Cash prizes for the 2009 Student Essay Competition Sustainability through Earth Observation and Engineering

EarthzineEducation, Original, Sections, Sustainability, Technology

Image of the Earthzine Student Essay Contest logoEarthzine invites undergraduate and graduate students from around the world to submit an essay for the 2009 Student Essay Competition: Sustainability through Earth Observation and Engineering. Students should submit essays that follow one of the two dominant themes in sustainability: social equity and environmental protection. Essays should also be related to one or more of Earthzine’s focal topics: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate, Disasters, Ecosystems, Energy, Health, Water, or Weather.

Kuruom vidyalaya: the Power of One in a Billion

EarthzineEconomy, Education, Feature, Featured Person, Millennium Development Goals, Original, People, Sections

Portrait of Bal Ram Singh, Ph.D.In Korown, an Uttar Pradesh India farming village where little has changed for hundreds of years, a 21st century school opened its doors for the first time in July to 100 girls and boys in grades 1-4, 6, and 7. Kuruom vidyalaya is the bricks-and-mortar embodiment of the Hindu goddess Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, and testimony to one man’s spirit and commitment. That man is Bal Ram Singh, Ph.D., 51, once a child of the village and now a successful biophysical chemist at a U.S. university (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) and director of its Center for Indic Studies, who built the school himself without government assistance. Deeply engaged as a Hindu, a family man, a professor, research scientist, and a U.S. citizen, he is also determined to prove that “one little man” can change the status-quo in India for the better.

Education Around Earth – Coyote Mentoring: One School’s Lessons in Earth Observation

EarthzineArticles, Education, OpEd, Original, Sustainability

Cropped image of a teen fireCoyote Mentoring: One School’s Lessons in Nature Awareness gives a snapshot of the direction that Earth observation should be taking in the classroom, says Associate Editor for Education David Mullins, Ph.D. “It’s especially pertinent to teaching the present generation. Educators are beginning to recognize that kids are less and less impressed with computers; they aren’t new and exciting to them. In their digitally ubiquitous worlds (e.g., email, discussion boards, chat rooms, blogs, Twitter, FaceBook, IM, text messaging, and Flickr) kids quickly discover that getting your hands dirty during a fossil hunt and your feet wet doing water quality testing is both fun and educational. So, I think this article is in line with the evolving STEM literature implicating the gender and cultural foundations of science education and the need for measurement and observation in the physical environment for future scientists to truly appreciate the data they see on computer monitors.”

Education Around Earth – High School Students Debate Federal Incentives for Alternative Energy

EarthzineArticles, Education, Energy, OpEd, Original, Sections

Cropped image of map of ocean surface temperaturesDuring the week of June 15, 2009, an estimated 3,500 high school students from across the U.S. debated the politics, challenges, advantages, and science of federal incentives for alternative energy at the National Forensic League (NFL) National Speech and Debate Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. This year’s national topic was, “Resolved: That the United States federal government should substantially increase alternative energy incentives in the United States” and those participating had to win district tournaments in their respective states in order to advance to the national competition.

La Vie de Josiane Zerubia: A Very Modern Woman of Science

EarthzineEarth Observation, Education, Feature, Featured Person, Original, People, Sections, Technology

Cropped image of Josiane Zerubia Josiane Zerubia is a director of research, first class, at INRIA, the premiere French public research institute in applied mathematics and computer science. Her contributions to Markovian modeling in image processing and remote sensing were recognized by IEEE with her elevation to Fellow in 2003. But her story really begins in Cannes, France where she was taught at an early age by her mother Jeanne and grandmother Louise that she could do whatever she wanted if she worked hard enough. La Vie de Josiane Zerubia: A Modern Woman of Science begins here.

Forest Watch science and education strive to halt climate change

EarthzineBiodiversity, Ecosystems Theme, Education, Energy, Feature, Featured Person, Original, People, Politics, Sections, Themed Articles, Would You Believe?

Portrait Dr. Barrett N. ‰ÛÏBarry‰Û RockAs the international remote sensing community readies the 2009 IGARSS in Cape Town, South Africa this July, Earthzine recalls last summer’s conference in Boston, Massachusetts with this Featured Person interview with Dr. Barrett N. “Barry” Rock, professor of forestry, botany and remote sensing in the Complex Systems Research Center and the Department of Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire. Barry Rock exemplifies IEEE’s mission to put science and technology to work for the benefit of humanity and Earth. He has “grown” a network of hundreds of students and teachers in Forest Watch, the outreach program he founded in 1991 in order to scientifically track the effects of U.S. efforts to diminish the damage of air pollution on human health and vegetation. In Boston, he demonstrated the Forest Watch model of university/K-12 partnership and IEEE scientific/community outreach at the 2008 IEEE International Geosciences and Remote Sensing Symposium.

Indigenous Perspectives in GEOSS: An Interview with Dr. Gregory Cajete

EarthzineEarth Observation, Education, Feature, Featured Person, Original, People, Sections, Technology

Cropped image of Dr. Gregory CajeteEarthzine’s Editor-In-Chief Paul Racette speaks with Dr. Gregory Cajete – a Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico and author of five books on Native American education, history and philosophy – about Native American science and the role Indigenous perspectives have in realizing an integrated Earth observing system.

C-MORE Researchers in Hawaii Probe Marine Microbes, Train a New Cadre of Scientists

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Image of a Hawaiian Sunset on the ocean.Researchers at the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) are exploring how microbes influence the structure and function of the global ocean. C-MORE was established in 2006 as a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. Based at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH Manoa), C-MORE also includes five other institutions on the U.S. mainland that are leaders in the field of microbial oceanography.

IGARSS 2008 Brought In The Next Generation

EarthzineEarth Observation, Education, Original, Sections

Cropped image of IGARSS co-chair Dr. John Kerekes (right, in sport coat) surrounded by IPY Earth observers at Elizabeth City State University exhibitThe 1742 registered conferees, and nearly 300 guests who participated in the 27th annual International Geosciences and Remote Sensing Symposium held July 6-11 in Boston included children, college students and young professionals, all with their own targeted programming to develop their enthusiasm for Earth science and technology.