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Project Progress

SOLAR SYSTEM EDUCATOR (SSEP) ONLINE ASTROBIOLOGY TRAINING
On November 17, 2010, Solar System Educator Shirley Greene of Montana, who participated in last summer’s Astrobiology Institute for Solar System Educators, trained SSEPs by telecon in the use of the institute’s astrobiology STEM educational products. There were 39 participants in the live telecon and 21 teachers who reviewed the training archive which will remain part of the training record on the NASA Nationwide website.

SOLAR SYSTEM AMBASSADORS EVENTS
From September 1, 2010 through August 31, 2011, Solar System Ambassadors held 269 Astrobiology events reaching a total of 321,141 people. Of that number, 32,740 were direct participants, 199,160 were reached through broadcast media, 75,035 through publications, 13,870 through websites and the remaining 336 through other means. Solar System Ambassadors conduct public events for people in their local communities.

SOLAR SYSTEM EDUCATOR WORKSHOPS
From September 1, 2010 through August 31, 2011, Solar System Educators hosted 31 Astrobiology educator workshops reaching a total of 1,565 teachers in the following states (and one territory): California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia and Puerto Rico. Dr. Jim Gates of the University of Maryland was a guest speaker at one educator workshop in New Jersey. Gates sits on the President’s Advisory Council for Science and Technology. Another workshop was held at the Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota for pre-service teachers.

ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC CONFERENCE
On August 3, Solar System Educator Laura Venner of New Jersey and Kay Ferrari conducted an astrobiology themed educator workshop at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland. The 21 educators who attended this session participated in three activities: What is life?, Hypothesis Card Game, Where do we find life? NAI educator materials, including the Astrobiology 5-8 Educator resource guide, posters and DVDs were handed out.

SPACE DAY CELEBRATION
On May 20, Kay Ferrari participated in Lockheed-Martin’s Space Day Celebration for students in Riverside, California schools. About 95 percent of the students from participating grades K-8 schools are from minority families who live at or below the poverty level. Ferrari taught more than 250 students in twelve groups the NAI STEM activity, “The Hypothesis Game.”

ASTROBIOLOGY TALKS BY MAX COLEMAN
Dr. Max Coleman gave talks on Astrobiology to the following community and educational groups: University of Cincinnati Seminar (November 2010); Rotary Club of Del Amo, California (April 2011); Cal State Northridge, Imagine Mars Group at JPL (June 2011); West Covina, California Public Library talk (July 2011).

NASA PLANETARY GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROGRAM AND CALTECH SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS STUDENTS
Dr. Max Coleman employed two undergraduate summer interns, one supported by PGGURP (Danielle Ziva Shulaker) and the other SURF (Justin Christensen), both supported partially by NAI. Both will present papers as senior authors at AGU this December. One of the summer interns, Justin Christensen, had just finished two years at community college, Moorpark College, but after JPL started as a freshman at UC Berkeley. His paper at AGU has accepted for an oral presentation!