Meeting Astronauts!

Tuesday I had an invite to attend the official NASA Astronaut Class Introduction.  Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator, introduced the newest class of astronaut graduates at a live TV event at NASA Headquarters in DC.  A class of middle school students from a local school were also invited.  It was a cool moment when Charles Bolden acknowledged the Einstein Fellows in the audience on live TV.  They showed a short video and then presented the new astronauts and opened it up to questions.  Afterwards, I was bold enough to ask if they would let us get a picture with the new astronauts.

Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Technology

This week I traveled with two other Einstein Fellows to Portland Oregon for the Grace Hopper Celebration.

Fellow Einsteins at Grace Hopper.

Fall is beautiful in Portland.

People were lined up around the block and waiting in the rain for one of Portland's famous Voodoo donuts.

Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu

Sec. Chu is 4th from the left.

October 28 I traveled to NASA Goddard with other Einstein Fellows to to listen to a presentation by Steven Chu, Nobel Prize winner in Physics and now Secretary of Energy for the United States of America.  It was important to President Obama that this important position in our government be held by someone that was a scientist first, politician second.  His talk was titled, How Innovation has Changed [and will continue to change] the World. He noted some key discoveries:

Haber-Bosch Process that made it possible to harvest nitrogen in the air for fertilizer and changed the world's ability to feed itself.

Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize for the development of a new disease resistant wheat that is credited for saving a billion people worldwide from starvation .

William Shockley's development of the transistor from the vacuum tubes.

Integrated circuits - optical fibers - wireless communication.

He ended with a plea for continued investment in Research and Development by the US which is currently 9th in the world for annual R&D investment.  We need, "Invented in America, made in America, and sold worldwide."

The week of October 17th

It has been one week since I returned to DC from Idaho.  After being gone for 10 days, I had a lot of work waiting for me.  This post is just a random review of my week at NSF and about.

One of my responsibilities is to maintain a listing of all of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Sites for my division.  So my first task was to answer about 40 emails from Principle Investigators of REU sites concerning their update information and to then make updates to the NSF website.

I also attended a three hour briefing on Mathematics Common Core Standards and what they mean for NSF.  I talked with Steve Robinson, former Einstein Fellow and now Special Assistant for the White House Domestic Policy Council, about how rural states like Idaho will be able to pay for the Professional Development teachers are going to need as they adopt the new standards.  His suggestion was that districts think about using Title II money to develop Professional Development instead of using it to reduce class size.  He stated that research shows that smaller classroom size does not improve student achievement.  He also encouraged districts to start now on Professional Development, not wait for the 2013 deadline.

Tuesday was a meeting with Einstein Fellows to decide how to proceed on a committee for suggestions to  improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education at NSF.  That was followed by a committee meeting for ideas for NSF to become involved in National Computer Science Week.

It is not all work and no play at NSF.  On Wednesday was my division's picnic.  Because it was rainy, we stayed inside.  Our Division Director has spent a lot of time in Hawaii so we went with a Hawaiian theme with food, music, dress, and dancing.

Me with and fellow Einstein, Ann D.

Co-workers learning to hula.

Thursday was the Einstein Fellows monthly meeting.  We met at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where Director Kent Hughes lead a discussion on how project based learning could be incorporated into classrooms.  I also learned some beginning basics for using Twitter.

Friday I finished my poster for a Poster Session in the NSF atrium where Program Directors and staff are introduced to all of the Einstein Fellows.

I was a part of a panel discussion for Planning Grants for a Computing Education for the 21st Century solicitation.  I had been frantically reading proposals and writing reviews every free moment for the past week to prepare for the panel discussion.  That evening was Teacher's Night at the Smithsonian.  An evening where they open up one of the museums for teachers to come and eat and drink and check out the many tables where exhibitors displayed their educational materials.

It has been a very busy week, but then, every week is busy here.

A day with Jon's and Anna's families

Tuesday Jon and Charlotte drove up to spend the day with us.  We took the kids on a walk on the Greenbelt along the river.  We make quite a group with 5 adults, 7 kids, a dog, a bike, scooter, stroller, and unicycle. I thank Jon's family for spending his day off with us.  I never get tired of spending time with the kids.

Idaho Council of Teachers of Mathematics

October 5, I flew to Idaho to attend the ICTM conference in Idaho Falls.  I rented a car in Boise and then drove to Idaho Falls.  My surprise was when the economy car I ordered turned out to be a new Ford Mustang.  It has really been fun driving this week.

Notice the snow.  While I was in Idaho Falls, they had their first snow fall of the year.  It snowed about 5 inches before the day was through.  I stayed at my cousin Sharon's house and she fixed a great dinner for me and her daughter, Merrelee's family.  I had such a nice evening laughing and telling stories with them.

While at the math conference, I had the opportunity to present a workshop for teachers. It is a great hands-on lesson on functions that students really enjoy using string and water.

Green Bank Radio Telescope Observatory

Saturday morning Geraldine and I drove to Green Bank, West Virginia to meet other Einstein Fellows at the site of the largest radio telescope in the U.S.  We gone on the same field trip the previous year.  It was a great retreat and an opportunity to get away from work and the city.  It is a "quiet zone" and we had no cell phones, computers, and limited digital camera use.  It is about a 5 hour drive from my apartment.

This is the largest radio telescope in North America.  It is more than 400 feet high.  The area of the disk is about 2 1/2 acres.  They also have many other smaller and older telescopes.  There are about 70 total.  The observatory is financed by the National Science Foundation.

It was a relaxing weekend with fresh, crisp air.  We stayed in a dorm-like rooms with a shared kitchen and lounging area.  In the evening we played Scrabble and Uno.  West Virginia is beautiful.  We were right in the middle of the Shenandoah  Mountains.