Article Provided By ORTA Team
NOAA and partners group picture at DRS NOAA Day Event. (Left to right) Brian Mitchell (AFRL), Katie Geddes (OAR/ORTA/Groundswell), Kenneth Vierra (OAR/ORTA), Darrin Moore (OAR/ORTA), Lalah Choice (FAMU), Fiona Horsfall (OAR/ORTA), Andrea Pugh (FAMU), Keeli Otto (OAR/CFO/ESD), Hanna Odahara (OAR/AOML), LTJG Justin Blancher (OMAO) and Andrew Peck (OAR/ORTA). (Credit: NOAA)
On Friday, April 12th the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Office of Research, Transition, and Application (ORTA) coordinated and participated in NOAA Day at Florida A&M University’s K-12 Developmental Research School (FAMU-DRS), in Tallahassee, Florida. FAMU-DRS prepares and motivates students for a rapidly evolving digital world with a curriculum that emphasizes mathematics, science, technology, and foreign languages.
Dr. Larry Robinson (FAMU) and Dr. Fiona Horsfal (OAR/ORTA) providing opening remarks at FAMU-DRS NOAA Day Event. (Credit: NOAA)
Dr. Larry Robinson, President of FAMU and former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Conservation and Management at NOAA, provided opening remarks. He spent considerable time with the NOAA team, and his staff shared that he felt inspired by the NOAA demonstrations and team engagement to bring back summer science camps at FAMU. Dr. Fiona Horsfall, Director of ORTA, also delivered introductory remarks.
Approximately 600 K-12 students attended this event. ORTA staff interacted with the students to delve into NOAA’s mission, and students were able to take part in hands-on demonstrations of NOAA-related virtual reality experiences. These included discovering colorful corals, exploring a shipwreck, swimming with playful sea lions, exploring Hawaiian waters with green sea turtles, and investigating the urban heat island effect in Washington.
The NOAA displays included educational materials for the students. The ORTA team exposed students to various innovative technologies including a CopterSonde, which is a weather drone developed in collaboration with the University of Oklahoma and the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). Much like a weather balloon, the CopterSonde takes atmospheric readings such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind speed, with the added advantage of being a reusable device that can take readings more often and accurately, aiding in severe weather predictions.
ORTA also invited Brian Mitchell, from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Eglin Air Force Base, who provided demonstrations of a Geographically Separated Unit Uncrewed Security robot, or GUS the Robotic Dog for short. AFRL is a global leader in advancing weapons science and technology. Brian demonstrated GUS, which is a mid-sized, high-endurance, agile, and durable all-weather quadrupedal robot for use in a broad range of environments and research. Additionally, Brian provided information on pathways to STEM careers with AFRL, including multiple internship opportunities across the AFRL enterprise.
Also attending the event for NOAA was LTJG Justin Blancher from the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO). LTJG Blancher organized a station displaying drones and educational material about the NOAA Corps. The NOAA Corps is the uniformed service responsible for operating and maintaining NOAA’s research vessels and research planes, including the NOAA Hurricane Hunters.
FAMU-DRS has an Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) program, run by Robert Pitts, who was on hand flying a UAS for the students. The NOAA EPP/MSI FAMU Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems II (CCME-II), provided several students to help with one-on-one engagement with students, one of whom was FAMU alumni (and former NOS employee), Andrea Pugh.
FAMU-DRS Kindergarten class with NOAA staff and partners (Credit: FAMU Robert Pitts)
Group picture of FAMU-DRS middle school class with NOAA staff and partners taken from an uncrewed aircraft (Credit: Robert Pitts, FAMU)
Menu of NOAA virtual reality experiences available for viewing by students. (Credit: NOAA)
(Left) Brian Mitchell (AFRL) demonstrating GUS the robotic dog and (Right) LTJG Justin Blancher (OMAO) discussing the use of uncrewed aircraft systems with the students (Credit: NOAA)
NOAA/ORTA staff and FAMU partners talking to the students about NOAA and providing educational materials (Credit: NOAA)
On Saturday, April 13, 2024 the same NOAA/OAR/ORTA team participated in the FAMU STEM Day for K-12 students. This event is organized by FAMU’s Office of STEM Outreach, in collaboration with the National Science Foundation Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), as an outreach activity designed to increase students’ interest in pursuing careers in STEM fields and to highlight the various STEM activities taking place on FAMU’s campus. Approximately 400 students participated in several experiments and demonstrations, including those provided by the NOAA team. Dr. Robinson once again spent time with the NOAA team.
NOAA and partners who participated at the FAMU STEM Event April 13, 2024 at the Lawson Center (Credit: NOAA)
For this second event, Mark Wool, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office (WFO) Tallahassee, FL, was able to join the team and provide hands-on experiments, including building a cloud in a bottle and a tornado tube.
NOAA partner Vernon Shurtz from Helo & Sub also joined the team to discuss his uncrewed aerial and aquatic vehicles and commercially available sonar systems, which he uses for search and rescue operations. Florida has over 70,000 retention ponds and thousands of canals, rivers, and lakes, and Vern has been able to find stolen and dumped vehicles, some of which hold clues to solving crimes and missing persons cases. The vehicles are also an environmental hazard. He demonstrated how these systems make searching safer and more efficient.
(Left) Mark Wool, NWS WFO Tallahassee Warning Coordination Meteorologist providing hands-on experiments and (Right) Vernon Shurtz, from Helo & Sub, discussing uncrewed marine and aircraft systems (Credit: NOAA)
(Left) Andrew Peck from ORTA assisting a student with a virtual reality experience and (Right) Fiona Horsfall and Darrin Moore from ORTA talking to students about NOAA’ research (Credit: NOAA)
(Left) LTJG Justin Blancher (OMAO) discusses uncrewed aircraft systems with FAMU students and (Right) Hanna Odahara (NOAA Knauss Fellow) and Maya McWilliams (FAMU CCME-II) talk to a FAMU student about how NOAA advances scientific research into use (Credit: NOAA)
Several students from CCME-II were on hand to help. One student, Jamal Burey, was an intern in ORTA last year and was able to describe his experience with the students. Ashley Lacey and Maya McWilliams, CCME-II Graduate Scholars, also helped with engaging students. Lalah Choice, an undergraduate at FAMU studying Environmental Sciences, joined the team both at the Friday FAMU-DRS NOAA Day and Saturday FAMU STEM Day events.
NOAA would like to extend its gratitude to the staff at FAMU-DRS and FAMU for their support and invitation.
ORTA engages with FAMU and other organizations through ongoing outreach activities to broaden diversity, equity, and inclusion by sharing NOAA’s mission of science, service, and stewardship with students from underrepresented communities.
ORTA’s 2024 planned STEM / DEI / Outreach Events include:
- Florida A&M University Developmental Research School NOAA Day – April 12, 2024
- Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University STEM Day – April 13, 2024
- NOS / OAR Kids Day – April 25, 2024
- Puerto Rico Outreach Event – May 8, 2024
- NOAA Office of Education’s Career Fair – May 29, 2024
- 2024 Department of Commerce Youth Summit – June 18, 2024
- Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) Outreach Event – October 22-23, 2024