Courtesy NASA EXPRESS email list:

INSPIRE Counselors Needed

The Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience, also known as INSPIRE, is seeking educators to supervise high school students during eight-week summer internships. Positions are available at several locations across the U.S. One counselor will be selected for each of the ten NASA Field Centers.

The position requires a professional educator to coordinate NASA INSPIRE activities within the NASA Center region. The INSPIRE Counselor will be the designated point of contact for INSPIRE participants at the assigned NASA Center. Training will be provided prior to the assignment.

The position requires a minimum of a four-year degree in science, mathematics and/or technology education, a valid teaching certificate, and a minimum of three years teaching experience in grades 6-12. A combination of teaching experience and NASA education experience is also acceptable. U.S. citizenship is required.

Counselors who are chosen will receive lodging and meals during the eight-week event, travel to and from the NASA field center, and a stipend of $5,800. Oklahoma State University graduate credit is also available to those who are interested.

Applications are due May 30, 2008.

To learn more about this opportunity and how to apply, visit opportunities.nasa.okstate.edu. If you have any questions about this opportunity, please e-mail them to Richard Adams at richard.adams@okstate.edu.

Courtesy of NASA EXPRESS email list:

Girl Scouts of Northern California - San Francisco Bay Area have a cool opportunity available to them: Girls Go Tech at NASA Ames Research Center. The program runs from 22 June to 28 June 2008.

Registration is open to girls entering grades 9-12. Participants choose to attend the Aeronautics Institute, Robotics Institute or Astrobiology Institute. They then explore their chosen topic with other high school girls and get a taste of how things are done the NASA way. 

I don't know if this is quite as interesting as the mosquitoes and poison ivy and sunburn that I was accustomed to at Boy Scout camp, but on the other hand... it's a one-week resident program at NASA. We'll call it even. In any case, applications are due by 23 May 2008 for participants. 

Additionally, if you're not in grades 9 through 12, it appears that the organization is offering volunteer and paid positions to assist the program. 

On 25 April 2008, the NASA Science Mission Directorate is hosting the following online workshop...

John Ensworth at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies and the NASA Science Mission Directorate invite you to attend an upcoming online professional development workshop.

Topic: Enrichment Problems in Space Science VI
In the seventh bi-monthly installment of these mission- and inquiry-oriented mathematics problems, Dr. Sten Odenwald will supply background for and lead participants through problems from his "Problems in Space Science" series. The goal of these problems is to teach students about space weather by using mathematics. Each problem begins with real world questions, missions and situations, and applies the necessary mathematics for a solution. Participants may ask questions and work along in this fully interactive Webinar environment. http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov.

Courtesy NASA:

The 15th Great Moonbuggy Race was held in Huntsville, Alabama on 4 to 5 April 2008. High school and university students were challenged to develop human-powered rovers that race around a simulated lunar course.

The two winning teams were:

• Erie High School Team II, Erie, Kansas - Erie High School Prototyping and Problem Solving Class [cusd101.org]
  
• University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana - UE Moonbuggy Team [evansville.edu]
  

Great Moonbuggy Race web site: http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov

Where are the teams from? Of the 46 teams, most were from the US, but students from Puerto Rico, Canada, India, and Germany also traveled to Alabama to compete. The locations of each team -- high schools in red, colleges in blue -- are shown in the map below. (You can download the .kmz file here.)

View Larger Map

From the NASA EXPRESS email list:

Spring 2008 Cassini Scientist for a Day Contest

The Cassini Scientist for a Day contest challenges students to become NASA scientists studying Saturn. Participants are challenged to examine three target images taken by Cassini and choose the one that they think will yield the best scientific results. This choice must then be explained in a 500-word essay.

The contest is open to all students in the United States from grades 5-12, working alone or in groups of up to four students. The essays will be divided into three groups: grades 5-6, 7-8 and 9-12. All submissions must be students' original work. Each student can submit only one entry.

Deadline for Spring 2008 submissions is noon Pacific time (3 p.m. EDT) on May 8, 2008. For more information, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientist/. If you have questions about this contest, please e-mail your inquiries to scientistforaday@jpl.nasa.gov.

Spring 2008 is the fifth edition of Cassini Scientist for a Day. See also the results of the fourth edition in fall 2008 at the JPL web site.

I saw this last evening on the SpaceRef RSS feed --  -- regarding a program called Teaching From Space:

TFS will focus its efforts to meet three objectives:

1. Develop and provide NASA-unique experiences, opportunities, content, and resources to educators and students to increase K-12 student interest in STEM disciplines.
2. Develop and facilitate a NEAT-like (Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers) group of highly motivated educators.
3. Build internal and external partnerships with formal and informal education communities to create unique learning opportunities and professional development experiences.

Full article: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=27492 

Anyway, I've forwarded it onto the AAS Education Committee. I think it might be a good opportunity for us. Now that I'll be based in Houston -- starting next week -- perhaps it might be easier to link to Johnson Space Center Programs.

Also, I've got to check into things that the Lunar and Planetary Institute is doing. I hear about activities via their LPI_Library Twitter feed that also sound interesting.

But, first I've got to get to Houston. If you're interested, I'll post a few photos from the road from my personal blog, The Beauty of Lies.

The following information regarding internships for undergraduate students and fellowships for graduate students was recently posted to the NASA EXPRESS email list:

NASA Undergraduate Student Research Program Fall 2008 Internship Session

NASA's Undergraduate Student Research Program is currently accepting applications for 15-week fall 2008 internships. These internships offer students the opportunity to work alongside NASA scientists and engineers at NASA's centers, laboratories and test facilities.

Applicants must be U.S. college sophomores, juniors or seniors with majors or course work concentration in engineering, mathematics, computer science, or physical or life sciences. Applicants must be U.S. citizens.

The application deadline for the fall 2008 session is Feb. 29, 2008.

For more information, visit: http://education.nasa.gov/usrp

The previous deadline for the summer Graduate Student Researchers Project has been extended to 1 March 2008.

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Graduate Student Researchers Project

Applications are now being accepted for NASA's Graduate Student Researchers Project. Through GSRP, NASA awards fellowships for graduate study leading to research-based master's or doctoral degrees in science, mathematics and engineering fields related to NASA research and development.

GSRP supports approximately 300 graduate students annually. Applicants must be currently enrolled or accepted as full-time students at an accredited U.S. college or university. Applicants must also be U.S. citizens.

All application materials must be received no later than March 1, 2008. For more information, visit: GSRP Project Description [nasa.gov]

For discussion or questions about these programs, see the following thread on SEDS Forums: [link].

Students in the US in grades 5 through 12 have a chance to be a Cassini Scientist for a Day. The Cassini team has selected four targets for future study of Saturn's moons and rings. Students choose one of the targets and justify why they would study it in further detail in an essay. The winners get to see their scientific missions realized by Cassini. I like that prize -- not money, but respect for your scientific thinking.

Link: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientist
Deadline: 15 November

If I were in that age group, I'd be all over this. Working at JPL is the only constant "what I want to do with my life" since... well... my whole life. On the off chance that you're a student or a teacher that sees this post, leave a comment, and I'll try to find someone through the AAS or SEDS networks to help you with your entry. It would be a great opportunity to learn about a great exploration mission.