EPO News & MOWG
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EPO/MOWG Telecon Update
As you know, the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has convened an Education and Public Outreach Management Operations Working Group (E/PO MOWG) to provide input on a wide variety of issues facing SMD E/PO. Please feel free to attend the MOWG telecons.
- Next telecons: August 21, September 4, and September 18
- Time: 11:30 a.m. EST
- Telephone number: (877) 602-5788

- Participant passcode: 92887
Due to the short time available for discussion during each telecon, we must ask non-MOWG members who are not presenting, to participate in an observer (listen only) mode.
Call for proposals in Education and Public Outreach
This solicitation is for investigations or projects utilizing SMD content supporting NASA education and public outreach objectives. It solicits proposals that address substantial and substantive educational needs or problems and offer solutions of significant impact. Projects are expected to be relevant to the NASA SMD Education portfolio.
Given the many accomplishments in NASA Earth and space science education and public outreach in recent years, the program places particular emphasis on systemic and/or sustainable educational impact from SMD investments. Projects must have a clear linkage to the needs of the formal or informal educational systems.
Notices of Intent to propose (NOIs) are due May 15, 2008, and proposals are due July 15, 2008.
More information can be found at the EPO solicitation page within ROSES 2008
Abstracts of the Most Recent Selection of EPO Earth & Space Science Mid-size Projects.
Discover the Universe with NASA during the 2009 International Year of Astronomy!
In 2009 the world celebrates the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first observations of the universe through a telescope. In honor of this early event, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the United Nations have proclaimed 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy to spread awareness of astronomy's contributions to society and culture, stimulate young people's interest in science, portray astronomy as a global peaceful endeavor, and nourish a scientific outlook in society.
NASA invites YOU to join us in the celebration of IYA 2009. The Science Mission Directorate has created a website to be your connection to this momentous event. The NASA IAY website will be your portal to exciting NASA resources, events, and opportunities for involvement as we develop our program of regional and national IYA activities for students, teachers, and the public. Please visit http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov and join this international event in 2009!
Announcement of final selections under the ROSES Education and Public Outreach Supplement Grant program
We are pleased to announce selections for 12 outstanding investigations that utilize SMD content in support of NASA's education and public outreach objectives.
NASA's Science Mission Directorate received many excellent proposals and made a selection of 12 out of the 26 proposals received, Funding is provided at a total of 210K in the first year of a three year cycle. Thank you to all who proposed, and thank you to the entire community for your patience as we build an even better platform from which E/PO can be conducted. Abstracts of the selected proposals can be found here:
ROSES Education and Public Outreach Supplements Abstracts of Selected Proposals.
February 29, 2008
Dear EPO Community,
In November, 2007, shortly after I became the EPO lead for SMD, I suspended the ROSES supplemental E/PO opportunities for investigators. The suspension of the ROSES Supplemental Grants for winning proposals was necessary while we re-evaluate our current portfolio and design an easier, more effective way for scientists to reach out to the public. In the meantime, though, we wanted to give the most recent R&A grant winners a last chance to finish proposals that might have been in progress, so we extended the submission time to December 31, 2007.
I am pleased to announce that due to the hard work of our program officer for the Supplemental Grants, Doris Daou, the peer review panel met at the end of January, and the results were obtained in record time! Due to the high number of excellent proposals, we selected 50% of the 26 proposals submitted.
The proposals utilized SMD content supporting NASA education and public outreach objectives. They addressed substantial and substantive educational needs and offer solutions of significant impact. The projects selected are highly relevant to the NASA SMD Education portfolio, and utilize SMD content supporting NASA education and public outreach objectives. The PIs will receive their letters within the next two weeks, after which we will publish the winning abstracts on the SARA website.
Thank you to all who proposed, and thank you to the entire community for your patience as we build an even better platform from which E/PO can be conducted. The Supplemental program resulted in outstanding E/PO efforts- they just took too much effort to get. We want you to have both easier and more substantial opportunities to share your discoveries and your enthusiasm. Stay tuned!
Yours truly,
Yvonne Pendleton
EPO Update February 29, 2008
Dear EPO Community;
The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Education and Public Outreach Management Operations Working Group (E/PO-MOWG) has been hard at work with weekly telecons for many weeks now. We have initially been focusing on some short term 'hot button' issues that required our attention, including discussions on how to increase scientists involvement, structure of the EPO add-ons and EPOESS opportunities. Next week, we will be meeting for a 1.5 day face-to-face meeting at NASA head quarters (March 6-7).
We will begin our work the afternoon of March 6th with a review of documents that the MOWG has been generating over the last several weeks. Friday will focus on models for integrating SMD E/PO efforts, whether through Division Support Groups or other means. We will also be meeting with Joyce Winterton from the NASA Office of Education, as well as Amy Kaminsky from the OMB. A detailed agenda will be posted on the SARA website early next week.
Please feel free to attend the MOWG telecons. The telecon line will be open during the duraction of the face-to-face meeting. Observers are also welcome to attend in person, although please let us know of your intent to attend.
TELEPHONE NUMBER : 800-857-0950
PARTICIPANT PASSCODE : 88925
Please see August 18 update for current dial-in information.
Due to the short time available for discussion, we must ask non-MOWG members who are not presenting, to participate in an observer (listen only) mode. During the meetings, should an observer have something to bring to the table, opportunities to do so will be made available by emailing me in real time (ecobabeATlasp.colorado.edu).
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Emily CoBabe-Ammann
Chair, SMD E/PO MOWG
EPO Update February 15, 2008
Dear EPO Community;
As you all know, the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has convened an Education and Public Outreach Management Operations Working Group (E/PO MOWG) to provide input on a wide variety of issues facing SMD E/PO.
Please feel free to attend the MOWG telecons.
Weekly on Thursdays --- 11:30 am EST
TELEPHONE NUMBER : 800-857-0950
PARTICIPANT PASSCODE : 88925
Please see August 18 update for current dial-in information.
Due to the short time available for discussion during each telecon, we must ask non-MOWG members who are not presenting, to participate in an observer (listen only) mode. Please send me your views via email and I will do my best to collate and incorporate all input at the relevant time.
As for the MOWG, the work is just beginning! The members will be gathering input over the next couple of weeks from many sources. It's going to be an exciting and busy time, and we are hoping that we can count on your help as we wade through some of the issues on the table. The MOWG is not going to be effective without you! Collectively, you all have a tremendous amount of background and experience within SMD that the MOWG needs to be able to draw upon.
The panel members represent all four divisions for the Science Mission Directorate: Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science. Each member has been tasked to collected information from the various venues of Education and Public Outreach: active scientists, Higher Education, K-12 Formal, and Informal Education. The assignments are as follow:
| Primary | Secondary | |
|---|---|---|
| Stephanie Stockman | new media | earth sciences |
| Pat Reiff | Informal | |
| Mario Livio | Scientist Outreach | |
| Mike Newchurch | Higher education | |
| Leslie Lowes | Forums | |
| Jennifer Grier | Scientist involvement | Forums |
| Edna Devore | K-12 formal | Evaluation |
| Emily CoBabe-Ammann | Higher education |
We would like to collect input from you on a wide variety of issues facing SMD E/PO. The driver for the fired up timescale below are the needs to modify ROSES to include the replacement for supplemental grants and/or the need to create new for the community on other issues.
- What are the strengths and successes of the SMD EPO Program?
- Where would you like to see improvement?
- What is the support you have received from the Forums?
- What are the interactions you have with SMD Missions EPO?
During the last telecom, the MOWG has determined their timeline for immediate discussions and it is as follows:
21 February : Discussions on how to increase scientist involvement in Outreach
28 February : Discussions on the next call for EPOESS grants
7-8 March : Discussions on the need for and options for a Directorate Support Group
Post-March 7th : Higher Education, Other issues
April 30th : Present Findings to SMD
Longer term issues will be discussed as needed after this time period as well.
We appreciate your input. This work will result in a forward looking SMD EPO Program!
Sincerely,
Emily and Yvonne
EPO Update February 1, 2008
The EPO MOWG has had two meetings so far, and the following challenges and charter are guiding the group discussions. The next 1.5 hour MOWG telecon will be on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 11:30 am EST. Please check this location for call-in info which will be posted before 3pm EST on Wednesday afternoon, February 6. Contact Emily Cobabe-Ammann if you have an issue to suggest for conversation, but please realize that the MOWG already has a very full agenda in these early days. E-mail may be the best way to provide input right now.
Challenges to the SMD EPO Effort:
- Outreach opportunities for scientists are more burdensome than need be.
- Diverse education portfolio is vulnerable and unsustainable in the current funding climate.
- Increased professionalism of E/PO personnel across the country means that the kinds of support infrastructure needed by SMD E/PO is shifting.
Charter to the EPO MOWG:
- Evaluate the fiscal viability of SMD E/PO programs and support structures.
- Balance the SMD E/PO portfolio to meet the needs of NASA and the SMD directorate.
- Generate pathways to long-term SMD E/PO stability
- Establish more accessible outreach mechanisms for researchers
- Evaluate the model of the SMD Support Groups.
Effective November 12, 2007, Alan Stern appointed Yvonne Pendleton to be the SMD front office Education and Public Outreach (EPO) point person. In that capacity, Yvonne will be representing Alan in an overall evaluation of SMD EPO funding and go-forward strategy and plans. As a result, SMD is re-evaluating its entire EPO program. NASA's EPO program within the Science Mission Directorate is very important and we want to make sure every dollar spent is going in the direction of enhanced productivity. An EPO-MOWG has been formed from members of the external community and their input will be heavily relied upon as we plan our steps forward.
In order to evaluate and develop the strongest EPO program possible, a new working group has been created to provide input on our ideas. The EPO Management operations Working Group (MOWG) will be composed of the following individuals:
Emily CoBabe-Ammann CHAIR
303-735-5814
EcoBabe@lasp.colorado.edu
Edna DeVore
650-960-4538
edevore@seti.org
http://www.seti.org/about-us/people/staff/devore-edna.php
Jennifer Grier
301-483-8520
jgrier@psi.edu
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jgrier/
Mario Livio
410-338-4439
mlivio@stsci.edu
http://www-int.stsci.edu/~mlivio/
Leslie Lowes
818-393-7734
Leslie.L.Lowes@jpl.nasa.gov
Mike Newchurch
256-961-7825
mike@nsstc.uah.edu
http://www.atmos.uah.edu/atmchem/newchurch.html
Patricia Reiff
713-348-4634
reiff@rice.edu
http://space.rice.edu/~reiff/
Stephanie Stockman
301-614-6457
Stephanie.A.Stockman@nasa.gov
http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/personal_pages/stockman/stockman.html
Each panel member came highly recommended and they represent all four divisions for the Science Mission Directorate: Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science. The panel's membership also covers all venues of Education and Public Outreach: active scientists, Higher Education, K-12 Formal, and Informal Education. I look forward to working with this team, and I hope you will feel free to call upon any of us for more information as we move into the future.
Recent announcements relating to the SMD EPO program and a list of SMD EPO Personnel appear below. This page will be updated regularly to keep the community informed of developments in the SMD Education and Public Outreach Program. Please send your comments to Yvonne or to any of the EPO personnel listed below. We welcome your input and your support.
Announcement of selections for E.6. Opportunities in Science Mission Directorate Education and Public Outreach (NNH06ZDA001N)
We are pleased to announce selections for investigations or projects utilizing SMD content supporting NASA education and public outreach objectives. This call solicited proposals that address substantial and substantive educational needs or problems and offer solutions of significant impact. Projects were expected to be relevant to NASA SMD Education portfolio.
NASA SMD received many excellent proposals and made a selection of 15 out of the 80 received proposals for a total of 2.16M in the first year of a three year cycle. Additional proposals in the selectable category are still being considered for funding. The funds allocated were more than originally allocated for this program, indicating SMD's strong commitment to EPO.
Abstracts of the selected proposals can be found here: EPOESS Selections 2006.
Suspension of Supplemental EPO
NASA has announced the suspension of supplemental E/PO proposal opportunities for investigators (as of December 31, 2007). The suspension of the ROSES Supplemental Grants for winning proposals will give us time to devise an easier, better way to do this part of the portfolio. It has never made sense to many of us that so much effort was required to get such a low level of funding. There simply has to be a better way to enable scientists to reach out. In the meantime, rest assured that if you already have supplemental grants, they will continue for the duration of our commitment to you. Similarly, if you received an award letter inviting you to apply for a supplemental grant, you can do so until December 31, 2007. This means those of you who were already writing can still submit, although some of you will not have the usual 90 days in which to do so. After December 31, we will not accept additional supplemental grant proposals. As of November 20, the award letters for winning R&A proposals will not have the language inviting you to apply for these grants, so any award winners after November 20 should not submit Supplemental Grant proposals. The rationale here is that we want to be fair to those who were already working on proposals, but we do not want to continue to commit funds to this endeavor at this time. The review for all remaining EPO Supplemental grants will be made in January.
Postponement of Division Support Groups
NASA Cooperate Agreement Notice NNH07ZDA002C entitled "Education and Public Outreach Division Support Groups" is postponed until further notice. No proposals are solicited at this time.
This CAN requested proposals for Division Support Groups in Education and Public Outreach (EPO) which would: (1) be responsible for the coordination of NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) content produced by missions and other projects to increase coherence and leverage efforts, (2) support integration and coordination of EPO activities within and across SMD Science Divisions, and (3) support education and science community access to SMD content. A total of $3.5M per year was set aside for this with a clear expectation of dividing this funding among four selected groups, one group for each SMD Science Division.
The rescission of this solicitation does not mean the importance of this work has been devalued, only that SMD is carefully assessing its efforts so that the use of NASA funds in the EPO effort can be made more effective. After the reassessment is complete, a new solicitation for EPO support may be issued.
Education and Public Outreach (EPO) contacts
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