Way Cool Student Scientists
Nardin Academy High School – Buffalo, NY
Speechless.
That sums up the feelings of the ASIP team from
Nardin Academy in
Buffalo, NY when they witnessed the landing of both Spirit and
Opportunity from a ringside seat at the Jet Propulsion Lab in
California.
Marilou, Kristen and Katie are members of the Athena
Student Interns Program (ASIP) that is giving high school students
from across the nation the chance to work with the scientists of the
Mars Exploration Rover Project (MER). Their mentor is
Steve Squyres from Cornell
University, the Principal Science Investigator for MER.
“The experience of being with the Mars Exploration Rover science
team on landing night left us with several recollections...Being in the
midst of 150 scientists who have been working on this project for
several years was awe-inspiring. There was sweat, tears, applause, and
lots of smiles and twinkling eyes. Everyone was stunned,” says
Marilou Bebak, a biology teacher at Nardin Academy. She continues,
“The first thrill was witnessing entry, descent and landing of
Spirit, and getting the signal from the rover that it landed safely.
The second thrill was getting spectacular images from the surface of
Mars just two hours later.”
Kristen is a senior at Nardin. While at JPL she studied the use of the
Collaborative Information Portal (CIP), the master schedule program for
the entire mission. She was responsible for keeping CIP updated as the
mission progressed. She also created a three-page tutorial for the
science team that explains how to upload schedules.
Katie is in her junior year at Nardin. Her work at JPL included
assisting Steve Squyres with media relations by scheduling interviews
and press conferences. This required many hours on the cell phone, as
well as an extensive amount of time organizing the large number of media
requests.
While at the landings, Marilou prepared outreach presentations for other
schools and the general public to convey the excitement of their
hands-on learning experience. She says “We have already done
outreach presentations at Cornell University for a teacher workshop, at
Buffalo State College for the Buffalo Astronomical Association, and at
the Buffalo Museum of Science. We plan additional presentations at the
Museum this spring as well as for our school.”
Marilou’s vocation is
teaching
biology, but astronomy is her avocation. She states,
“Genetics is my favorite part of biology, especially recent
discoveries surrounding the Human Genome Project. In 1994 I was
accepted in the
Cornell Institute
for Biology Teachers, where each summer I study topics in biology
and where I wrote a lab about the West Nile Virus. As New York State
Biology Mentor, I plan and conduct teacher workshops throughout the
school year.”
Marilou has worked part-time as Astronomy Educator at the
Buffalo
Museum of Science for the past 20 years. Her favorite areas of
astronomy are planetary and solar. She is also a member of the
Buffalo
Astronomical Association where she was the second woman in the
club’s history to be inducted into the College of Fellows. In
conjunction with the museum, she has participated in grant projects
involving the International Space Station (Star Station One) and comets
(CONTOUR Comet Challenge). She says, “The potential of a liquid
water environment on Mars is fascinating. As a biology teacher who
loves astronomy, the new field of astrobiology is very interesting. The
potential for liquid water may lead to finding pre-organic compounds on
other planets, which will provide a better understanding of how the
first cells formed.”
Kristen would like to pursue a career with NASA, perhaps becoming an
aerospace engineer. Her favorite subjects are chemistry, physics and
mathematics. She has participated in numerous clubs including the
National Honor Society, Science Team, Quiz Bowl, Math Club, Horseback
Riding Club, and has volunteered at the Buffalo Museum of Science. She
says the arts are also a part of her life: “I enjoy playing the
flute and piccolo, and played in pit orchestra for our musicals
‘Godspell’ and ‘Once Upon a Mattress.’”
Katie is interested in pursuing a career as a writer. She mentions,
“Although I have always enjoyed and appreciated science, I have
decided that I will most likely pursue a career in the land of words.
But I have made no final decisions. For the time being, I am content to
live without restrictions on what my future will hold.” Her other
interests include skiing, quiz bowl matches, concerts, and reading.
They all agree that witnessing the process of real science in action was
a tremendous experience. Marilou says that as they watched science team
members collect and analyze data from the martian surface, and sort
through multiple working hypotheses, “we were truly watching
history unfold before our eyes.”
“I know that everything I have witnessed has greatly enriched my
perspective. I feel like I have had experiences from which I will never
‘recover’- which is a good thing,” says Katie.
Kristen adds, “I know that this experience will be valuable to me
in preparation for college. I am more confident in my ability to take on
responsibilities.”
