Thursday, January 31, 2008 - Snow, Career Fairs, Paina
No, its not snowing at the career fairs in Hilo, but it has been snowing at the summits of the state's three tallest peaks - Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Haleakala. White snow capped summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island are not uncommon sights, but the the dormant volcano of the Valley Island of Maui at 10,000 feet in elevation rarely sees snow on its peak. A storm that has been hovering over our state for the past several days has pelted areas of the Big Island and Maui with rain and hail, and the summits with snow. Haleakala Amateur Astronomer Rob Ratkowski has sent us a couple of pictures, and we share them with you below. Later today, SEPO (Science Education and Public Outreach office) and several staff from the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility will be heading out to Kamehameha School Hawaii Campus to participate in their Career Day for high school students. Darryl Watanabe, Electronics Technician, Eric Warmbier, Electronics Engineer, will be joining Kenyan and I at the career fair, hosting a display panel, an infrared camera and some electronics equipment. After the career fair, its back to the shop to begin preparations for our Pau Hana Paina (after work party) at the IfA for our support staff. Its nice to have a time to step back from our work to gather informally as an 'ohana to share food, drink and conversation with each other.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - Robotics Presentation
Today, Kenyan and I were invited to give a presentation to teachers from the Keaau-Kau-Pahoa complex of the Department of Education. On this non-instruction, teacher professional development day at Keaau High School, several hundred teachers attended breakout sessions given by other educators, curriculum developers, science center staff and us. We are indeed very honored and appreciative of the opportunity to share information about robotics programs with the schools in Puna and Kau. Many thanks to complex Standards Resource Teacher Donna Kohara and Chrys Arbles for setting everything up for us. Kenyan and I brought six Lego Mindstorms RCX and NXT robots that demonstrated their capabilities using touch, light, sound and ultrasound sensors. Before we let the robots loose, I gave a Keynote slide presentation on robotics in education for K-12 students, their associated competitions, equipment costs, and training workshops. The presentation was adorned with many video clips and broadcast segments featuring local robotics teams and competitions. Finally, we demoed the bots we brought and put them through their paces. We also allowed the teachers to explore the three Lego Mindstorm robotics kits we brought along with us, as well as the six robots we demoed earlier. Of the dozen educators in our session, I believe at least ten were interested in what we were doing. Let's hope they consider enrolling in our teacher training program and that the complex can support their growth. In any event, it was great being able to meet these teachers and look forward to working with them in the future.
Sunday, January 27, 2008 - Onizuka Day Reflections
I had the best time at Onizuka Science Day 2008 this past Saturday, January 26th at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. I don't think this is due to the coordination or quality of the event, or the people running it, nor the organizations and people who volunteer to give workshops or host exhibits for the hundreds of students who attend this event since 2001. Since I have been attending the event informally since 2002 and formally since 2004, I have some history with the program. I suppose the reason I was able to enjoy the event this year was because of my assistant Kenyan Beals and the volunteers David Trang, Heather Kaluna and Josh Walawender who helped co-facilitate the exhibit and students workshops during the day. Being able to step back and observe much of the activity both at our IfA booth and at other booths in the campus center plaza provided me with an opportunity to see others engaging with the public, the outreach activities they employed and collateral they distributed. It also gave me some time to spend with my seven year old son Kaipo, who thoroughly enjoyed the event this year. The other thing that made the day special was being able to acquire another astronaut's signature on my MER poster. I have been collecting signatures since 2004, and have gotten one from astronauts Mark Polansky, Mike Fincke, Robert Curbeam, Don Thomas and Barbara Morgan. Thank you to Mary Ann Tsuchiyama who encouraged me to go back to my office at lunch time to retrieve the poster I had forgotten to bring with me. Mahalo nui loa Mary Ann - the poster looks great. And don't worry Rene, you won't ever see this poster on eBay!
Saturday, January 26, 2008 - Onizuka Science Day
The Seventh Annual Ellison Onizuka Science Day was held today at the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UHH) campus. The featured guest was school teacher Barbara Morgan, who gave an opening presentation in the UHH Theater, ran two workshops and signed autographs. This year because of construction at the library, the exhibit area was located in the campus plaza. The location is open and airy, and a really nice place to hang out during the day. Our exhibit was flanked by the UHH Physics and Astronomy department and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, with the Visitor Information Station, Gemini Observatory, Subaru Telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope nearby. This year, Kenyan ran the workshops using the Meade meteorite kit, with assistance from UHH astronomy student Heather Kaluna. I manned the Institute for Astronomy exhibit with Josh Walawender and UHH astronomy student David Trang. Our exhibit featured meteorite samples an Eye-Kea video kiosk, and tons of handouts. As always, the event was well run and I am glad that the organizing committee produced an event of such high quality without my involvement. As far as the event was concerned, i had a lot of fun, and with the help from volunteers and our astronomy staff was able to step back a bit and enjoy the moment as a spectator. Fun, fun, fun.
Thursday, January 24, 2008 - Friendly Neighborhood Machinist
We received frantic calls from people seeking assistance with construction of a robot chassis. The Hilo High School robotics team is competing in the FIRST robotics competition, and their robot needs to be completed in three weeks. Whoa. Okay, so I tried to find the very best prototype machinist I know: Brian Elms from Subaru Telescope. This guy has helped build instruments that have gone on some of the worlds best telescopes and has worked with luminaries in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics. I ran next door to the Subaru machine shop to see if Brian would be interested in working with some high school students and he agreed. We set a time and date (this afternoon), and I got on the phone to contact the students and their mentor to arrange for them to meet me at Subaru to introduce them to Brian. At two-thirty, the students arrived and we made our way into Brian's domain. After a safety briefing, Brian started talking about himself, his experience and the machines he has been working with over the past thirty years. The students then started talking about the robotic challenge, rules and playing field, and their ideas and plans for a strategy. Brian listened attentively and offered suggestions. The next step will be for the students to provide Brian with a couple of draft designs, and invite him over to the school to take a look at the parts and components they have to work with. But with a little more than three weeks before the deadline for completion, the students will have to put it into high gear and work as a team to pull this project together. The best of luck to the team, and many thanks to our machinist extraordinaire from Subaru Telescope, Brian Elms.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - Planning Meetings
Kenyan and I had a meeting in the morning with Kau-Keaau-Pahoa Complex resource teachers Donna and Chrys to talk about our making a presentation to their complex area teachers about robotics in education. The presentation would take place next week at a teacher planning and collaboration day. Donna and Chrys want to bring awareness of robotics educational programs, resources and training workshops to the teachers in their complex. We are very excited about this opportunity to help start up robotics in the Puna district schools. We will do our best to help the Kau-Keaau-Pahoa complex get up to speed. We'll screen a short Keynote presentation before conducting a demonstration of a couple of Lego Mindstorms NXT robots, and finish up with a couple of hands-on discovery stations. Kenyan enjoys letting the robots out to run around. I do too. Next up it was over to the UHH Office of Global Education and Exchange to discuss plans for this year's International Education Week slated for November 17-21 on the UHH campus. We are trying to develop a schedule for the week that can give a diverse taste of several cultures in figurative and literal ways. Some of the activities and exhibits include food booths, astronomy lectures, and cultural astronomy activities. Some of these will have an international astronomy theme - ie. sky stories of Pacific-Asian cultures, Polynesian wayfinding, etc. Others will be based on international cuisine. The main thing I would like to emphasize throughout the week is the the international nature of astronomy in particular and science in general, and how more and more international collaborations are the order of the science research day. Finally, I met with Les Rubenfeld of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for dinner and beers at Cronies. We talked of plans for the future and challenges we each deal with regarding our respective institutions of higher learning. I suppose I needed an opportunity to relax a bit, let my guard down and pound a couple. Its been a while, and I needed the release. Now I'm ready to face tomorrow!
Friday, January 18, 2008 - Events Planning
Today was dedicated to the planning of several community events over the course of the next few months. We started out by seeing if we could book Jean-Charles Cuillandre to present his Hawaiian Starlight: Exploring the Universe from Mauna Kea video to our friends on Maui. The movie was screened at the Kahilu Theater in Waimea last week Friday to standing room only crowds. Jean-Charles is keen on visiting Maui for other purposes - he'd like to see the Pan-STARRS I facility on the summit of Haleakala and a former colleague and friend who now works on the camera team for Pan-STARRS. All I have to do is coincide the presentation with one of his friend's monthly visits tot he Valley Island to work on the camera - the next open date would be in March, so we'll keep you folks on Maui updated as things develop. Next on the agenda is the Na Pua No'eau Super Enrichment Saturday event on February 23rd with a Wa'a (canoe) theme. Several members of the canoe paddling and sailing canoe community came together to share their mana'o on the structure of the activities for the day. After an opening pule (prayer), the students will be taught a canoe oli (chant) that will be recited by everyone each time they break for a new activity. The land activities take place in the morning and will consist of canoe rigging and lashing, making cordage out of coconut sennit, learning of canoe plants, and knot tying. After lunch, the students will be broken into groups to learn how to paddle an outrigger canoe and how to sail a double hull canoe. The event will feature seven six-man paddling canoes, and three coastal sailing canoes for aquatic activities. Several crew members from the Hokualaka'i will assist, while it looks as though I will be videotaping the event for an Eye-Kea video segment on Living in Paradise.
Thursday, January 17, 2008 - Long Day
Today was a long day for sure - eighteen hours in all, from 4:00 am until just a few minutes ago at 10:00 pm. There were two meetings, a science fair and a presentation in today's schedule. By far the most fun was being a judge at the St Joseph School Science Fair this morning. About twenty people from Mauna Kea Observatories, University of Hawaii at Hilo, and the community at large volunteered to interview students and evaluate their research projects. Marion Buscher has been organizing these fairs for the past twelve years and the number of projects has steadily grown. I got to see some interesting experiments and learned a few things along the way. Then it was back to the IfA to make another meeting, followed by a few hours back in my office tweaking my Keynote presentation for a talk to the Alpha Delta Kappa international honorary organization of women educators. By six-thirty, the ADK members started showing up, so I set up my computer in the auditorium to make sure all my video and audio were working properly. When the women filed into the auditorium, I was surprised to recognize several of them through my work in the schools and in community organizations...small world. The audience was quite attentive as I shared information about all of the programs and services we provide, and I must say that I could relate to them. I suppose the connection is through the fact that my mom was a school teacher for 40 years. In a way, I like to think of what we do as a small, humble tribute to all of the great work teachers do on a daily basis for our young people. So for me, sucking it up and giving one of my more spirited presentations near the end of a long day is the best part of it.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - St Joseph Science Fair
Kenyan and I were at St Joseph School, in the gym videotaping footage for an Eye-Kea segment of Living in Paradise cable television show. The occasion is the twelfth annual St Joseph Science Fair, the students involved and their projects. We set up a Panasonic DVX100 on a tripod with a shotgun mike on the hot shoe and a wireless lavelier microphone system. I handheld a JVC HD camcorder. This setup may be intimidating to a kid - it was tough at first to get anyone to volunteer to go on camera. But after we got a couple of shots in the can, all the students wanted their camera time. Its funny how people respond to a video camera, and its not just kids - some say the time period between being camera shy and a camera hog is much shorter for adults. Okay, back to the science projects. This year at St Joseph School, more than a hundred science projects were entered from the elementary through high school, which has necessitated more volunteer judges. Many of the projects at this science fair will be entered into the State District science fair in February (and on to States in April, and Nationals in May if good enough).
Monday, January 14, 2008 - Start of Another Semester
Today marks the start of Spring Semester 2008 at the University of Hawaii, and with it comes the pandemonium of students and professors getting back into the swing of things. For us at the office of Science Education and Public Outreach at the Institute for Astronomy, its business as usual. Of course, things slow down during the various school breaks so those are times best suited to catching up on reports, investigating funding sources for grants, and planning. Now that school is back in session, our schedule is filling up with science fair judging, classroom visitations, career fair participation, and educational tours of the summit of Mauna Kea. We have booked speakers for most of the spring semester, and are working on taking the AstroTalk lecture series on the road during the summer months. Kenyan's idea is to target rural areas that are under-represented like Volcano, Pahoa, and West Hawaii. He and Callie facilitated several lecture/stargazing parties at Kilauea Military Camp and Pu'u Honua o Honaunau last year, and build upon that for this summer. The demand is all around us for our services, it's just a shame that our resources are so limited and our staffing cut. There is money that is available to both SEPO and the AstroDay Institute through grants, but without the time to pursue them we are stuck in a mode of doing the best we can with what we have to work with. I don't know if this will ever change through additional support from the IfA. With demand up and resources down, it is apparent that the only way to deal with this situation is what I have been doing over the course of the past four years: work more. But after four years of 14 hour days, seven days a week invested in building SEPO (and trust in the community), I am reluctant to maintain this pace even though the needs of our community are growing. There is much more that I can say, but nothing that would improve on the current situation. I know what the problem is, but nothing is going to change or resolve it in the current circumstances. I guess I'm not very happy, and haven't been so in quite some time now - and I don't like feeling this way.
Sunday, January 13, 2008 - Imiloa Planetarium Reopening
Whoa! That's it in a nutshell. The Imiloa Astronomy Center showcased their new stereo planetarium projection system with some preview material developed for it using 3D modeling that takes the viewer to new places in space and time. Using special spectrally etched glasses, one is immersed in three dimensional space from the ultra small atomic structure of amino acids to the very large scale structure of the universe. Quite a trip indeed. Imiloa is the first full-dome 3D stereo planetarium in the world, which operates a Definiti-3D projection system by Sky-Skan. After a delay of the Evans & Sutherland digital laser projector of more than a year, Imiloa looked at other options for its 120 seat planetarium. The event was well attended by planetarians from around the world, astronomers from Mauna Kea Observatories and members of the community. Grammy Award recipient Keoki Kahumoku entertained the crowd during a short reception with heavy pupus and no-host bar. The crowd filtered into the planetarium to enjoy presentations by Paul Coleman, IfA on Hawaiian astronomy and sky lore. Master (Pwo) Navigator Kalepa Baybayan then introduced the audience to the Hawaiian star compass and the four navigational star lines on the projected night sky. Steve Savage of Sky-Skan then took everyone on a ride from the smallest carbon nano-tubes to the galactic neighborhood of the Local Group before buzzing out to the edges of the known universe to observe the filamentary structure of galaxy super clusters. Robin Sip of Mirage 3-D then screened "Dawn of the Space Age" short movie that chronicles man's foray into the unknown from the Soviet's launch of Sputnik to the American Space Shuttle currently used by NASA. Finally, Kirk Pu'uphau-Pummil screened his full-dome timelapse movies of the Gemini Observatories in both Chile and Mauna Kea. Gorgeous footage with promise for stereo-vision in the future. Tonight's Reopening of the Imiloa Astronomy Center's planetarium offers the capability that was never realized since its opening eighteen months ago. But the wait was well worth it in my opinion - all members of the public are encouraged to attend the public opening this Friday, and ongoing shows the center will feature. Its an experience you don't want to miss!
Friday, January 11, 2008 - AstroTalk Bookings
We have a great lineup of AstroTalk speakers for 2008. Starting things off, Phil Sakimoto of University of Notre Dame will give a presentation on the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA) tonight. IYA will be a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, highlighted by the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei. Next month, in alignment with the Fourth Annual Journey Through the Universe program (JTTU), we will bring back visiting scientist Kevin Grazier to give a talk around his book "The Science of Dune: An Unauthorized Exploration into the Real Science behind Frank Herbert's Fictional Universe" on February 8th. Later that month on February 15th, another JTTU program visiting scientist Tim Livengood will present on the NASA EPOXI mission which "recycles" the Deep Impact flyby spacecraft to look for extrasolar planets. Then in March, Mike Brown of CalTech will enlighten us on how he "killed" Planet Pluto through his co-discovery of Eris, Sedna and other small bodies which created the need to reclassify objects in our solar system. Unconfirmed, but hopeful future AstroTalk presenters include Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope astronomer Jean-Charles Cuillandre and his spectacular movie "Hawaiian Starlight: Exploring the Universe from Mauna Kea", Gibor Basri of the University of California, Berkeley, and Scott Sheppard, an Institute for Astronomy alumnus and co-discoverer of dozens of satellites of Jupiter, Saturn. It is a pleasure and a distinct honor to be able to showcase preeminent astronomers and their cutting-edge research to the Hawaii Island community. We hope to see you at one (or more) of these AstroTalks throughout the year.
Thursday, January 10, 2008 - Win Some, Lose Some
I found out today from our friends at Jet Propulsion Laboratory that their Open House will take place on the same weekend as our AstroDay Festival. This conflict will preclude Eddie Gonzales (JPL) and Kay Ferrari (Solar System Ambassadors) from attending our seventh annual event that will be held on Saturday, May 3rd at the Prince Kuhio Plaza. This is unfortunate because Eddie's Mars Exploration Rover prototype was a huge hit at last year's event, giving kids of all ages a robotic back massage by running over them. But I also received a phone call from our friend and former Meade Instruments Corporation VP of National Sales Scott Roberts. It seems that Scott has left the company amicably to devote more time on his Astronomy Outreach network. Scott also mentioned that he would like to attend this year's event with a couple associates and do a guest blog and an audio program for AstroDay. This is great, especially since its been four years since the last time Scott attended our program with Hawaii Meade Dealer Terry Takaki and astrophotographer Jason Ware. So although we lost one exhibitor for AstroDay, we've picked up another. And we're going to work extra hard to recruit more organizations and individuals to help us communicate astronomy to the people of Hawaii. Mark your calendars now for the best astronomy day event in the world: AstroDay!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - Start of a Busy Year
2008 is shaping to be a breakout astronomy outreach year with many organizations and institutions ramping up their activities within their respective communities. For example, this coming Friday no fewer than three separate astronomy lectures will be presented to the public - in Maui, Waimea and Hilo. The UH Institute for Astronomy Maui will host a Maikalani Community Lecture at the Maikalani Advanced Technology Research Center in Pukalani. The talk features Haleakala Amateur Astronomer Rob Ratkowski who will explain "How to Use the Telescope you Received for Christmas". Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope astronomer Jean-Charles Cuillandre will be screening his video "Hawaiian Starlight - Exploring the Universe from Mauna Kea" at the Kahilu Theater in Waimea. The production includes some of the most incredible timelapse footage taken on the summit of Mauna Kea. Back in Hilo, we will begin our AstroTalk lecture series for 2008 with a presentation by University of Notre Dame astrophysicist Phil Sakimoto, who will speak of the upcoming "International Year of Astronomy - Uniting Heaven and Earth". We invite all of you to attend one of these excellent programs being offered by our friends at a venue near you.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 - Back on Oahu
What started as a quiet week is turning into a jumble of activity. Discussions on the possibility of expanding the Hilo (Hawaii) Youth Robotics program to Oahu for summer 2008 with a partnership with Honolulu school have begun. Nothing is set, but a meeting will be held to discuss some of the logistics and costs with school administrators and our friends from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York this week. The likelihood of a return of our Hilo Youth Robotics program have diminished thanks to the development of Hilo High School‘s Camp Eureka, which joins the Waiakea High School robotics academy for summer enrichment programs in Hilo. This is a good thing, and we are very happy that these two programs will be able to fulfill the needs of our community this year. We are contemplating a different robotics camp this year for older kids, but will not disclose any details at this time. While in Oahu, we are also meeting with some amateur astronomers and educators regarding future educational workshops in astronomy and space science. I‘ll be on Oahu through Thursday, returning home to Hilo that night for a Mauna Kea summit tour and AstroTalk lecture on Friday.
Sunday, January 6, 2008 - In With the New, Out With the Old
On what seemed like a good idea at the time, I embarked on a spring cleaning of my office at the IfA. Chaos Manor, to which I refer my office is a repository for astronomy, space science and robotics educational resources overbrimming capacity. Today, I had to decide which items to keep and which ones to toss. It has been my personal experience that I inevitably keep stuff that I'll never again use and toss those that I will have intrinsic need for six months later - so I had to take some time and evaluate each piece carefully. After a couple of hours and one trip to the trash dumpster, I must say that my office now looks much more organized than before and is actually on the verge of being neat and tidy. I was always feeling disconnected and somewhat unorganized for much of last year, and perhaps it was the result of my office in being in a state of disarray. On the surface things look organized, but under the veneer of external appearances lurks the monster that is chaos, so I will continue working on overhauling my files and books over the next week. There are a few file folders for projects and activities that I need to review and update. While in that mode, I want to review and update our strategic plan for 2008, and streamline our activities. Since we are down one staff member, I don't really want to take on any additional projects and activities than we are already involved in (and may even consider cutting back on a few things). It is something that I don't want to do but need to be cognizant of not overworking my staff or myself. Of course, we will continue with our flagship programs and events like AstroDay and RoboFest, but will need to take a hard look at some other areas to trim back. Hey, this is a Sunday and it is sunny outside, so I am going home to pick up my son to go to the beach for a little standup paddleboarding. Seeya later.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - Into the New Year
The second day of 2008 offers a glimpse of the sky through a few sucker holes in the clouds. The warmth of the sun sure feels good after a spell of rain and overcast skies over the last several weeks. Although still on vacation, I found my way into the office to create a Mauna Kea Experience tour certificate for UHH Baseball coach Joey Estrella for his team's fundraiser auction later this month. Coach "E" and his team have supported our RoboFest Hawaii event, and we wanted to return the favor. I also worked on spec'ing out upgrade resistors and caps for my "FrankenAmp" tube monster project (more on this in the future). By 10:00, the weather was clear and it was time for me to gather my son Kaipo and my standup paddleboard to hit the surf at Waiuli beach (I couldn't resist the call of the ocean). Seeya later.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008 - Happy New Year!
I hope that 2007 was a good year for you and that the new year has started off with a bang. For me, much of the past year has been a blur - a rush of images, sounds and emotions that persist in my memory after the fact. A lot of times we don't have the luxury of sitting back and enjoying the fruits of our labor - often it's all we can do to keep driving the programs. Usually, we are working on two or three different projects at the same time, and when one commences, we are already in motion with the next. I am confident of the positive effects our programming have on our community, and of the IfA's involvement within the community beyond its primary scope of activity (the office of Science Education and Public Outreach and I work in numerous capacities on various boards and committees). This kind of work keeps me out of trouble (who's got the time?), but it doesn't provide me with the time to properly evaluate past projects and programs, nor to strategize or plan for future ones or really enjoy anything I'm doing right now. My new year's resolution is to not work so hard, but to work a little smarter (if thats even possible). I'm going to reduce my daily work hours from the 12-14 that I invested (in starting the IfA's Science Education and Public Outreach office over the last four years), and rely more on my staff. I am probably not going to be pursuing additional funding as ardently as before, nor committing to as grueling a schedule. My dad's health is a concern now, as is my family's and I've given as much as I can to this job and don't know that I have much more to spare. Now I'm not going anywhere soon, but I am making it a point to reciprocate in kind - if it ain't coming, I ain't going. I hope tomorrow is sunnier than the last couple of weeks.