by Rachel Williams
The College of Education recently invited local middle and high school students to participate in a live chat with Colonel Gregory H. Johnson, former astronaut, and NASA science researcher Dr. Michael Roberts. On Thursday, February 20, the teenagers plus several adults crowded into a technology-enhanced classroom in the Education Building at 1 p.m.
“The United States is not producing enough college graduates in the STEM disciplines (science, technology engineering, and math) to fill the high-tech jobs of the future,” explains Dr. Dianne Hoff, dean of the College of Education. “Attracting students to these fields starts early, so the purpose of the live chat is to give middle and high school students the opportunity to interact with top scientists and astronauts at NASA and allow them to ask questions that might spark their interest in science. UWG was one of only two sites selected for the live chat. Our hope for the session is to create excitement across the country that translates into more science majors for the future! Since UWG is a NASA affiliate, we plan to have other events like this frequently.”
Students from Carrollton Junior High School, Carrollton High School, Central Middle School and Central High School participated via webcam with the Kennedy Space Center. Students at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez campus also participated in the webcam chat, and classes across the country watched and participated via Twitter. While some students were curious about how best to start their careers with NASA, others wanted to know how astronauts exercised in space and which animals were the most interesting to take into zero gravity experiments.
Gregory spent 25 years in the U.S. Air Force before working for NASA. After he was selected to be an astronaut in 1998, he received special training in order to pilot two space shuttle missions, STS-123 and STS-134, on the Space Shuttle Endeavor. He is now the president and executive director for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages, promotes and brokers research on the International Space Station. Michael, a molecular biologist, is the senior research pathway manager for CASIS.
