ISSUED: 25 March 2014
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Dr. Jeff Goldstein, an astrophysicist and nationally recognized science educator, will give two presentations at Shepherd University Friday, April 11 as part of the Literacy Leaders Preliminary Conference.
“A Voyage That Will Forever Change Your Perspective of Home” is scheduled for 1 p.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies auditorium.
The program features the story of our existence–a race of explorers, six billion people strong. It is a story that ignites wonder about the universe and a sense of pride in our ability to reveal its nature through both human imagination and ingenuity. It is a story that humbles us and brings a sense of humility to our lives. It is a voyage that will forever change your perspective of home. It will be inspiration to young and old and is a wonderful family program, understanding the nature of our existence using the power of models.
“The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP)” is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies room 164. It is a free program for STEM students interested in developing a proposal for submission.
SSEP was launched in 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in strategic partnership with NanoRacks, LLC. It was designed as a model U.S. national STEM education initiative and gives more than 300 students across a participating community the ability to design and propose real microgravity experiments to fly in low Earth orbit, first aboard the final flights of the space shuttle and then on the international space station, America’s newest national laboratory. SSEP is suitable for students in pre-college grades five through 12, two-year community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities. SSEP also affords a participating community a high level of media exposure at a time when STEM education is of national strategic importance.
Goldstein is the director of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and is the institute director of the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education.
Both programs are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Karen Rice, director of continuing education and lifelong learning at Shepherd, at 304-876-5135 or krice@shepherd.edu.
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