The NASA Alabama Space Grant Consortium is excited to receive a second year of outreach grant funding from the National Space Club in Huntsville to support Student Outreach Ambassadors who visit Alabama students in grades 2-12 to deliver engaging STEM presentations. This generous funding has enabled ASGC to develop a new presentation entitled "Our Solar System," specifically designed for 2nd-4th graders, bringing the wonders of planetary science directly into classrooms through visits from trained student ambassadors. By supporting these interactive educational experiences, the National Space Club in Huntsville is helping to ignite curiosity about space exploration and inspire Alabama's youngest learners to pursue futures in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Additional funding was received from Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti's EPSCoR CAN award to support STEM outreach programs with the Alabama Space Grant Consortium that bring her groundbreaking research on dark matter and galaxy dynamics to K-12 students across Alabama. Through hands-on activities and engaging presentations, students are introduced to cutting-edge astrophysics and learn how scientists detect the invisible dark matter that shapes our galaxy, inspiring young learners to see themselves as future explorers of the cosmos.
Ambassadors traveled nearly 1,700 miles to bring "Coding a Mars Rover" presentation to 24 school systems across the state, providing space exploration outreach to 2,266 4th-12th grade students.