Team NASA - Ames Research Center - Volunteer Opportunities

NASA Education sponsors many events throughout the year that require Team NASA Volunteers.

Hundreds of community members are required to make these special programs successful.

If you are looking for a taste of what NASA offers to our local student community but are unable to provide a long-term commitment, join us for one of these events.

Programs include the JASON Expedition, Aero Expo, and First Robotics Competition.

JASON Expedition
The JASON Broadcast and JASON City event runs from Monday, January 31 through Friday, February 4, 2005.

What are the JASON Expeditions?
Now in its sixteenth year, the JASON Project is a multi-disciplinary education program that sparks the imagination of students and enhances the classroom experience. Led by the world famous Oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard (the discover of the Titanic) and a team of leading scientists, students and teachers have traveled from our polar regions, to red-hot volcanoes, the depths of the ocean, and to the dense tropical rain forests.

This year's theme, Disappearing Wetlands, is a trip to the Mississippi River Delta and Cajun Country in Louisiana. Wetlands are critical life-supporting ecosystems that provide habitat for an incredible diversity of plants and animals. They are the nurseries for countless species of fish and shellfish, protect vulnerable coastlines from storm surges, and help filter and purify freshwater. Our mission will be to better understand what wetlands are, why they are threatened ecosystems, and how to best manage these ecosystems in Louisiana, and our Northern California area.

What is the JASON Broadcast?
NASA Ames will have 20 live broadcasts between January 31 and February 4, 2005. The broadcast will take students and teachers live via satellite to the Mississippi River delta and Cajun country in Louisiana. Environmental research scientists and Argonaut students and teachers will be interviewed. This year, over 5,000 students will attend one of the 20 broadcasts during the week.

What is JASON City?
JASON City is an educational experience exclusive to NASA Ames at Moffett Field. School groups visit the City after their broadcast experience. JASON City will be held in a hangar on site, and it will be filled with exciting interactive activities that support the educational theme of JASON Expedition. Activities range from art, live demonstrations, animal exhibits, and hands-on science experiments custom designed to enhance the broadcast content. This year we have over 16 different activities for our visitors to enjoy. Here is a list of our partners sponsoring one or more JASON activities in our City:

Happy Hollow Zoo
Center for Ecosystem Survival
Marine Science Institute
Palo Alto Zoo
Save the Bay
Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuse / Slow the Flow
San Jose Beautiful
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Science Applications International
Palo Alto Junior Museum
Children's Discovery Museum

How You Can Help
Last year, over 200 people supported the JASON Broadcast and City activities as volunteers. We are currently looking for adults (US citizens only please) who enjoy working with 3rd through 8th graders, and want to serve as a JASON volunteer at NASA Ames during the week of January 31 through February 4, 2005.

This is a wonderful way to invest in your children's education and future, and to contribute to your community's high quality of life!
Just call me and we can talk about all this on the phone. Or, please e-mail me with your interest. I look forward to hearing from you!
Barbara Patterson
Team NASA Volunteer Program Manager
650-604-0494
bpatterson@mail.arc.nasa.gov

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AeroExpo V - A Future in Flight, April 27-30, 2005

This year's theme is "A Future in Flight" where NASA Education presents a fun and educational look at aeronautics. Topics to be covered include careers, math and science concepts, the history of flight, and the physics of flight.

In general, only Grades 4-8 participate in this event due to safety considerations and the academic level of the activities. However, on Saturday, April 30, our guests will consist mainly of Bay Area Girl Scouts and their families. Although this special 4-day event is not open to the public, we are expecting up to 1000 guests per day.

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FIRST Robotics Competition

The First Robotics program is a life-changing, career-molding experience.

The competitions are multinational events that team professionals and young people (typically high school grades) to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way.

In 2005 the competition will reach more than 20,000 students on over 900 teams in 27 competitions. The teams come from Canada, Brazil, the U.K., and almost every U.S. state. The competitions are high-tech spectator sporting events, the result of focused brainstorming, real-world teamwork, dedicated mentoring, project timelines and deadlines.

The competition demonstrates that technological fields hold many opportunities and that the basic concepts of science, math, engineering, and invention are exciting and interesting. Teams are rewarded for excellence in design, demonstrated team spirit, gracious professionalism and maturity, and ability to overcome obstacles.

Each competition event requires over 100 volunteers with a broad spectrum of talent to support operating needs and competition demands.

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