One of the key components of Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) is the distribution of results to the broadest community segments, including schools, the general public, and local administrators. However, as research scientists, it is often difficult for us to find either the time to interact with these groups, or to know how to prepare materials in a form that conveys the excitement and relevance of our research to the non-specialist. While NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth (Code Y) education program provides a fine range of materials at the national level, it is often at the local level where help is needed most. One aspect of NASA that MTPE investigators may not have heard about is the National Space Grant College Program, which may be able to offer the type of local educational assistance that we need.
The National Space Grant College program is run by NASA's Education Division (Code FE). There are 52 individual national programs (a consortium in each state, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico), each with a director and an advisory board. Currently, there are over 550 different institutions involved in Space Grant, so that in many states the distance to your local Space Grant affiliate is quite small. Because of this national Space Grant network, it is possible for the MTPE investigators to contact local educators who have already established an extensive network of contacts in schools, colleges, and industry to provide educational outreach. These people are often experts at implementing educational programs, but frequently lack the current information on MTPE projects that is needed to excite students at all levels.
Space Grant's charter is to promote space science in the areas of research, education, and public service. This educational outreach is conducted at all levels, including K to 12, undergraduate, graduate, and the general public. A key component of each Space Grant consortium is the Undergraduate and Graduate Fellowship Program, which makes funds available to students who are U.S. citizens to develop research interests that are focused on space or aeronautics. Consortia in the different states have different areas of specialization that focus on local strengths and interests within the community. These topics include astronomy, aeronautics and space engineering, the development and launching of small payloads using sounding rockets, Earth remote sensing, and planetary exploration. Several Space Grant consortia have strong ties to MTPE, since their directors or key associate directors are also research scientists conducting remote sensing studies of the Earth. States involved include Hawaii, Colorado, Texas, North Dakota, New Hampshire, and California.
There are many areas where MTPE investigators and Space Grant might work productively together. In particular, providing educators with materials that show the value of long-time-series satellite observations of the climate, the application of remote sensing to land use characterization, or the mitigation of natural hazards, are topics where MTPE scientists could significantly help educators. In return, Space Grant has excellent contacts with local communities, including in many cases aerospace industries, and is adept at presenting materials at the appropriate level for different types of students. In addition, Space Grant provides a stream of talented and enthusiastic undergraduate and graduate research students who could prove essential as missions such as EOS start to return their data.
For more details of the national program, check out the following Web site: http://deimos.ucsd.edu/space_grant/NASAspacegrant.html. The most useful part of this Web site is the listing of all the individual consortia Home Pages and contact addresses. In addition, there is a description of the first five years (1989 - 1994) of the Space Grant program, and the National Space Grant Strategic Plan for 1996 - 2000. You are strongly encouraged to contact your local director to see if he/she can help you with any aspect of your outreach program.