Education/Public Outreach

1. Education/Public Outreach Key Accomplishments, October - December 2003 • K-14 Formal Education • SOFIA E/PO gave “Active Astronomy” short courses and workshops demonstrating kits with EM spectrum and IR radiation modules, and advertising opportunity for educators eventually to fly on SOFIA to: ** 40 teachers at the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA) meeting in Long Beach (October) ** 30 teachers at the Minneapolis regional meeting of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) (November) ** 20 teachers at the Reno regional meeting of the NSTA (December)

2. Education/Public Outreach • K-14 Formal Education, continued • SOFIA E/PO subcontractor Vivian Hoette, with HAWC instrument P.I. Al Harper, presented lectures on SOFIA and IR astronomy, then demonstrated “Active Astronomy” kits to 25 teachers at Space Science Symposium hosted by DePaul University in Chicago (December) • SOFIA E/PO subcontractor Mary Kay Hemmenway, with USRA SOFIA scientist Jackie Davidson, presented lectures on SOFIA and IR astronomy to 50 teachers in the Austin TX area who are building portable Dobsonian telescopes partly subsidized by SOFIA E/PO (December)

3. Education/Public Outreach • K-14 Formal Education, continued • Dana Backman gave talks on IR astronomy, SIRTF (Spitzer), SOFIA, and the Terrestrial Planet Finder missions to: ** 60 middle school students, 80 high school students, 15 college students and finally 75 citizens attending an evening public lecture during an American Astronomical Society-sponsored Shapely Lecturer visit to Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa (November) ** 20 faculty and students at the University of Wyoming (November) ** 20 NASA-Ames college interns (October) • Jackie Davidson gave talks on SOFIA to two elementary school classes in Waco TX (December)

4. Education/Public Outreach • Informal Education • SOFIA booth and IR camera were exhibited by E/PO personnel and printed materials given out at the Ames Aero Expo (December) visited by 5000 local middle school students, teachers, and parents (with help from USRA, SPO, and Ames E/PO volunteers) • SOFIA E/PO “Active Astronomy” IR light teaching kit was demonstrated in absentia for us by NASA Origins personnel at a national Girl Scouts leaders workshop in Westchester, NY (November) • SOFIA materials (mission brochures and E/PO program pamphlets) were presented for us in NASA Origins booth displays at: • National Science Teachers Association conference, Kansas City (November) • South Carolina Science Council meeting (November) • Louisiana Science Teachers Association conference (December)

5. Education/Public Outreach • Public Outreach • NASA SPO Chief Engineer Nans Kunz gave talks on SOFIA to: > Cryogenics Society of America, Palo Alto (October) > Swedish Round Table #33 (businessmen’s group), Nyko:ping, Sweden (December) • Scientific Community Outreach • SOFIA E/PO poster “Education Partners at 41,000 feet” was presented in a special education session at the American Geophysical Union convention in San Francisco (December)

6. Education/Public Outreach • Management and related • D. Backman, E. DeVore, and M. Bennett attended a 2-day symposium in DC on “Communicating Astronomy to the Public” sponsored by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (October) • T. Castellano, astronomer at Ames, produced a Memo of Understanding combining his “transitsearch” research project’s public outreach to amateur astronomers with SOFIA E/PO efforts in the same direction.