I am delighted to announce that the Embassy will begin participating in the annual  Realise the Dream science competition by establishing the American Ambassador Outstanding Award.

Realise the Dream is a national event sponsored by Genesis Energy and the Royal Society of New Zealand which acknowledges and celebrates the finest scientific research and technology development undertaken by secondary school students in New Zealand.

I attended the annual awards program last year at Government House at the invitation of my friend Dr. Di McCarthy, the Royal Society’s Chief Executive. I was thoroughly impressed with the calibre of the students and the quality of projects selected as finalists. It was an inspiring evening, made all the better by the enthusiasm of the students for the research they had undertaken.

Although clearly great fun, the competition is also serious, sophisticated business. The judging is expert and rigorous, and the awards are highly selective. There is the Genesis Energy Supreme Award, a couple of Outstanding Awards, and then several travel and monetary awards. Our Embassy participation adds another Outstanding Award to the prizes available for the best of the best.

To further deepen the extensive science ties between our two countries and to raise the international visibility of the winner, we have structured our new award as a trip to the United States to represent New Zealand in the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), the world’s largest international pre-university science competition. Each year Intel ISEF provides a forum for more than 1,500 high school students from about 70 countries, regions, and territories to showcase their independent research.

Last year’s Realise the Dream finalists with Governor-General Lt. Gen. Rt. Hon. Sir Jerry Mateparae (center), Chief Executive Di McCarthy, and Lady Mateparae.

I’m having one of my science days today. When I finish writing this piece, I’ll be suiting up and heading over to the Christchurch Geodome for the opening of this year’s Antarctic season, the most well-known touchstone of the U.S.-N.Z. science collaboration. From my blog posts of November/December 2010 and February 2012, you know just how exciting and impactful our cooperation on the Ice is.

Our bilateral science collaboration, however, extends far beyond Antarctica. I’ve also discussed previously the Global Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, the U.S.-N.Z. Joint Commission on Science & Technology Cooperation, renewable energy projects, the Solar Decathlon, Mars Camp, Vex Robotics competition, the activities in New Zealand of companies such as Intel and Oracle, and many other cross-border science and technology stories.

With the launch of the American Ambassador Outstanding Award, we hope to add more good news to that long and exciting narrative. I’m looking forward to tracking the contributions made by the winners of the Award as they move from secondary school to university and then out into their careers. From what I saw last year, there is reason for great optimism.

Displays summarizing finalists’ projects in last year’s competition.

For more information about the competition and the educational opportunities associated therewith, students, teachers, and parents can check out the Realise the Dream website, which also explains the entry and nomination process. As I understand it, nominations close on October 12th, which is fast approaching. Judges will then narrow the field to 20 finalists.

The winners — including the first American Ambassador Outstanding Award winner — will be announced at a ceremony a couple months thereafter. I plan to attend and will report back to you on the highlights of the evening.

Stay tuned.

With the election season upon us, I want to encourage my fellow Americans in New Zealand and Samoa to vote.  Though you may not live in the United States, you have the right to make your voice heard by submitting an absentee ballot.  Even if you have never lived in the United States, you may still be able to cast a ballot if you are a U.S. citizen and over the age of 18.

If you have not requested your absentee ballot, I would urge you to do so. The process is easy. You can print and fill in a PDF version of the request here, or you can fill in the request online at www.FVAP.gov.  Once you’re on the website, click on the “Get Started” icon (as indicated by the red arrow below).

From there you will be taken to a map of the United States where you will need to click on the State of your residence.  Generally, this will be the State in which you last voted or resided before moving overseas.  For illustration purposes, I will select my own home State of California.

You will then be taken to a screen that will give you the option to register to vote (if this is your first time), request your absentee ballot (if you are already registered), or check on the status of your ballot.  Please select the icon that best fits your circumstances.  For the purposes of this blog, I will mark Register to Vote and/or Request Ballot (as indicated by the red arrow below).

You will then be taken to a page that contains links to your State’s election website, voter-specific information, and an automated wizard program.  If you choose to click on the wizard icon, you will be taken through a step-by-step program that will result in a completed Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) that you can then mail in to get your absentee ballot.

Once you finish with the wizard program, you will receive two PDF documents.  The first will be a completed FPCA form, as well as instructions on submitting it.  The second will be a mailing envelope that you can print onto a U.S. standard #10 envelope (4 1/8″ x 9 1/2″).

As the postage has already been paid, so all you need to do is put the FPCA into the envelope and drop the letter off at the U.S. Consulate General in Auckland or the Embassy in Wellington, and we’ll mail it back to the U.S. for you.  If you rather mail the FPCA yourself through the New Zealand or Samoa mail system, that is fine too.

Please Keep In Mind the Following Points:

1. To vote, new laws require you to complete and submit a FPCA this calendar year.

2. In filling out your FPCA, you have the right to request that your ballot be sent to you via e-mail or fax.

3. If you have never lived in the United States and want to determine if you can vote please go to the following website: http://www.fvap.gov/reference/nvr-res.htm.

4. If you have not submitted an FPCA by October 1^st, you may still be able to vote by casting a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB).  Please follow your state’s specific instructions that can be found at www.fvap.gov.

5. For your convenience, I have attached PDF copies of the FPCA and FWAB.  Please feel free to print them out and fill in the appropriate one by hand if you don’t want to use the website directly.

The  U.S. Consulate General in Auckland stands ready to help you with all your voting needs.  If you have any questions, please contact us at  +64 9 303 2724 ext. 2842/2848/2856 or at VoteAuckland@state.gov.

Culminating a process initiated and driven by American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II, the United Nations came into being at the end of 1945. Comprising all 193 member States, the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) is the U.N.’s main deliberative and policy-making body. It meets each year in regular session from September through December, and convenes at other times during the year if and as necessary.

The opening of each new UNGA session is marked by speeches by the leaders of the member nations. The 67th annual session convened last week. Today President Barack Obama addressed the group at U.N. headquarters in New York City. Below you can read the transcript or view his powerful and timely remarks on freedom, self-determination, respect, global security, and the challenges ahead.

* * *

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
United Nations Headquarters
New York, New York

THE PRESIDENT:  Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentleman:  I would like to begin today by telling you about an American named Chris Stevens.

Chris was born in a town called Grass Valley, California, the son of a lawyer and a musician.  As a young man, Chris joined the Peace Corps, and taught English in Morocco.  And he came to love and respect the people of North Africa and the Middle East. He would carry that commitment throughout his life.  As a diplomat, he worked from Egypt to Syria, from Saudi Arabia to Libya.  He was known for walking the streets of the cities where he worked — tasting the local food, meeting as many people as he could, speaking Arabic, listening with a broad smile.

Chris went to Benghazi in the early days of the Libyan revolution, arriving on a cargo ship.  As America’s representative, he helped the Libyan people as they coped with violent conflict, cared for the wounded, and crafted a vision for the future in which the rights of all Libyans would be respected. And after the revolution, he supported the birth of a new democracy, as Libyans held elections, and built new institutions, and began to move forward after decades of dictatorship.

continue reading…

This installment in my series of insider guides to great places to visit in the United States focuses on the State of Maine, a stunningly beautiful, diverse outdoor vacation land at the top of New England. The author is one of the Embassy’s summer interns this year, Sarah Flewelling, who hails from the center of our great Pine Tree State.

* * *

MY MAINE,  by Sarah Flewelling

My love of Maine, my home State, has been passed down through my family, as my ancestors have lived there for generations. While each member of my extended family has moved around a bit, each one of us has come back home to Maine. While it is a humble State, I find something truly intoxicating about its chilly ocean, deep forests, and fiercely independent culture.

Heavily forested and very lightly populated, Maine is a world apart.

Part of the stunning Maine seacoast.

Moose, the ubiquitous official State animal of Maine.

As described by John Steinbeck in Travels with Charley, Maine “sticks up like a thumb into Canada” at the far northeastern corner of the United States. I’m from the central part of the thumb, just at the edge of the most densely populated areas, bordering on the forests that extend up into Canada.

For the majority of my life I have lived in the small town of Pittsfield, total population just about 5,000. Pittsfield is world famous locally for hosting the quirky “Egg Festival” which celebrates the heritage of the chicken farmers surrounding the area. My favorite part of the festival is the frying-pan event, where the world’s largest frying pan is oiled up, and breakfast is cooked for the entire town.

continue reading…