Greetings from SOFIA Education and Public Outreach office of the Strospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)!

Our plan to fly educators on SOFIA to observe and participate in front-line scientific research has been a keystone of the E/PO program since the beginning of the SOFIA project. SOFIA is the first major observatory designed from the start with significant facilities (console, seats, special intercom line) specifically to support participation by educators. Our goal is to have teachers, science museum staff, etc. from every corner of every state, over the 20 year mission lifetime, who become better educators as well as ambassadors for NASA after partnering with SOFIA's astronomers and engineers.

In this issue of the SOFIA Educators Newsletter, you will find:

1) SOFIA project overview with web link
2) SOFIA project update - latest news; web link to astronomer's newsletter
3) introductions to the SOFIA E/PO staff
4) report on SOFIA E/PO accomplishments for the past year with web link
5) upcoming SOFIA E/PO activities

The next newsletters are planned for August 2004 and February 2005, after which we expect to switch to a quarterly schedule.


1) SOFIA project overview

Flying at and above an altitude of 41,000 ft (12.5 km) above more than 99% of atmospheric water vapor, SOFIA consists of a specially modified Boeing 747-SP aircraft carrying a 2.5-meter reflecting telescope designed to make sensitive infrared measurements of a wide range of astronomical objects. SOFIA is a collaborative effort between NASA, prime contractor USRA (Universities Space Research Associates), the German Aerospace Center DLR, the SETI Institute, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. It will be a flagship observatory for infrared and sub-millimeter astronomy for the next two decades.

Further details of the SOFIA project can be found by downloading the following Word document:
http://sofia.arc.nasa.gov/Edu/newsletter/enewsletter_04Feb/docs/SOFIA_overview.doc


2) SOFIA project update - latest news

As of this writing (January 2004) SOFIA is nearing the final stages of development. The modifications to the aircraft are continuing at L-3 in Waco, Texas. The telescope assembly and the primary mirror arrived in Waco in September 2002. The telescope assembly was installed in its compartment aboard the aircraft in February 2003, and the mirror was installed in July 2003. The first test flights of the aircraft are expected to take place in early 2005. Transfer of the aircraft to NASA-Ames is expected in late 2005 followed by the first science commissioning flights and Operations Readiness Review (ORR) when the observatory transitions from development phase to regular operations.

SOFIA's chief scientist and director-designate Dr. Eric Becklin issued the ninth SOFIA Electronic Newsletter a few weeks ago to the astronomy research community, reporting major accomplishments in integration of the SOFIA telescope into the aircraft as well as in operation and pointing of the telescope.

To view the SOFIA astronomy research community's newsletter on the web with accompanying images, please visit: http://sofia.arc.nasa.gov/Science/newsletter/2004/newsletter_2004_v9.html


3) Meet the SOFIA E/PO staff and contractors

The SOFIA E/PO program is subcontracted by USRA to the SETI Institute and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

Please visit: http://sofia.arc.nasa.gov/Edu/programs/epo_staff.html for more information about our staff and some pictures.

Dana Backman became the manager of SOFIA E/PO in June 2003. Prior to that he was a professor of physics and astronomy at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for 12 years. An infrared astronomer, he received his doctoral degree in astrophysics from the University of Hawai'i. He worked on several research flights of SOFIA's predecessor the Kuiper Airborne Observatory while a post-doctoral researcher at NASA-Ames.

Mike Bennett is the Executive Officer for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in San Francisco, an organization with long experience fostering good relations and mutual support between astronomy researchers, educators, amateurs and the public. Mike has been an astronomy teacher and a planetarium director in many corners of the US. He was co-managing the SOFIA E/PO effort until Dana was hired and continues to be involved on a part-time basis.

Edna DeVore is Director of Education and Outreach and Deputy CEO of the SETI Institute. She is also co-investigator for E/PO on the NASA Kepler Discovery mission and SETI Institute's astrobiology research. Edna was a science teacher and planetarium director in several parts of northern California before directing the FOSTER program that put teachers onboard the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, a preview of what we plan to do with SOFIA. She was co-managing the SOFIA E/PO effort until Dana was hired and continues to be involved on a part-time basis.

Pamela Harman is the Education and Outreach Manager at the SETI Institute who works part of the time with SOFIA E/PO. She also works on the Kepler Mission and NASA Astrobiology EPO programs. An interesting path led her to her present position, including teaching high school science in Pacifica, CA, and working as a construction project manager in both northern and southern California. She has an engineering degree from Iowa State University.

Vivian Hoette is the Education and Outreach Coordinator at U. Chicago's Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin and works part-time with SOFIA E/PO. She also works with the Hands-On Universe project, taking requested images using the telescopes at Yerkes for teachers and their students, and designs content for Chicago State University's NASA Saturday Academy for Space Science's Chicago high school student program. Vivian taught elementary, middle and high school students in Illinois. She also was an education specialist at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago. Vivian has a Masters Degree from Governors State University in Illinois.

Darlene Mendoza is our new office intern. She is a junior at Santa Clara University majoring in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations. Among many other tasks she is in charge of keeping and updating the mailing list for this newsletter.

Leslie Proudfit started as an intern with SOFIA in 1999, when the E/PO department consisted of 3 people in one room of a trailer. She is now SOFIA's Multimedia Assistant, responsible for designing and updating flyers, brochures, and other materials for the SOFIA project. Leslie works half time with SOFIA and half time as web-master for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.


4) Activities and accomplishments of SOFIA E/PO over the past year

We continued our nationwide program of presentations regarding SOFIA and IR astronomy at science teacher conventions, alerting teachers to the upcoming opportunity to fly on SOFIA and collaborate with astronomers. We also demonstrated invisible light "Active Astronomy" lesson kits for middle and high school curricula developed in collaboration with Spitzer E/PO.

An educational poster about electromagnetic radiation and multi-wavelength astronomy was produced by NASA Origins E/PO Forum groups including SOFIA. We arranged for the poster to be bundled with issues of "Science Scope" and "Science Teacher" magazines (respectively for middle and high school teachers, total circulation 45,000), "The Physics Teacher" magazine (10,000 circulation in the U.S. and abroad), and "The Planetarian" magazine for planetarium directors. Edna DeVore of SOFIA E/PO was one of two co-authors of the article explaining the poster in the science teacher magazines.

Two articles were published in "Astronomy Education Review" (http://aer.noao.edu) regarding design and evaluation of our national distance-learning course "The Invisible Universe Online" sponsored by SOFIA and Spitzer E/PO and administered by Montana State University. This is a model for a web-based course to train educators for SOFIA collaborations.

Further information about our recent activities and accomplishments can be found in the following PowerPoint presentations:

SOFIA E/PO FY03 (Oct 2002 - September 2003) downloadable at: http://sofia.arc.nasa.gov/Edu/newsletter/enewsletter_04Feb/docs/CY_2003_Q4.ppt

and 4th quarter calendar 2003 reports to NASA downloadable at: http://sofia.arc.nasa.gov/Edu/newsletter/enewsletter_04Feb/docs/FY_2003_summary.ppt


5) SOFIA E/PO plans for the coming year

NSTA national meeting, Atlanta, April 2004: SOFIA E/PO will collaborate with Spitzer Space Telescope E/PO to give a 1-hour workshop on electromagnetic radiation, infrared light, and infrared astronomy. SOFIA E/PO will also be one of the presenters in a 3-hour short course being organized by the Origins E/PO Forum and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Hope to see you there!

CSTA and NSTA regional meetings: SOFIA E/PO has applied to give both short courses and workshops on IR astronomy and "Active Astronomy" classroom demo kits at the California Science Teachers Association meeting in San Jose CA, October 2004, and the NSTA regional meetings in Indianapolis, Seattle, and Richmond VA in November and December 2004. Remember to enroll in the short course early! Hope to see you there!

ASTC meeting: The Association of Science and Technology Centers will hold its annual meeting in San Jose, CA in September 2004. SOFIA E/PO has applied to host a roundtable discussion with informal educators regarding their wishes and needs for support and material from the SOFIA mission.

SOFIA will be flying in 2005. The opportunity for educators to apply to participate in flights should be available soon after. We'll announce the opportunity and give application instructions through a later edition of this newsletter. Get ready! Watch this space!

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