#stem outreach

[hit-with-rock]

Fun Volunteer Opportunity for STEM Professionals [Closed]

Letters to a Pre-Scientist is a non-profit where people working in any STEM field exchange penpal letters with a current middle/high school student. The goal is that through personal discussion with a scientist, students gain more awareness of what STEM professionals look like and do at work and inspire students to explore a future in STEM. Even though the 2024-2025 school year has started, they need about 500 more scientists to be penpals. Students are from US schools, but volunteers can be from the US or abroad. It's open to anyone working in STEM, also including undergraduate and graduate students.

This is my second year participating and it is a fun way for STEM outreach. It's about a ten-hour time commitment over the year as you write 4 themed letters in response to your student penpal. The only cost for participation is the cost of mailing your letters.

If this interests you at all check out their website: For STEM Professionals - Letters to a Pre-Scientist (prescientist.org) and consider registering!

Edit 10/16: Registration is now closed - but if this still interests you, bookmark the site or follow their socials for when next year’s registration opens this summer!

[harpsona]

Like video games?

Do you want to learn basic game dev for free in an introductory workshop? Are you in the greater Seattle area? Look no further!

I’m hosting a free* @girlsmakegames workshop at the Pacific Science Center on Saturday June 17, 2017 from 3-5pm.

Interested?

Please register at http://girlsmakegames.com/registration.html

*registration is free, but non-members of the Pacific Science Center will need to pay for admission

Sharing is Caring

Please spread the word and let others know (*'▽') If you are interested in volunteering or becoming a camp counselor (paid) for the full 3-week summer camp, please message me!

[bsuobservatory]

We're Open Tonight!

The observatory will be open tonight, Sept. 27, 7:30 - 9:00 pm! We expect mostly clear skies, and to see Saturn, the Moon, the Ring Nebula, globular cluster M13, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Double Cluster, and the binary star systems Albireo and Mizar.

Here's a a nice picture of the Double Cluster in the constellation Perseus (we didn't take this picture, but it's similar to what you'd see through our telescopes - you won't see a lot of those dim background stars, though). [Image Credit and Copyright: Greg Polanski | Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day].

[kuiperkat]

There is still time to join the ranks of the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Solar System Ambassadors!

While applications will be sought nationwide, interested parties from the following areas are especially encouraged to apply: Delaware, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, District of Columbia and US territories.

Applications close on September 30.

[kuiperkat]

Hey, you!

Do you enjoy STEM, but can’t find any outreach programs in your area? Do you enjoy talking to people? Are you over the age of 18? Why not apply to be a Solar System Ambassador?

📣APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN📣

[stavee]

So thankful I was able to be a part of the Blacks In Government (BIG) STEAM event yesterday!

It was a lot of fun and the kids were awesome. They had so many good questions and such energetic attitudes! I also got to meet some new faces that work at HQ and network a little. NASA HQ, if you want me back, I'm more than happy to come! (The weather is better here than Florida 😉)

[spacenerdhappy]

First STEAM event in a while was this morning and let me tell you, while I hate running the Balloon Rocket Race exhibit and I got close to losing my voice projecting, it was a ton of fun. Only one kid was upset for the whole event and there were a large fraction of the kids that asked a ton of questions- GOOD questions, too. A few even got me to teach them about sums of moments and forces and we did a few experiments after their group was done with the races.

I think though, my favorite of the day was a tiny little kid called Logan who wanted to explain all about his ideas for robotic support dogs of all different kinds of breeds (also a robo-giraffe and flying cars). He had so much enthusiasm and you could tell he'd really been thinking about it (considering he was a third grader). Kids absolutely love it when you take an interest in what they're talking about, what their ideas are, and he was no exception as he talked my ear off and asked me if I'd seen various robot dog related movies and what I thought about his ideas. 

Usually, I feel bad about spending a lot of time talking to one kid when there's a group, but some of his classmates joined in on it and the rest had already questioned themselves out. I asked Logan if he was going to make all these inventions, be an engineer, and he said he 'could probably do it' in such a casual way that I really hope he does and that our future is blessed by robots serving the needs of people (and I get to see that robo-giraffe; he was singularly unimpressed with my idea of a robo-dog that had an extendable neck).

🚀

[stavee]

What does my job look like? Playing VR, actually