Key Individuals
Jeff Goldstein, Ph.D.
Center Director, National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE)
Program Director, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP)
Email: jeffgoldstein@ncesse.org
Dr. Jeff Goldstein is a nationally recognized science educator, and planetary scientist, who has dedicated his career to the public understanding of science and the joys of learning. As NCESSE Center Director, he is responsible for overseeing the creation and delivery of national science education initiatives with a focus on earth and space. These include programs for schools, families, and the public; professional development for grade K-12 educators; and exhibitions for museums and science centers. Initiatives are meant to provide a window on the nature of science and the lives of modern-day explorers, with special emphasis on not just what is known about Earth and space but how it has come to be known. Programs embrace a Learning Community Model for science education.
Jeff oversaw the creation of the Center’s national science education initiatives, including the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), which immerses hundreds of students across each participating community in real science. As Director of the Voyage National Program, he led the inter-organizational team that permanently installed the Voyage model Solar System on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in front of the Smithsonian and is author of the storyboards. The exhibition is dedicated to an understanding of Earth’s place in space. The Center is now permanently installing replicas in communities world-wide (see Voyage in DC, Houston, Corpus Christi, and Kansas City.)
Jeff is Director for the Center’s activities supporting NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft mission to Mercury, which includes establishment of the MESSENGER Educator Fellows, a corps of master science teachers that are providing training for 27,000 teachers on Solar System science and exploration content. He also oversees Journey through the Universe—a national science education initiative that engages entire communities—students, teachers, families, and the public. He also directs the Family Science Night program at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Jeff is also a blogger at the Huffington Post, and writes Blog on the Universe which is dedicated to science education.
Jeff’s planetary science research includes the development of techniques for measuring global winds on other planets using large telescopes on Earth. His research has produced the first direct measurement of the global winds above the clouds on Venus, and the first measurement of the global winds on Mars.
Program Director: Voyage National Program, Journey through the Universe, MESSENGER Educator Fellowship Program, Family Science Night at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.
Full Bio at Blog on the Universe; CV on LinkedIn
Prior: EVP for Space Science Education and Research, Challenger Center (1996-2005); Astrophysicist, Laboratory for Astrophysics, Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (1989-1996), departing as Acting Chair
Degrees: B.A., Physics, Queens College, City University of New York; M.S. and Ph.D., Astrophysics, University of Pennsylvania; recipient of the 1990 Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award, U. Penn Chapter, Sigma Xi
Notable: Ph.D. research as NASA Graduate Student Researcher, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; attended the Bronx High School of Science; recipient of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s 2005 Klumpke-Roberts Award for “Outstanding Contributions to the Public Understanding and Appreciation of Astronomy”; recipient of the 1995 Barry M. Goldwater Educator of the Year Award from the National Capital Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for “an individual of national stature who has supported the advancement of science and technology in commerce and education at all levels.”
Jeff created the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program and oversees all facets of program operations. He is the principal liaison to all communities and partner organizations through the onboarding phase for a SSEP flight opportunity, which includes national announcements of opportunity, conversations with interested communities, fund-raising on behalf of interested communities, and all formal contractual activities. Jeff is also the principal liaison to NanoRacks and appropriate NASA offices, and is the principal author for SSEP web content.
Harri Vanhala, Ph.D.
Center Deputy Director, National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE)
Program Manager, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP)
Email: harrivanhala@ncesse.org
Dr. Harri Vanhala is the Deputy Director for the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. Originally from Finland where he received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Oulu, he has worked in various research and education organizations in the Unites States for 16 years. His science research focuses on the use of computer simulations to investigate the origin of the Solar System, and development of computer models to investigate the properties of present-day planets.
His science education activities have included hundreds of visits to grade K-12 classrooms, conducting teacher training workshops, teaching college courses, and presentations to families and the public—he is one of the presenters for Family Science Night at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Dr. Vanhala has also led multiple Journey through the Universe National Teams of scientists and engineers to under-served communities across the U.S., each Team spending an entire week in a community and talking to thousands of grade K-12 students one classroom at time.
Harri manages the MESSENGER Educator Fellowship Program, the Center’s nationwide professional development initiative for educators in support of NASA’s MESSENGER mission to Mercury, and which has trained over 20,000 grade K-12 teachers on solar system science and exploration since program inception in 2004. He also oversees the development of the MESSENGER Education Modules—compendia of grade 6-12 lessons for the MESSENGER Mission, addressing spaceflight mission design, solar system science, and the engineering challenges associated with getting a spacecraft to another world. Two Modules, Staying Cool and Mission Design, garnered the coveted “overall outstanding” rating from NASA peer review panels of educators, space scientists, and engineers who are charged with reviewing new education materials.
Harri also manages the Center’s Family Science Night at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, which has been running nearly 20 years, and has seen attendance by over 50,000 students, teachers, and parents.
Harri manages the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program through the operational phase, which includes the experiment design competition, proposal submission, experiment selection, and experiment validation. In this capacity he is also the liaison to NanoRacks on the selected flight experiments and all issues associated with NASA flight safety review. Harri is the principal author for the curriculum support materials on microgravity science that are found in the SSEP Document Library, is the point of contact for all experiment design questions from the SSEP Community Network, and maintains the SSEP FAQ. Harri also manages SSEP International participation through the Center’s Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education.
Drew Roman
Director of Educational Technology, National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE)
Technology Manager, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP)
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/drewroman
Drew Roman is the primary driver of information technology at the Center, from providing the core IT infrastructure to handling the Center’s internet operations, to making the most of newer technologies such as social media. Drew has over 16 years of enterprise-level IT experience and is an Air Force veteran. He is also the Owner and Principal Consultant of Decisive IT, Inc., an IT consulting firm located in Columbia, MD, focused on efficient IT infrastructure practices. His passion for science, technology, engineering and space exploration fuels his enthusiasm for helping to inspire the next generation of explorers.
Drew maintains the overall SSEP web presence, which includes the main SSEP website, the SSEP Community Network Hubsite, and all the SSEP Community Blogs. He provides ongoing IT and communication assistance to the SSEP National Team and to the SSEP Community Network.
Tim Livengood, Ph.D.
Adjunct Space Science Researcher, National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE)
Assistant Research Scientist, University of Maryland
Science Advisor, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP)
Email: sciencetimlivengood@gmail.com
Tim Livengood is an active planetary scientist, an energetic science educator, a professional storyteller, and an occasional subject of unexpectedly life-threatening adventures that are 100% true, but better related in person than in print.
Dr. Livengood was recruited into the world of science education and public outreach in 1999 by Jeff Goldstein and has stuck with it, visiting hundreds of classrooms and speaking before audiences of a few to well over a thousand, adding up to tens of thousands in total. Behind the scenes, Tim creates new hands-on activities, and writes clear explanations of the background science, for the Center’s grade K-12 compendia of lessons, as well as leading workshops for teachers around the nation.
Tim’s primary scientific field is infrared spectroscopy of planetary atmospheres, to measure composition, temperature, and wind velocity. His research includes virtually everything in the Solar System that has a significant atmosphere, which means he has worked on Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Saturn’s moon Titan, and even Earth. Only Uranus and Neptune have escaped this treatment, and he has plans for them. He was a co-investigator on the EPOCh investigation of NASA’s recently-ended EPOXI mission, and was the education and public outreach team leader for EPOCh.
Tim provides scientific expertise to the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program on the microgravity environment, and was co-author on the SSEP curriculum materials addressing the science that can be done in microgravity. He also serves as a space science researcher on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program’s Step 2 Review Panel for flight experiment selection, and participated in reviews for STS-134, STS-135, and Mission 1 to ISS flight opportunities.
Michael Hulslander
Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
Education Advisor, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP)
Email: HulslanderM@si.edu
Michael is responsible for science education at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. He also manages the How Things Fly gallery, Moving Beyond Earth gallery, the Public Observatory Project and the Explainers Program. How Things Fly teaches visitors about the science of flight. Moving Beyond Earth is an immersive exhibition placing visitors “in orbit” during the shuttle and space-station era. At the Public Observatory visitors explore craters on the Moon, spots on the Sun, the phases of Venus, and other wonders of the universe using a 16-inch telescope. The Explainers Program gives high school and college students the chance to work at the National Air and Space Museum.
Michael has worked in museums and zoos for more than 25 years, researching, writing, presenting and evaluating science programs for school groups, families and the general public.
Michael oversees all Museum activities for the SSEP National Conference held at the National Air and Space Museum in July. He also serves as a science educator on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program’s Step 2 Review Panel for flight experiment selection, and participated in reviews for STS-134, STS-135, and Mission 1 to ISS flight opportunities.
Nicholas Fingland
Science Advisor, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP)
Nicholas Fingland is a Postdoctoral Scholar in Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His work focuses on the design of instruments for detecting extremophile bacteria. Extremophile bacteria, with their abilities to withstand harsh environmental conditions (e.g., extreme cold, heat, pressure, UV exposure) are ideal candidates to develop instruments for the search of life within our solar system. Nicholas received his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the Georgetown University Medical Center in 2012. His Ph.D. work focused on the effect of acidic phospholipids present in the E. coli membrane on DNA replication. Dr. Fingland has significant experience designing and implementing microgravity experiments: prior to his arrival at Georgetown, he worked at NASA Ames Research Center investigating the effects of microgravity on integrin signaling in mammalian cells. While finishing his Ph.D. dissertation, Nicholas also continued his research in space biology by collaborating with researchers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to conduct research on bacterial endospores, which will form the basis of his postdoctoral research.
Nicholas provides scientific expertise to the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program on microbiology experiments. He was a member of the SSEP Step 2 Review Panel for the STS-134 and Mission 1 to ISS flight opportunities. He was a key member of the team selecting suitable biological fixatives and growth inhibitors for the STS-135 flight opportunity, including providing suggestions for suitable dosages, and preparing samples for testing to determine whether the candidate chemicals were compatible with the MDA mini-lab.