Figure 2.
Gemini Public Information
and Outreach Intern
Sylvia Kowalski (left)
takes directions from
Gemini Associate Director
of Development Scot
Kleinman (right) and
Keaukaha Elementary
students as she pretends to
be the Mars Curiosity Rover.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
— sponsored a NASA Lunar and Meteorite
Sample Certification Workshop led by NASA
Solar System Exploration Research Virtual
Institute‘s (SSERVI) Brian Day and Joseph
Minafra. In addition, NASA’s Brian Mitchell
— the Education and Public Outreach man-
ager for NASA’s Discovery/New Frontiers/
Lunar Quest Program Office at the Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama,
— delivered an inspiring public talk titled,
“Discovery, New Frontiers, and Solar System
Exploration.”
A highlight of this year’s Journey program
was the return of Hilo-raised student and
astrophysics PhD candidate Devin Chu from
University of California Los Angeles. An
alumnus of the Journey program (and Hilo
High School), Chu shared with students,
teachers, and the community how the Jour-
ney program influenced and helped guide
his dream of becoming an astronomer. Dur-
ing the week he also returned to his alma
mater of Hilo Intermediate to model the ef-
fects of gravity on massive bodies using a
“gravity well.”
Figure 3.
NASA SSERVI’s Jennifer Baer engages Kapiolani
Elementary students in an activity on manipulating
graphics using a tablet.
Figure 4.
Tomonori Usuda, Director of the Thirty Meter
Telescope-Japan, has fun with Hilo Intermediate
School students, showing them the ins and outs of
the Subaru Telescope.
30
GeminiFocus
April 2017