Our program engages students and the public through a variety of programs that engage our local communities through our distributed network of researchers, through museum partners, and with new and social media programs. Below we list out our key projects.
- Enhancing the Science Communication Capabilities of Disabled Writers – The Moon as a Catalyst: In Spring 2023, JA Grier will lead a retreat to promote and support disabled writers interested in space science. The goal of the retreat is to create a supportive network for writers to engage with TREX/SSERVI/PSI scientists and to provide a new voice in space science to the public that includes disability and other intersectional concerns. Overall, we seek to provide a positive view of science and the scientific process and help the general public develop understanding of science and trust in science process an increase the vectors by which the general public encounters informed and positive views of science (social media, advocacy groups, writer’s platforms, creative writing, etc.) Enhancing the Science Communication Capabilities of Disabled Writers – The Moon as a Catalyst.
- Engaging Artists: In April 2022, Jamie Molaro led the first successful TREX supported workshop in Tucson, AZ: Making Space: A Workshop on Space, SciArt & Society, a community workshop for scientists, artists, and educators. The workshop brought together diverse individuals to think about creating and sharing planetary science. https://www.psi.edu/news/sciartmolaro
- Meteorite Outreach Kits: The Planetary Science Institute has over 10 years of experience curating rocks kits, including meteorite kits, impact rocks, desert rocks and volcanic rocks. These kits have been used for hundreds of outreach events across the country and include samples from the Moon, Vesta, and other asteroids. Each set of samples is protected in a Pelican Box and comes with posters and handouts for interpretation. PSI has worked with numerous museums to create support materials for interpretation and has trained hundreds of volunteers with varying science expertise, to engage the public with such kits.
- Student Biographers: As part of our science engagement programs, we recruited students to interview and prepare biographies of our team scientists. This work was done in collaboration with in Mrs. Laura Childs, International Baccalaureate Coordinator at Edgewood High School by the students listed below.
Past Events
- Outreach, July 2022
Neil Pearson and Sanlyn Buxner, “Rover Science in the Field” at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Larry Lebofsky supported the event by showing visitors the TREX meteorite kit. - Outreach, July 2022
Sanlyn Buxner and Larry Lebofsky, activities for Space Night at Tucson Children’s Museum. - Outreach, June 2022
Tom Prettyman, featured speaker for Asteroid Day hosted by Chabot Space and Science Center. - Outreach May, 2022
Sanlyn Buxner and Larry Lebofsky ran telescopes and hands-on interactions with meteorites to celebrate the total lunar eclipse at the Flandrau Science Center in Tucson, AZ. - Classroom presentation, May 2022
Sanlyn Buxner talked about solar system exploration and meteorites at Davis Bilingual Elementary School in Tucson, AZ. - Classroom presentation, May 2022
Sanlyn Buxner talked about solar system exploration and meteorites at Lineweaver Elementary School in Tucson, AZ. - Outreach, April 2022
Amanda Hendrix and Sanlyn Buxner gave a virtual presentation on TREX field work for Chabot Space and Science Center teen and adult volunteers. - Outreach, April 2022
Jamie Molaro hosted Making Space: A Workshop on Space, SciArt & Society, a community workshop for scientists, artists, and educators in Tucson, AZ. - Outreach, March 2022
Maria Banks gave a lecture on the Moon and TREX research at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Denver. - Outreach, May 2018
Maria Banks ran activities and performed the “The Star Spangled Banner,” at the NASA at Fenway event for school children. (Organized by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team) - Flash Talk, December 2017
Amanda Hendrix, “Preparing for new astronaut footprints: NASA’s TREX team,” at the NASA booth at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans, LA. - Seminar, October 2017
Amanda Hendrix, “The Moon: Our Closest Neighbor,” at the Colorado School of Mines, hosted by IMAPCT Co-I Angel Abbud-Madrid. - Seminar, September 2017
Lynnae Quick, Identifying locations of volatiles near volcanic constructs at equatorial latitudes on the lunar surface. Presented at Howard University. In addition to giving her talk, she recruited undergrads to help on TREX tasks. - Public Talk, August 2017
Amanda Hendrix, “Learning about our Moon during the Eclipse”, at a K-12 school in Dubois, WY. In addition to giving her talk, Hendrix handed out SSERVI eclipse glasses and LRO/NASA/Moon swag. Some of the students were involved in CATE projects.