Overview
Our aim is to maintain an open and fair process for evaluating each team's performance. Teams will be scored by judges using a point system. The judging process will have two stages: online content (worth up to 75 points) and live presentation (worth up to 25 points).
Judge selection
Judges will be selected from a pool of BIOMOD faculty mentors and outside experts.
Mentors will not evaluate their own team.
Judges' names will be disclosed.
Online content scoring
Maximum combined score for online content is 75 points (= 50 points for wiki + 25 points for internet video)
Scores will be determined by a range-voting system
Five (5) judges will be randomly assigned to each team
Judges will evaluate each project according to a rubric (see below) and assign a point value in each category.
Highest and lowest judges' total scores are excluded to remove outliers.
Three remaining judges' scores will each weighted by 1/3 and combined to determine the total scores for each category.
Live presentation scoring
All judges present at the Jamboree will be asked to rate all presentations.
Highest and lowest judges' total scores are excluded to remove outliers.
The remaining n judges' scores will be weighted by 1/n and combined to determine the total scores for the presentation.
Scoring
• YouTube video (25 points)
Overall impact: Was the video interesting? Did you want to watch more than once? (10 points)
Clarity: Was the project described in a simple and clear manner that could be easily understood by a wide audience? (10 points)
Production: Was the sound and video high quality? Were the images focused and scaled properly? (5 points)
• Wiki (50 points)
Project Idea (20 points)
- Relevance: Has the team made a strong case that their project idea is scientifically and/or technologically interesting? (5 points)
- Specification: Are the project goals well-defined? (i.e. Does the team explicitly state what criteria need to be met in order to consider the project a success?) (5 points)
- Feasibility: Was the proposed solution feasible? (i.e. Was it reasonable to expect that the solution could be implemented by a BIOMOD team in one summer?) (5 points)
- Merit: Is the proposed solution a good one? Is it particularly elegant or innovative? (5 points)
Project Documentation (20 points)
Clarity: Is the project description well-written and easy to understand? Does it include the background and motivation of the project, methods, results, and discussion? Are the figures easy to understand? (10 points)
Transparency: Are all of the raw experimental data and source files easily accessible? Would it be straightforward to attempt to reproduce the team's results? (5 points)
Layout: Is the team's project page arranged in a clear and logical fashion? (5 points)
Project Execution (10 points)
Execution: Did the team accomplish what they set out to do? (10 points)
• Presentation (25 points)
Content: Were the slides clear and easy to understand? Did the project narrative have a logical flow, with clearly stated goals and results? (10 points)
Delivery: Did the speaker(s) give a well-rehearsed, well-paced presentation? Did the speaker(s) engage with the audience and maintain good eye contact? (10 points)
Impact: Was the presentation interesting? fun? clever? memorable? (5 points)
Awards
Top Prizes
Grand prize = 1st highest total combined points from wiki + video + presentation
1st runner up = 2nd highest total combined points from wiki + video + presentation
2nd runner up = 3rd highest total combined points from wiki + video + presentation
Category awards
Best Wiki = 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place
Best YouTube Video = 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place
Best Presentation = 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place
Audience favorite = 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place
Project awards
Bronze: Team satisfied all minimum requirements for judging (i.e. Submitted a complete Project wiki and uploaded a YouTube video)
Silver: Satisfied criteria for Bronze, plus at least one device (part of the system) in the team's design is worked as expected.
Gold: Satisfied criteria for Silver, and overall point score from Wiki + YouTube + Jamboree presentation are in top 50% of all teams.
Special awards
The Second Annual Molecular Robotics Award (by MOLBOT, Japan)
Best Team T-shirt Award
Feedback
After the jamboree, teams will receive individual score reports so they can learn how they fared in each category.
