May 2019 News Brief

May 2019 GLOBE News Brief

“Early-bird” Registration for 2019 GLOBE Annual Meeting Ends 15 May!

“Early-bird” (lower-price) registration for the 2019 GLOBE Annual Meeting ends on 15 May! The meeting, which will be held in Detroit, Michigan, USA, will take place from 14-18 July at The Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown Riverfront Hotel. The Student Experience (16-18 July) will be held at the Howell Nature Center. The deadline to register for the meeting is 01 July. Space is limited, so register soon!

The theme of the meeting, which will be hosted by Dr. Kevin Czajkowski and David Bydlowski, is “Intersections of Diverse Environments.” Detroit is a city positioned at the intersection of multiple types of diverse environments culturally, geographically, and economically – which is why the theme will be explored in multiple strands: Finding Nature in Urban Landscapes; Exploring Changing Environments; GLOBE and Technology; and GLOBE Gives Back.

PLEASE NOTE: T he Student Experience at Howell Nature Center is full. If you would like to be added to the wait list, please send an email to meetings@globe.gov .

In addition, oral sessions are no longer being accepted; however, students and community members can still submit proposals for posters.

For more information on this, click here .

To learn more about the GLOBE Annual Meeting (#GLOBE23), click here .

To learn more about registration (including accommodations, air and ground transportation, invitation letters and Visa requirements, the UCAR Participant Code of Conduct, what to know about the area, and the cancellation policy), and event details, click here .

News

GLOBE eTraining Program Celebrates Three-Year Anniversary

Teachers: You no longer have to be part of a face-to-face workshop to become a contributing member of the GLOBE community. The eTraining Program (officially launched on Earth Day 2016) offers you a powerful portal where you can access the training materials you need to lead a classroom in data collection and lab procedures associated with a GLOBE protocol.

The eTraining Program also serves as an innovative introduction to the worldwide GLOBE community. There are now 49 eTraining modules available (including modules introducing The GLOBE Program and modules covering all four protocol areas) – awaiting the click of your finger!

To learn more about GLOBE eTraining, click here .

Join the May Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign Webinars

Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign webinar photo

GLOBE community, you are invited to join the following Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign webinars:

“Tree Height, Wetlands, and the Invasive Task Force: Live from New York” – Tuesday, 07 May (2:30 p.m. ET/6:30 UTC): Students and teachers from the Mahopac High School in Mahopac, New York, USA, have been studying wetlands around their school and local area for years. They have recently started taking tree height measurements to add the next level of observations to their wetland research. Students from Mahopac High School, personnel from the Cornell Cooperative Extension at Cornell University, and the Invasive Strike Force Team have been working to understand these impacts on trees and potentially eradicate these invasive species.
“What Greens Up, Must Green Down: Greenings Live from Switzerland” – Tuesday, 14 May (12:00 p.m. ED/4:00 p.m. UTC): GLOBE Master Trainer, Markus Eugster, and his students from the Sekundarschule Uzwil in Switzerland, have been conducting Greenings (Green-Up and Green-Down) research during their tree investigations. Monitoring the beginning and ending of the growing season of trees helps scientists track plant growing seasons. One way to track the change is through a Swiss GLOBE program called PhenoCam, which is a way to use automated cameras to take images of trees and create time-lapse videos and run color analysis of the trees over time.

To register for the upcoming webinars and to receive emails about future webinars, click here . All the webinars can be joined at https://zoom.us/j/7578241037 .

If you have missed previous webinars , click here .

To learn more about the campaign, click here .

Did you see the special Arbor Day Video created by the Trees Around the GLOBE campaign?

If not, click here and enjoy !

March 2019 Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign Global Shout-Outs!

T he GLOBE Program would like to give a big “shout-out” to the top most active GLOBE participants taking at least 10 measurements for tree height, greenings, and land cover measurements for the campaign in March!

Tree Height:

P. Nelson (United States)
B. Campbell (United States)
H. Mortimer (United States)
B. Vasylchyshyn (Ukraine)
D. Overoye (United States)
Mohammed-Ali (Trinidad and Tobago)

Greenings (Green-Up/Green-Down):

M. Vollebregt (Netherlands)
B. Žnidarić (Croatia)
M. Algarni (Saudi Arabia)
O. Danyliuk (Ukraine)

Land Cover:

P. Nelson (United States)
R. Low (United States)
K. Boykin (United States)

Join the May GLOBE Mission Mosquito

Education and Citizen Science Webinars

GLOBE educators and citizen scientists (of all ages) – you are invited to join the following GLOBE Mission Mosquito (GMM) May webinars:

GMM Education Webinar #7 “Protection and Prevention” – Wednesday, 08 May (2:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. UTC): With mosquito season at hand, this webinar will focus on how to use preventative measures to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and how to reduce the number of potential mosquito breeding habitats in your area. Are you wondering how to engage your students in mosquito awareness campaigns? Or how to involve your school community to use the Mosquito Habitat Mapper tool? Hear ideas from teachers and students on how they hosted a mosquito awareness event. A Prince George County, Maryland, USA, public health official will talk about how they plan and prepare for active mosquito season.

To register for the webinar, click here .

GMM Citizen Science Webinar #5 “Mosquitoes on the Landscape” Wednesday, 29 May (2:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. UTC): There are many factors that help people understand where mosquitoes breed. Land cover is one of them. During this webinar, Peder Nelson, Lead Scientist for the GLOBE Observer Land Cover tool, will show participants why collecting both mosquito data and land cover data using the GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper tool provides important data for scientific analysis. This webinar will help participants prepare for this summer's GO on a Trail citizen science campaign, which is launching 01 June.

To register for the webinar, click here.

To learn more about the GLOBE Mission Mosquito Campaign, and to view archived webinars, click here .

Can You Engineer a Low-cost Tool for Measuring Wind Speed?

The GLOBE/AREN Project Wind Speed Challenge Runs through 31 May

The GLOBE/AREN (AEROKATS and ROVER Education Network) Wind Speed Challenge began 01 April and runs through 31 May. The goal of the challenge is to engineer a low-cost electronic or non-electronic anemometer (a tool for measuring the speed of wind).

One successfully engineered product will be selected as the “Grand Award Winner.” In addition, 10 successfully engineered international products will be randomly selected to receive an AREN Kite Package.

The GLOBE Program supports the AREN Project, which utilizes kites to collect data. The GLOBE Program does not have a protocol for determining wind speed. This challenge provides the opportunity for the GLOBE community to engineer a low-cost (less than $30) method of determining wind speed that could be used throughout the world.

For more information on the Wind Speed Challenge, click here .

For more information on the AREN Project , click here .

Wrap-up of March Urban Heat Island Effect/Surface Temperature Field Campaign

Photo of GLOBE community members engaged in the UHIE campaign.

The GLOBE Urban Heat Island Effect/Surface Temperature Field Campaign Student Research Campaign finished up the 2018-2019 campaign in March with observations from 144 sites and over 2,400 surface temperature observations.

The campaign examines the impact urbanization has on the Earth’s surface temperature and how the surface temperature changes the dynamics of the Earth’s atmosphere. Studying the energy cycle is fundamental to understanding how the Earth’s spheres function within its system. The surface temperature measurements contribute data that are: a) not normally collected by weather agencies; b) for climate studies; and c) for ground-truthing satellite data.

All of the hard work and dedication invested in this campaign adds to the extensive data set that students and scientists, including Dr. C (Professor Kevin Czajkowski at the University of Toledo) can use to study the urban heat island effect. Whether you are at an urban school, suburban school, or rural school, your observations continue to be vital to this campaign.

To learn more about the campaign, click here .

2019 IVSS Projects Are In!

IVSS Drawing Will Take Place on 17 May

The deadline for submitting projects to the 2019 International Virtual Science Symposium (IVSS) was 10 April – and GLOBE received an impressive number of projects! Projects can be viewed here – make sure to select “2019” in the dropdown filter.

IVSS Drawing!

On Friday, 17 May (9:30 a.m. MDT/11:30 a.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. UTC), GIO will hold the IVSS drawing. Join us HERE to see which projects are selected to receive stipends to assist in attending the Annual Meeting in Detroit, Michigan, USA, this July.

IVSS Timeline:

Informational Webina r: 25 October 2018
Judging Period: 26 April to 05 May 2019
Feedback and Virtual Badges Shared: 17 May 2019
Drawing for Stipends: 17 May 2019

For more information on the 2019 IVS S, click here !

New “GLOBE Teams” Page Now Live!

GLOBE Account Holders Can Create/Join

Location-Based Teams to Track Data-Collection Efforts

GLOBE Community: If you are a GLOBE account holder, you can now create and join teams of people, called “GLOBE Teams,” which will enable you to track your group’s data-collection efforts. GLOBE Teams can be used to set up a competition, coordinate a community’s citizen science efforts, support an educational or corporate initiative, or simply enable a group of people to work together.

Even if you do not belong to a specific learning facility, you can associate your data with an entity that consists of friends, family, and coworkers. (Parents can even share in their child's data-collection efforts with their child's school.) This ability will allow you, and others, to search via your group’s name and find data associated with your group. When you set up a GLOBE Team, you will be able to see how many people are on your team and how many observations your team has made for each protocol.

A team may be open to anyone or it may be private. Open teams will be visible to all users. If you create a private team, you will be provided with a referral code that you can use to invite people to join your team. (The private teams are often based in a community, such as an after-school program, library or museum club, or corporate team.) You can even join more than one team.

The possibilities for collaboration are endless!

To get started, click here .

If you have any questions, please contact help@globe.gov .

NASA GLOBE Clouds: Documentation on How Satellite Data is Collocated to Ground Cloud Observations Now Available

Graphic of people on the planet sending data to satellites in space

Have you wondered how the GLOBE Clouds team at NASA Langley matches your cloud observations to satellite data? As Marile Colon Robles noted in her recent Community Blog, a new release entitled: " NASA GLOBE Clouds: Documentation on How Satellite Data is Collocated to Ground Cloud Observations " is now available.

“This document is written by the GLOBE Clouds team with support by various NASA scientists involved in the program or involved in the multitude satellites collocated or matched to your cloud observations,” Robles said.

Where Can You Find the Documentation?

Visit the NASA GLOBE Cloud Protocol Page on GLOBE, and select " Satellite Comparison " from the top-left options. Once you are at the "Satellite Comparison " page, the documentation is the last option on the left-hand-side navigation (see below).

U.S. Community: Join the Upcoming Teacher Watercooler

Meet-up: 09 May

U.S. GLOBE Teachers: Join the GLOBE Professional Learning Community (PLC) and hear how other GLOBE teachers use GLOBE with their students during a Teacher Watercooler meet-up at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, 09 May.

During the watercooler, Jeff Bouwman will talk about #GettingScienceDone with GLOBE at Shumate Middle School in Michigan, and Wanda Hathaway will talk about conducting aerosol research at Elizabeth City Middle School in North Carolina.

To register for the watercooler, click here !

Middle and High School Teachers: New “Sun” Teaching Box Available

A new University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Center for Science Education (SciEd) “Sun” Teaching Box (for middle and high school students) is now available.

UCAR teaching boxes are collections of classroom-ready and standards-aligned activities, content, and multimedia that build student understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math. All materials are freely available online.

The Sun gives off electromagnetic energy in many wavelengths, including visible light, radio waves, ultraviolet light, and more. By examining the Sun in a different “light,” students can better understand its features. With the new Sun Teaching Box, middle and high school students learn to identify aspects of the Sun using images taken from different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Many of the solar features that students will explore play a crucial role in the eruption of space weather storms.

To check out this new Teaching Box, click here .

GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project Update

GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project participants in Benin.

The GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project continues to engage communities in the fight against the Zika virus. To date, thirty countries – spanning the GLOBE Africa, Asia and Pacific, and Latin America and Caribbean regions – have entered over 76,000 data points into the GLOBE database using the GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper App. Local Mosquito Workshops (LMWs) continue to increase engagement and encourage data collection at the local level.

As a result of extensive data collection efforts in the GLOBE Africa Region, a new article was published in the International Journal of Mosquito Research, titled, “Assessment of population dynamics and biting trends of Aedes aegypti in northern Benin: Public health implications.” The lead author, Rock Aikpon, is a GLOBE Regional Public Health Officials who has participated in the GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project. The paper was co‑authored by Africa’s Regional Coordinator, Mark Brettenny, and Benin’s Assistant Country Coordinator and Alumni Coordinator for Africa, Yllias Lawani. It presents important findings about the biting behavior of Aedes mosquitoes in Benin, and the probability of exposure to Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (based on the indoor and outdoor collection of 485 adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes).

To read the full article , click here .

To learn more about the GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project, click here .

To learn more about the GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper, click here .

To follow along, and share your project updates on social media, use #GLOBEZika

Opportunities for Teachers

(U.S. opportunities are often highlighted in the News Brief simply because we are more aware of them through our local media; however, if there are opportunities for GLOBE students and/or teachers in your region that you would like us to highlight in the coming months, please send the information to: communications@globe.gov . Thank you!)

NASA STEM Educator Webinars

The NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative (EPDC) is presenting a series of webinars open to all educators. All pre-service, K-12, and informal educators, as well as university faculty, are invited to join NASA education specialists to learn about NASA missions, activities, lesson plans, educator guides, and online resources that integrate NASA and STEM into the classroom.

An upcoming webinar, “ NASA STEM Problem Solving: Human Space Exploration ,” is geared toward educators in grades K-10. On Tuesday, 21 May (5:00 p.m. ET), the NASA EPDC at Texas State University is providing a one-hour webinar. Inquiry-based learning is an integral part of the development of skills for lifelong learning. It prepares students to know what to do when the options before them are unclear. Webinar participants will explore the implementation strategies of problem-solving inquiry while adding engaging NASA STEM resources on human space exploration survival.

U.S. K-12 Teachers: Deadline to Apply for Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Semester, Cycle II, is 06 May

U.S. K-12 Teachers: Applications for the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term Program for U.S. Teachers (Fulbright DAST), Cycle II, is 06 May – for projects taking place in 12 countries between October 2019 and May 2020.

The Fulbright DAST provides an opportunity for outstanding K–12 teachers from the United States to take part in a two-week to six-week professional development experience overseas. Fulbright DAST sends expert U.S. K–12 teachers and educators to participating countries to support projects identified by U.S. embassies and Fulbright commissions in schools, teacher training colleges, government ministries, or educational nongovernmental organizations.

The Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term Program for U.S. Teachers is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX. It is governed by policies established by the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

For more information, and to apply for the program, click here .

Upcoming 2019 GLOBE Teacher Training Workshops

Upcoming GLOBE teacher training workshops include:

Leticia, Columbia (GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project): 03 May (open to all)
Leticia, Columbia (Triplice Fronteira): 03 May (open to all)
Denver, Colorado, USA (NSTA Virtual Conference): 04 May (open to all)
Envigado, Columbia (Hydrosphere): 06-07 May (open to all)
Berkeley, California, USA (Introduction to GLOBE): 22 May (open to all)
Denver, Colorado, USA (MULTI STEM Train-the-Trainer): 04-06 June (restricted attendance)
Wall, South Dakota, USA (Science and Storytelling in the Badlands): 18-21 June (open to all)
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA (Integrating STEM in the Environment): 23-26 July (open to all)

No training workshops in your area? Check out GLOBE’s protocol eTraining . (In order to enter GLOBE data, GLOBE users must complete the necessary training either by attending a GLOBE workshop or by completing the required online eTraining modules. Once your training is complete, you will be ready to start entering your measurements – and will be joining a community of thousands of teachers around the world!)