assistant professor of humanities and communication.

“One of our strengths is that our team is interdisciplinary,” Detore-Nakamura said. “When we did outreach in the community our engineering student could answer youngsters’ questions, because he knew the science.”

The Embry-Riddle team will meet this fall with legislators and space agency officials in Washington, D.C., and team leader Billon will serve on the advisory board of the Coalition for Space Exploration, which promotes space exploration and the U.S. space program.

In addition to the two first-place teams, other competitors included a combined group from Bentley College and Boston University and teams from Miami International University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, University of Houston-Clear Lake, and University of Northern Iowa.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through its Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.erau.edu.