Local Teacher Selected For NASA Liftoff Institute

Autumn Henry a teacher from Poyen High School in Poyen has been selected for the prestigious Liftoff Summer Institute this summer. This nationally competitive program sponsored by NASA’S Texas Space Grant Consortium and the University of Texas Center for Space Research selects teachers who will increase their knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and math through space education.

Liftoff 2023’s theme is Planetary Defenders! The workshops provide teachers the rare – and for most, unique – opportunity to spend a week working with professional scientists and engineers at the cutting edge of space exploration. From looking for potential asteroids or comets that might impact Earth, to protecting our home planet, NASA’S Planetary defense research is critical to our assessment of future impact hazards, for developing spacecraft missions that will assist us in protecting our home and increasing our understanding of the world around us.

In the next few years, NASA will increase our understanding of the structure of asteroids to help scientists and engineers create solutions to remove potential, future threats of impact. Planetary defense research is critical to our assessment of future impact hazards and helping us understand the leftover remnants of our solar system... Asteroids.

Liftoff is a collaborative effort of University of Texas Center for Space Research, Texas Space Grant Consortium members and affiliates, NASA, and industry. Teachers apply for Liftoff and are selected competitively. The workshops are organized around an aerospace or space science theme drawn from NASA’S diverse engineering and scientific research programs. The weeklong institute features a series of workshops, hands-on activities, field investigations, and presentations by NASA scientists and engineers working on various missions.

We celebrate all that NASA has contributed in the past and will contribute to the future and the engineering behind its accomplishments at Liftoff 2023. Teachers selected for Liftoff will return to their school districts to not only use materials received in their own classroom, but to train other educators. Educators selected will come together June 25 - June 30 to conduct experiments, hear from NASA subject matter experts and astronauts, and network with other educators while sharing innovative lesson plans and ideas.

The Liftoff workshops prove that the excitement teachers, and more importantly, their students, feel about earth and space science can be used to enrich STEM education and inspire the next generation of explorers.

This nationally competitive, educational training for teachers is sponsored by University of Texas Center for Space Research and NASA’S Texas Space Grant Consortium. Teachers interested in learning more about Liftoff 2023 may visit the following URL: https://www.csr.utexas.edu/liftoff/.