Pam Casto is an Education Specialist at NASA's IV&V Educator Resource Center. She provides West Virginia educators with STEM knowledge and training opportunities that can be directly applied in the classroom.  

Many are surprised to learn that Googling the term “NASA Archaeology” will return 6,060 hits.

NASA, while developing remote sensing technology to examine far off places, has made life much easier for archaeologists on Earth. In the past searching for a lost tomb, lost city or even an entire lost civilization could take months or years. Now, it often only takes days.  

With instruments on many different types of spacecraft, NASA examines the universe in many wavelengths of light: radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light waves, ultraviolet waves, x-rays and gamma rays. NASA also studies earth with some of these wavelengths and that has made archaeologists very happy.

For example, Dr. Compton Tucker, senior Earth scientist at NASA’s Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center, used cutting-edge NASA technology, including magnetometers and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), to assist the government of Turkey in the location and excavation of ancient tombs. Tucker and his teams were racing against tomb robbers to find undisturbed tombs filled with archaeological treasures.

Thanks to NASA IV&V, educators in W.Va. also had the opportunity to use GPR to try to locate missing graves. With contributions from IV&V, WV Space Grant Consortium, Fairmont State University, Ohio Valley Archaeology and the Morgantown History Museum, W.Va. educators at a week-long 2011 summer camp explored how NASA uses wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum to study features of outer space and features here on Earth. One day was spent in an attempt to verify and validate stories of missing graves by doing a GPR survey to look for features at Kern’s Fort, a pre-Revolutionary War fort in Morgantown. GPR uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band to detect the reflected signals from subsurface structures. Graves typically reflect the waves differently than the surrounding soil.

Kern’s Fort was built in 1772 as a fortified cabin. Around 1774, a stockade wall was added. According to early records, it was one of the largest private forts in the area. There are sources from the late 1700’s and early 1800’s that refer to eleven burials at or near the fort. These include two children and six slaves who died of smallpox, two men killed in a skirmish with Native Americans (who were siding with the British), and Michael Kern’s himself, believed to be buried within one hundred yards of the fort. After the Revolutionary War, the stockade and various outbuildings inside it were taken down. The city of Morgantown grew up around the remaining cabin which was covered over with wooden lapboards in the 1800’s and still remains standing today on a small corner lot.

Under the direction of Dr. Jarrod Burk, a leading eastern US geophysical archaeologist, and the staff of IV&V’s Educator Resource Center, a GPR survey was performed around the fort itself and in some of the neighboring yards. Various anomalies were located and recorded. Interestingly, these anomalies appeared to start at a depth consistent with 1700’s artifacts recovered in a single 50 cm diameter shovel test pit excavated a few feet from the back wall of the fort. Last summer educators dug more test pits in neighboring yards and uncovered handmade clay marbles, post-Civil War pharmaceutical glass and an interesting unidentified ceramic object. To determine if any of the anomalies are indeed the missing graves, an excavation would need to be conducted with the approval of the State Historical and Preservation Office. But it is now known, thanks to IV&V’s ERC, places to begin the excavations!

Pictured below: A portion of the over 100 artifacts recovered from a small shovel test pit at the fort. 

Photos courtesy of Pam Casto.

Pam Casto
Education Specialist
NASA’s Independent Verification & Validation Program

Pam Casto is an Education Specialist who works in IV&V's Educator Resource Center (ERC).  

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) created Sun-Earth Day in 2000 to present to people around the world background knowledge about the Sun, latest happenings on the Sun itself, and how the Sun interacts with life here on Earth. This year's Sun-Earth Day will be observed on Friday, March 23, 2013.

According to the Sun-Earth Day website, “Sun-Earth Day is comprised of a series of programs and events that occur throughout the year with a celebration on or near the Spring Equinox.” A different theme is chosen each year that highlights some aspect of what we are learning about Sun-Earth interactions.  

This year's theme is “Solar Max – Storm Warning.” Presentations throughout the year will explore the electromagnetic storms, flares, coronal mass ejections, and sunspot activities. Various NASA heliophysics missions such as the Solar Dynamic Observatory and the Van Allen Probes will share discoveries about our star and its influence on Earth.

Special events planned for Friday include a live webinar streamed from Wallops Flight Facility by NASA Edge.

Date: March 22, 2013
Time: 1:00 - 2:30 PM EST
Location: Wallops Flight Facility
URL: http://www.ustream.tv/nasaedge

NASA EDGE: Sun Earth Day 2013

Pam Casto
Education Specialist
NASA’s Independent Verification & Validation Program

UPDATE: The deadline for abstract papers has been moved to June 30, 2013.

2013 NASA IV&V Workshop Call for Papers

The Fifth International Workshop on Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) of Software

West Virginia University’s Erickson Alumni Center

Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

September 10-12, 2013

The NASA IV&V Annual Workshop offers an in-depth understanding of the challenges that V&V organizations face in assuring that system software operates safely and reliably. The goal of the workshop is to generate solutions to these challenges. This year, we will be offering topics in three different tracks, as indicated in the tables below. To participate in this workshop, you must submit an abstract (maximum 4000 characters, including spaces) by April 15, 2013. Abstracts will be reviewed for relevancy to this workshop. A new feature of this year’s workshop will give authors the option of preparing a paper that will be presented in proceedings to be published at the completion of the workshop. If an abstract is deemed relevant, the author will be invited to prepare a draft of his or her final paper. All final paper drafts will be reviewed for acceptance as either a poster presentation or an oral presentation at this year's workshop.

All abstracts are to be written in English. An electronic version (PDF or MS Word format) should be submitted via email to Lisa Downs at Sadie.E.Downs@nasa.gov.

Important Dates

April 15, 2013              Abstract submission Due

May 15, 2013              Notification of Acceptance

June 1, 2013               Attendee Registration Opens

August 31, 2013          Final Papers/Presentations Due

August 31, 2013          Attendee Registration Closes

Contact Information

Annual IV&V Workshop Chair: Lisa Downs, Sadie.E.Downs@nasa.gov

Registration and Social Media: Bailee Morris, Bailee.R.Morris@ivv.nasa.gov and Jennifer Neptune, Jennifer.D.Neptune@ivv.nasa.gov

Corporate Sponsorships: Phil Loftis, Philip.D.Loftis@ivv.nasa.gov

Technical Committee and Annual IV&V Workshop Co-Chair: Stephen Husty, Stephen.Husty@nasa.gov

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ivv/workshops/index.html

We are currently seeking technical paper, poster and demo submissions in the areas noted below.

Josh Revels in an intern in the IV&V Program's Educator Resource Center (ERC). He played an active role in the executing of the FIRST LEGO League Robotics Competition.  

On December 8th, 2012, Fairmont State University echoed with the cheers of the 54 West Virginia FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams. I was fortunate enough, as an ERC intern, to experience the event from working volunteer aspect. It was easy to spot the teams because members either wore colorful shirts with team designs or had on a fun costume. In the pit area, teams operated on their robots so that they could perform various tasks during the table competition such as scoring a strike in a bowling challenge. One team even managed to program their robot to climb an incline then balance it on a tilt table! It was hard to hide from the excitement of the event. Located next to the pit area, I saw teams dancing and building LEGO communities. Although the event was entertaining, I can’t help but to remember how great it felt when I witnessed a team graciously sharing a lap top charger with another team.

In the end, it became clear that the best aspect of being a part of FLL is the difference it makes in our lives. Whether it is the advancement of technology for society or working as a member of a team to accomplish a difficult test, FLL is clearly all about collaborative innovation.

Josh Revels
ERC Intern
NASA’s Independent Verification & Validation Program

Jess White is the STEM Initiatives Lead at NASA's IV&V Program. He is the current coordinator for the Careers in the Corridor event.  

NASA’s IV&V Program STEM Initiatives Office held the fourth annual Careers in the Corridor (CIC) exhibition on Friday November 30, 2012. The event showcased the variety of high tech careers available in West Virginia and featured a presentation by a former space shuttle astronaut and West Virginia native, Capt. Jon McBride.

The objective of CIC is to help sophomores, juniors and seniors imagine the future they can realize by studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Astronaut McBride spoke about his journey to become what is now West Virginia’s only astronaut. Afterwards, he joined the students on a tour of job fair exhibits staffed by NASA and other corporate and academic recruiters.  

Among the exhibitors there were West Virginia University’s Dr. Powsiri Klinkhachorn and a few members of his WVU Robotics Team. Along with them they brought the WVU Mars Rover, which was built by the WVU Robotics Team and competed in the MARS RASC-AL RoboOps Challenge. Although the robotics held the students’ interest, many of the other vendors had the opportunity to interact with the students one-on-one, which was something they felt was very important.  

“Careers in the Corridor is one of the best communication platforms I have seem for the promotion of NASA’s STEM initiatives and inspiring the next generation of West Virginians,” vendor and TASC Office Manager Bree Layton said.  

The vendors certainly weren’t the only ones who saw the benefit of this annual event. Cynthia Howell of Heritage Christian School stated that this event was very good for her students and that she hoped that their school can participate in future IV&V educational outreach opportunities.  

A big thanks to all of those who helped make this event happen. It was a great success and one that we hope to continue for many years to come. If you are interested in becoming a vendor for next year’s event, please contact STEM Initiatives Lead Jess White at jesse.e.white@nasa.gov or Bailee Morris at bailee.r.morris@ivv.nasa.gov.

Jess White
STEM Initiatives Lead
NASA’s Independent Verification & Validation Program

The IV&V Program's Independent Test Capability team is chartered to acquire, develop and maintain simulation and test environments for NASA's IV&V Program to enable dynamic analysis of NASA IV&V-supported projects. The team has worked with Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), International Space Station, Juno, Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) and Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC).  

The IV&V Program’s Independent Test Capability team had the opportunity to compete in the 2012 NASA Software of the Year competition. The competition is sponsored by the NASA Chief Engineer, the NASA Chief Information Officer and the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance. The purpose of the competition is to allow the agency to recognize and appreciate NASA’s team members who set high standards for significant software that is creative, usable, transferable and possesses inherent quality.

The competition requires that teams prepare and submit a significantly large packet of information detailing the characteristics of the software including commercialization potential, uniqueness and creativity, to name a few. In addition to the packet submission, each team prepares and gives a 30 minute presentation on the software. Initial submissions are evaluated at each respective NASA center and final submissions are evaluated by a software advisory panel, with representatives from across the agency.  

It was an honor for the Independent Test Capability team to be involved in this competition and to represent the IV&V Program and Goddard Space Flight Center. The team received honorable mention recognition and was the first submission from the IV&V Program. Thank you to everyone that supported the submission and especially those who provided peer reviews and letters of support. The team looks forward to its next opportunity to compete!

Independent Test Capability Team
NASA’s Independent Verification & Validation Program

Jess White is the STEM Initiatives Lead at NASA's IV&V Program. He is the current coordinator for the Day in the Park event.  

Thirteen years of Day in the Park events has impacted over 10,000 West Virginia citizens with high quality NASA Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) educational content. This year’s Day in the Park event was no different. On October 23-24, 2012, approximately 1,200 fifth and seventh-grade students had the unique opportunity to learn about STEM careers, NASA’s mission and what it takes to be an astronaut. With a goal of inspiring, educating and engaging learners about NASA and STEM careers, students experienced hands-on scientific and engineering presentations by former astronaut Ken Cameron, the Carnegie Science Center and the Seattle-based Museum of Flight. Also attending and serving as Master of Ceremonies was former West Virginia Congressman Alan Mollohan.

Day in the Park is provided to students each year to fight against the trend of students losing interest in science and math during pre-adolescent formative years of development. Day in the Park vendors strive to provide content that is jam packed full of the “WOW” factor in regards to science and math. While eating lunch, a student told me that they are now torn between working for NASA’s IV&V Program in Fairmont and becoming an astronaut after hearing about Mr. Cameron’s experience as a NASA astronaut. Teachers attending the event were equally impressed, stating they think these types of STEM awareness opportunities are exactly what their students need as motivation to take the steps necessary to become our nations next generation of STEM professionals.  

I could not have 'daydreamed' better responses from guests of our Day in the Park events!  

For more photos, visit NASA's IV&V Program page on Facebook.

Jess White
STEM Initiatives Lead
NASA's Independent Verification & Validation Program