Meteor Shower!

Hello World!

Tonight begins a meteor shower! 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/05/22/meteor-shower-camelopardalid/9434097/

If you decide to check out this starry night, be sure to let your eyes adapt to the dark for at least 20 minutes, it will appear as if there are more stars then when you first looked up at the sky, but in reality it is a phenomenon known as adaptation! Your visual systems "switches" from its less sensitive color broadband to the more sensitive luminance channel, for more on that check out this fun link http://www.optics4kids.org/getattachment/13cb7b00-117a-4e69-9d5d-35ad7d949199/Optical-Illusions.aspx

Or this on line text book 

http://webvision.med.utah.edu/book/part-viii-gabac-receptors/light-and-dark-adaptation/

Why should you eat tonight's falling stars? Because they are "meteor" (meatier), :) a joke created by my dad, brought to you by me, in all seriousness, please enjoy the night sky and the beauty of many falling stars, if I make any wishes, it will be for world peace and STEM for all who desire it. 

:)

Rocket stars & Red Carpets (part 2)

Hello World!

Here is part 2 from my experience on the red carpet with rocket stars. I will share with you new STEM programs I learned of and the amazing STEM projects lead by the youth of today interspersed with displays that I found inspiring!

First, cool new programs- I have blogged about Mavericks before but in case you did not see their nifty video where they launch payloads into high altitude check outhttp://science.kqed.org/quest/video/amateur-rocketeers-reach-for-the-stars/

You can also find scholarship opportunities with the astronaut foundation (the reason for this fabulous gala!) at http://astronautscholarship.org

As far as cool projects, they covered a wide spectrum of degrees (mechanical engineering to aeronautics to acoustics) and areas of application, from the human body to hospitals, here is where our future is headed! One young lady is working on "human body on a chip: producing micro fluidic tissue scaffolds" with the goal of replicating human physiological systems for safer drug and vaccine testing. 

Another women is studying the Kirkendell effect. This is where gaps in bonded materials occur, traction ally, this means less efficiency in the materials desired purpose but she is looking at these gaps  in a new way, using this phenomenon to create 3D hollow woven structures, these micro structures may aid structure and heating, which is pretty cool (or hot).

Another women is studying the mechanical design of the InSight Mars lander to reveal the mysteries of terrestrial planet evolution by studying seismology, heat flux, and meteorite impacts. Pretty impressive! What is amazing is that all those women were young students, showing your ideas, knowledge and passions can be noticed and make a difference today as well as in shaping our future. 

There was another woman who served on the board of the astronaut scholars, she has her own engineering consultant company http://www.quietlymakingnoise.com where she helps literally design a better world, such as hospitals with reduced noise so patients will heal faster. 

Highlighting the importance of diversity was one guy studying diversity platforms, creating tools from reliability engineering to assist decision-makers in tracing the impact of force diversity on risk and reliability. I was very impressed with these great projects and the people behind them, I am excited for the future and convinced that we must harness diversity, girl power, math, and more for the incredible journey of life.

Whatever you study or do, let us go forward and err on the side of awesome!

:)

Red Carpets and Rocket Stars (part 1)

Hello World! 

I have returned from a glamorous evening walking down the red carpet and mingling with rocket stars, it was such a blast and so far out ;) 

Red carpet and the dreamy Saturn 5

I socialized with politicians, astronauts, and all types of people who support STEM, as we celebrated new astronaut hall of fame inductees and raised money for the next generation of star scientists, engineers, and allied supporters. 

STEM celebrity sightings included Charlie Bolden, Winston Scott, Kathy Thornton, inductee Shannon Lucid and more! To read their bios and amazing accomplishments check out http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/

It was really cool to meet women who were pioneers, explorers, scientists, pilots, executive officers, and more, but also cool to hang out with male advocates and supporters, too. I believe we are all in this together-making one part of a system better has an influence on all parts of a system, be it a beautiful rocket, a fancy gala, or social relations. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to be in this crowd, doing my part for STEM, meeting other educators and leaders, learning about technology on the horizon, and honoring past STEM culture. It was inspiring and fun! And even fashionable! One astronaut auctioned off his special made tartan pattern tie, others wore the little black dress with star themed accessories, many sharp looking gowns and tuxes... I decided to go with my work suit, but it Was designed by Calvin Klien. From the red carpet to the rockets and the STEM stars, it was as glamorous as it gets! I will share specific new STEM program information I learned and other educational or inspirational items from the weekend in the next post. But I leave you with this quote and encourage You to dream big and reach for the stars :)