Filed under: K-12, NASA, Professional Development, Science | Tags: Best Practice, Lesson Plans, Mars, NSTA, Seminar, STEM, Teacher Development
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is collaborating with the National Science Teachers Association to develop a series of free Web seminars for 5-12 science educators on the topic of Mars Exploration.
The Web seminars are 90-minute, live professional development sessions that use online learning technologies to allow participants to interact with nationally acclaimed experts, scientists, engineers and education specialists from NASA. The Web seminars are conveniently scheduled so that educators from all U.S. time zones may participate, and no travel is required. Each web seminar is a unique, stand-alone program. Archives of the Web seminars and the presenters’ PowerPoint presentations will be available online.
Upcoming JPL/NSTA Web seminars are listed below. Online registration for each is now open. All web seminars are scheduled from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Oct. 4, 2007 — JPL/NSTA Web Seminar: Using Earth to Explore Mars
Join Dr. Michael Meyer, Senior Scientist at NASA Headquarters, and Brian Grigsby from the Arizona State University Mars Education Program as they compare and contrast Earth and Mars. The seminar will highlight ways to familiarize students with planetary processes and landforms by integrating non-Earth examples. A Mars mission update will also be included.
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/JPL2/webseminar2.aspx
Oct. 16, 2007 — JPL/NSTA Web Seminar: How Science REALLY Gets Done
Join Dr. Philip Christensen, Regents Professor in Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, as he shows teachers how scientists approach complex problems and ways to engage students’ curiosity to help them think like scientists.
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/JPL2/webseminar3.aspx
Nov. 29, 2007 — JPL/NSTA Web Seminar: Robotic Engineering: Big Toys, Big Fun
Join Kobie Boykins, one of the engineers responsible for building the enduring Mars Exploration Rovers, for a look “behind the scenes” of what it was like to build the twin Mars rovers that are still exploring the surface of Mars.
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/JPL2/webseminar4.aspx
Dec. 6, 2007 — JPL/NSTA Web Seminar: Are We Alone?
Join Dr. Jack Farmer as he talks about astrobiology, extreme environments, some of the extreme places life has been found and the applications of these subjects to Mars exploration.
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/JPL2/webseminar5.aspx
Join educators and space enthusiasts around the world to celebrate World Space Week, Oct. 4-10, 2007. This year’s celebration commemorates the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, marking the beginning of the Space Age.
World Space Week is the largest public space event in the world, with celebrations in more than 50 nations. To learn more about World Space Week, search for events in your area, and find educational materials related to the event, visit: http://www.spaceweek.org
Filed under: Astronomy, Educational Materials, Educator Kit, K-12, Mars, NASA, STEM, Science
Help NASA on the quest for signs of water on the Red Planet.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera now orbiting Mars is helping NASA search for signs of water on Mars. Students are invited to help choose regions of Mars for HiRISE to image. The HiRISE team will pick several suggestions and image them with the camera in the coming months. The participants will represent the first people on Earth to see the resulting image and will have the chance to search for signs of water in the image.
Background information, teacher guides, student activity books and tutorials are available online to help students choose a region. Interested teachers and students are encouraged to register online to receive more information about how to participate.
For more information, visit: http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/hirise/
Kids and adults are invited to count the stars in the evening sky from Oct. 1-15, 2007, and report their results online. The event, sponsored by Windows to the Universe, is designed to raise awareness about light pollution and encourage learning in astronomy. All the information needed to participate will be available on the Web. At the conclusion of the event, the submitted data will be analyzed and a map will be generated highlighting the results.
For more information, visit: http://www.starcount.org
Filed under: Competitions, Higher Education, NASA, Request For Proposals, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities
NASA Means Business Student Competition 2008 Program Announcement
The NASA Means Business Student Competition program invites undergraduate and graduate students to employ their skills to help NASA articulate the contributions of space exploration to everyday life.
This year’s challenge is: Help NASA to increase the number of corporate researchers, university researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors who utilize the Nation’s investment in spaceflight to grow their investments in knowledge and commerce.
Specifically, participating teams will compete by designing and preparing a NASA Spaceflight Promotion Plan and illustrative flagship promotion projects including a fully implemented Internet Solution with a 20-second promotional video and other concept design/media elements.
We are particularly interested in teams with a wide range of capability, including the traditional engineering and natural sciences students as well as advertising, marketing, communication, radio-television-film, journalism and other similar professions. And, we strongly encourage teams from underrepresented institutions, and teams that include students from underrepresented institutions, to submit proposals!
Finalist teams will receive cash awards and behind-the-scenes tours of both the Johnson Space Center in Texas and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Members of the Grand Prize team will also be flown to Washington, D.C., to present their work to NASA Headquarters officials.
The Competition Guidelines are posted at: http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/nmb/
Filed under: Conference, Higher Education, Science, Student Opportunities
SpaceVision is the national conference of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and will host several hundred students and professionals at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this year. The conference will define our generation`s role in space development and offer several opportunities to become involved in the space sector.
This year`s conference will be host to an opening keynote by Anousheh Ansari on Friday evening, followed by a great line-up of speakers on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday will also have a Career Fair, ISU Luncheon, and the annual SEDS/alumni reunion banquet. Sunday will have an Endowment Funch luncheon to kick off the funding for the new SEDS-USA Endowment Fund. Finally, the conference will close on Monday with a series of workshops on the various executive board departments.
Visit the SpaceVision website for schedule and registration details:
http://spacevision.seds.org/index.php
Visit the SEDS website for more information about Students for the Exploration and Development of Space:
http://www.seds.org
Filed under: Competitions, Essay Competition, Higher Education, K-12, NASA, Research, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities | Tags: Aviation
NASA announced Thursday its aeronautics competition for high school and college students during the 2007-2008 academic year. Students are asked to imagine and write an essay or design a next generation aircraft that could join the commercial fleet in 2058.
High school students should prepare a well-informed essay describing how transportation of goods and passengers might be revolutionized in the 21st century as it was in the 1930s and 1940s by the introduction of the DC-3. Essays are limited to 12 pages and should address environmental impacts, including reduced noise and emissions, improved operating costs, the use of alternative fuels, passenger and cargo loads, and use of existing general aviation runways.
College students are challenged to design the next generation aircraft. Design considerations should include environmental impact, daily operations on short runways, passenger and cargo limits, structure and materials, propulsion, and cost analyses for production and operation. Proposals should provide details on three or more valid operational scenarios. University-level research papers are limited to 25 pages.
Teams or individuals may enter in either category. Winners may be invited to a student forum sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and receive offers of student internships or other prizes, including cash, depending on available funds. Only U.S. citizens are eligible for cash prizes or NASA-funded internships.
NASA uses this competition to foster the next generation of skilled scientists and engineers critical to the future of NASA aeronautics and the broader aeronautics community.
For contest information and submission, visit:
http://aero.larc.nasa.gov/competitions.htm
Filed under: Higher Education, NASA, Request For Proposals, Research, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities | Tags: Space Launch
HASP 2008 Call for Payloads Released
http://laspace.lsu.edu/hasp/Participantinfo.html
The Louisiana Space Consortium, in coordination with the NASA Balloon Program Office, has released a call for student payloads for the 2008 flight of the High Altitude Student Platform (HASP). HASP carries up to 12 student payloads to the edge of space (~124,000 feet) for durations up to 20 hours using a large helium filled balloon. This call follows the recent successful second HASP flight on September 2, 2007 where 10 student payloads were exposed to the near space environment for about 16 1/2 hours.
Details can be found at
http://laspace.lsu.edu/hasp/index.html
Filed under: Higher Education, Internships, NASA, Research, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities
NASA/USRP OFFERS SPRING SESSION AT NASA CENTERS!
RISING SOPHOMORES ARE NOW ELIGIBLE!
STIPENDS INCREASED!
The NASA Undergraduate Student Research Program (USRP) will offer a 15-week spring session in addition to the usual 10-week summer and 15-week fall sessions for 2008. The spring session deadline is October 22, 2007 (***Deadline Change***).
In addition to rising juniors and seniors, USRP will now also be open to rising sophomores. Students will receive a $9,000 stipend for the 15-week spring and fall sessions, and $6,000 for the 10-week summer session, plus round trip travel. The new stipend is a 20% increase over 2007 payments.
The application deadline for the spring session is October 22, 2007, the summer session application deadline is January 31, 2008 and the fall application deadline is February 29, 2008.
The online application will be activated on or before September 15. Visit the USRP website for program information and to apply: http://education.nasa.gov/usrp
Filed under: Engineering, Funding, Higher Education, Research, Science, Student Opportunities | Tags: Diversity, NSF
Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering (BRIGE) Program Solicitation NSF 07-589
National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering
Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer’s local time): February 08, 2008
Synopsis of Program:
With the goal of broadening participation to all engineers including members from groups underrepresented in the engineering disciplines, the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) at NSF offers a research initiation grant funding opportunity. These grants are intended to increase the diversity of researchers who apply for and receive ENG funding to initiate research programs early in their careers, including those from under-represented groups, engineers at minority serving institutions, and persons with disabilities. By providing these funding opportunities, ENG intends to further broaden participation of engineering researchers who share NSF’s commitment to diversity in the following ways:
* Expand the population of role models who will interact with an increasingly diverse student population, the workforce of the future
* Increase the number of engineering researchers at minority serving institutions actively and competitively engaged in research as independent investigators, thereby creating new research opportunities for students from underrepresented groups
* Fund engineering research projects that use innovative ways to attract and retain members of under-represented groups to careers in engineering.
Awards are for 24 months and are limited to a maximum of $175,000 total costs (direct plus indirect). Principal Investigators must be U.S. citizens or lawfully admitted U.S. permanent residents at the time of application; visa-holders are not eligible.
PI Limit: Proposers must be affiliated with an engineering department or a department closely related to engineering. Co-investigators are not permitted, but collaborations with other scientists and/or visiting scientist status in other laboratories are permitted. Principal investigators must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents
Full details at:
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf07589
