NASA Education “Science WOW!” Message — Sept. 6, 2017

**NEW** NASA’s Digital Learning Network Live Event – Cassini’s Final Days Webcast
Audience: All Students and Educators
Event Date: Sept. 7, 2017, 1 – 2 p.m. EDT

On Sept. 15, 2017, the Cassini spacecraft will plunge into Saturn, thus completing a nearly 20-year mission. Tune in to the DLiNfo Channel on Sept. 7, 2017 — just days before the end of mission — to learn more about the upcoming “grand finale.”

NASA’s Digital Learning Network will host a live one-hour virtual event with subject matter experts who will take questions @NASADLN via Twitter using #askDLN or via email at DLiNfochannel@gmail.com.

For more information, visit https://www.nasa.gov/dln.

Please direct questions about this event to DLiNfochannel@gmail.com.

Fly Your Exoplanet on the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
Audience: All Educators and Students
Submission Deadline: Nov. 20, 2017

Set to launch in June 2018, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is an explorer-class planet finder. In the first-ever spaceborne all-sky transit survey, TESS will identify planets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants and will orbit a wide range of stellar types and orbital distances. As the TESS team prepares for launch, it invites the public to ponder what exoplanets might look like and share their ideas in the form of sketches and graphics.

This opportunity is open to all ages and skill levels. Submissions will be collected via email. To download the template for submitting your artwork, visit https://tess.gsfc.nasa.gov/fly_your_exoplanet.html.

The deadline for submissions is Nov. 20, 2017, or when capacity of the drive carrying the submissions to space is reached, whichever occurs first.

To learn more about the TESS mission, visit https://tess.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

Questions about this opportunity should be directed to GSFC-TESS@mail.nasa.gov.

Science Opportunities for Educators of Grades K-12

**NEW** ‘Teachable Moment’ Educational Resources Available From JPL Education — The Farthest Operating Spacecraft, Voyagers 1 and 2, Still Exploring 40 Years Later
Audience: K-12 Educators

Are you looking for ways to bring the latest NASA science and mission news into your classroom? Education specialists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California have the resources to help you do just that! The “Teachable Moments” blog brings together news, activities and education tips on the latest happenings at NASA.

Check out the latest offering from JPL Education.

Teachable Moment — The Farthest Operating Spacecraft, Voyagers 1 and 2, Still Exploring 40 Years Later — Grades K-12
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of the world’s farthest and longest-lived spacecraft, NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2. Four decades ago, they embarked on an ambitious mission to explore the giant outer planets. And since completing their flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in 1989, they have been journeying toward the farthest reaches of our solar system — where no spacecraft has been before. For more information and ways to bring the ongoing Voyager mission into the classroom, visit https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2017/8/29/the-farthest-operating-spacecraft-voyagers-1-and-2-still-exploring-40-years-later/.

To find standards-aligned lessons and activities related to the Voyager mission, visit https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/tag/search/voyager.

Looking for more? Check out the “Teachable Moments” archives for more resources. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/column/teachable-moments/

Free Education Webinars From NASA Educator Professional Development
Audience: In-service, Pre-service, Home School and Informal Educators

The NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University is presenting a series of free webinars open to all educators. Join NASA education specialists to learn about activities, lesson plans, educator guides and resources that bring NASA into your classroom. Registration is required to participate. To register, simply click on the link provided beneath the webinar description.

Free Webinar — Cross the Curriculum With the Wind: Let’s Go Fly a Kite!
Audience: K-5, Informal and Pre-service Educators
Event Date: Sept. 6, 2017, at 5 p.m. EDT
Join the NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University for a free 60-minute webinar. Learn about the NASA Aeronautics teacher guide featuring STEAM lessons that integrate English language arts and history through children’s literature and art. Incorporating the ideas and principles in popular children’s books engages children in science and engineering process skills and cross-cutting principles in the Next Generation Science Standards. Register online to participate. https://www.eiseverywhere.com/271317

**NEW** There’s Space in Your Classroom for Cross-Curricula: Space Science and the Engineering Design Process in a Culturally Relevant Way
Audience: 3-8, Informal and Pre-service Educators
Event Date: Sept. 11, 2017, at 5 p.m. EDT
Learn about the engineering design process and explore methods of implementing culturally responsive bilingual activities and lessons. Online registration is required. https://www.eiseverywhere.com/276566

For a full schedule of upcoming NASA Educator Professional Development webinars, visit http://www.txstate-epdc.net/events/.

Questions about this series of webinars should be directed to Steve Culivan at stephen.p.culivan@nasa.gov.

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Seek Educators for Climate Change Research Initiative
Audience: 9-12 STEM Educators
Application Deadline: Sept. 21, 2017

This yearlong STEM engagement opportunity allows high school STEM educators to work directly with NASA scientists, to lead research teams, and to develop STEM curricula for their current classes. Educators participating in this opportunity will become associate researchers who integrate NASA education resources and content into their classrooms while improving STEM education within their communities. All applicants must be U.S. citizens and full-time STEM educators who reside within a 50-mile radius of GISS, located in New York City.

Applications are due Sept. 21, 2017. For more information, visit http://www.giss.nasa.gov/edu/ccri/.

Please direct questions about this opportunity to Matthew Pearce at matthew.d.pearce@nasa.gov.

Become a Member of the Infiniscope Education Advisory Board
Audience: Formal and Informal Educators of Grades 5-12
Application Deadline: Sept. 29, 2017

The Arizona State University Infiniscope Project (under cooperative agreement with NASA’s Science Mission Directorate) aims to recruit individuals with enthusiasm and ambition for a renewable, one-year term from 2017-2018 on its advisory board. Board members will review Infiniscope-developed educational products and receive a stipend, training, collaborative space, and recognition on the Infiniscope website. Board members also will have opportunities to earn badges and attend group meet-ups at national conventions.

For more information, visit https://infiniscope.org/announcements/educator-advisory-board-application/.

Please direct questions about this opportunity to Jessica Swann at jlswann@asu.edu.

Opportunities for Higher Education and Informal Institutions

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Seek Students for Climate Change Research Initiative
Audience: Graduate Students
Application Deadline: Sept. 21, 2017

The CCRI internship is a yearlong opportunity for graduate students to work directly with NASA scientists and research teams on a NASA research project related to climate change. This opportunity will not conflict with the student’s course work and class schedule during the fall and spring. The internship is considered a part-time position that supports the graduate student’s major area of study. All applicants must be U.S. citizens who reside within a 50-mile radius of GISS, located in New York City.

Applications are due Sept. 21, 2017. For more information, visit http://www.giss.nasa.gov/edu/ccri/.

Please direct questions about this opportunity to Matthew Pearce at matthew.d.pearce@nasa.gov.

2018 BIG Idea Challenge
Audience: Higher Education Students and Faculty
Notice of Intent Deadline: Oct. 1, 2017
Entry Deadline: Nov. 30, 2017

NASA’s 2018 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge is an engineering design contest open to full-time undergraduate and graduate students. This competition seeks innovations in the design, installation and sustainable operation of a large solar power system on Mars. Top teams present their concepts via a design review at either NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia or NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The winning team will receive NASA internship offers.

A notice of intent is requested by Oct. 1, 2017. Entries are due Nov. 30, 2017.

For more information, visit http://BigIdea.nianet.org.

Please direct questions about this opportunity to BigIdea@nianet.org.

NASA’s Centennial Challenges: Vascular Tissue Challenge
Audience: All Interested U.S. Citizens, Including Higher Education Educators and Students
Deadline: No Later Than Sept. 30, 2019

NASA, in partnership with the nonprofit Methuselah Foundation’s New Organ Alliance, is seeking ways to advance the field of bioengineering through a new prize competition. The Vascular Tissue Challenge offers a $500,000 prize to be divided among the first three teams that successfully create thick, metabolically functional, human vascularized organ tissue in a controlled laboratory environment.

Competitors must produce vascularized tissue that is more than .39 inches (1 centimeter) in thickness and maintains more than 85 percent survival of the required cells throughout a 30-day trial period. To win an award, teams must demonstrate three successful trials with at least a 75 percent success rate. In addition to the laboratory trials, teams must submit a proposal that details how they would further advance some aspect of their research through a microgravity experiment that could be conducted in the U.S. National Laboratory on the International Space Station.

The first registered team(s) to meet the required guidelines and complete their trials by Sept. 30, 2019, will win the awards.

The Vascular Tissue Challenge prize purse is provided by NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program, part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Centennial Challenges, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is NASA’s citizen-inventor prize program. It invites the nation to help advance the technologies that will enable us to go to Mars and beyond, as well as improve life on Earth. The New Organ Alliance is administering the competition on behalf of NASA. The alliance is a nonprofit organization focused on regenerative medicine research and development to benefit human disease research and tissue engineering.

For information about the Methuselah Foundation’s New Organ Alliance, official challenge documents, rules and schedule of events, visit https://neworgan.org/vtc-prize.php.

For more information about the Vascular Tissue Challenge, visit http://www.nasa.gov/vtchallenge.