Oct 18 2010
From The Space Library
RELEASE: 10-021
STELLAR STUDENTS SELECTED AS NASA AMBASSADORS
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected 105 of its best and brightest interns and fellows for the NASA Student Ambassador Program. The agency uses the program to engage undergraduate and graduate students in NASA science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, research and interactive opportunities. Selected students represent 33 states and 81 universities from across the nation. NASA managers and mentors nominated the recipients from the hundreds of interns and fellows engaged in research and education opportunities across the agency. The NASA Student Ambassadors initiative further recognizes exceptional students. "To ensure success in meeting future exploration goals, the agency requires greater depth of knowledge and pursuit of innovation than ever before, said Joyce Winterton, assistant administrator for Education at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA and the nation must adapt to the changing landscape and develop new strategies to cultivate its future workforce. Members of the NASA Student Ambassadors virtual community will interact with the agency while sharing information, making professional connections, and collaborating with peers. They also will represent NASA in a variety of venues and help the agency inspire and engage future interns and fellows. The community's Web site provides participants access to tools needed to serve as a NASA Student Ambassador. The site provides strategic communication opportunities, the latest NASA news, science and technology updates, blogs, and announcements. It contains member profiles, forums, polls, NASA contact information, links to agency mission related communications' research and career resources. "The virtual community Web site is an outreach vehicle to the nation's students as well as a way to engage exceptional Gen-Y NASA students, said Mabel Matthews, lead for the community and manager of Higher Education at NASA Headquarters. This activity is a leading effort to help NASA attract, engage, educate and employ the next generation. With this and the agency's other college and university programs, NASA will identify and develop the critical skills and capabilities needed to achieve its mission. This program is tied directly to the agency's major education goal of strengthening the future STEM workforce for NASA and the nation.
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RELEASE: 10-332
NASA NAMES WALEED ABDALATI AS AGENCY'S NEW CHIEF SCIENTIST
WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has named Waleed Abdalati the agency's chief scientist, effective Jan. 3. Abdalati will serve as the principal adviser to the NASA administrator on agency science programs, strategic planning and the evaluation of related investments. Abdalati is currently the director of the Earth Science and Observation Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He also is an associate professor in the university's geography department. Between 1998 and 2008, Abdalati held various positions at NASA in the areas of scientific research, program management and scientific management. His research has focused on the study of polar ice cover using satellite and airborne instruments. He has led or participated in nine field and airborne campaigns in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Abdalati will represent all of the scientific endeavors in the agency, ensuring they are aligned with and fulfill the administration's science objectives. He will advocate for NASA science in the context of those broader government science agendas and work closely with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget. "We are excited to have Waleed return to the agency during such a critical transition period, Bolden said. His experience, wide-range of scientific knowledge and familiarity with NASA will greatly benefit the agency. He will be a true advocate for our many and diverse science research and exploration programs. During his first tenure at NASA, Abdalati served as the head of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. He also managed the Cryospheric Sciences Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Abdalati is a fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, a joint venture between the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. His research examines how and why the Earth's ice cover is changing and what those changes mean for life on our planet. Abdalati received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University in 1986, a Master of Science in aerospace engineering sciences from the University of Colorado in 1991, and a doctorate in 1996 from the Department of Geography at the University of Colorado, where he was one of the first graduates of the university's Program in Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and NASA-related technical reports, with approximately 1,500 citations in the peer-reviewed literature. Abdalati has received numerous awards for his research and service to NASA, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, and two NASA Group Achievement Awards.
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MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-072
NASA ANNOUNCES TELEPHONE MEDIA BRIEFING WITH NEEMO 14 CREW
WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference Friday, May 21, at 3:15 p.m. EDT with the crew of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, living underwater off the coast of Florida. On May 10, NASA sent two astronauts, a veteran undersea engineer and a scientist on a 14-day expedition to test exploration concepts and to learn more about working in an unforgiving, treacherous space-like environment. Reporters should contact NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston at 281-483-5111 by noon May 21 for dial-in information. Canadian reporters should RSVP to the Canadian Space Agency at 450-926-4370. Canadian Space Agency astronaut and veteran spacewalker Chris A. Hadfield leads the 14th NEEMO mission aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Aquarius Underwater Laboratory. The crew also includes NASA astronaut and flight surgeon Thomas Marshburn, Electric Rover Deputy Project Manager Andrew Abercromby and research scientist Steve Chappell. Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio The University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) operates Aquarius on behalf of NOAA as part of the agency's Undersea Research Program. Reporters can monitor the UNCW webcam at: http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius/thumb_cam.htm The NEEMO missions are a cooperative project among NASA, NOAA and UNCW.
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