NASA Partnership with JSU and MSU to Promote Remote Sensing Applications and Global Climate Change Education: 2013 Summer Course/Workshop

Abstract:

NASA Innovations in Climate Education (NICE) is a competitive project to promote climate and Earth system science literacy and seeks to increase the access of underrepresented minority groups to science careers and educational opportunities. A three year funding was received from NASA to partnership with JSU and MSU under cooperative agreement “Strengthening Global Climate Change education through Remote Sensing Application in Coastal Environment using NASA Satellite Data and Models”. The goal is to increase the number of undergraduate students at Jackson State University, a Historically Black University, who are prepared to pursue higher academic degrees and careers in the fields relevant to earth system science global climate change, marine and environmental sciences. A two week summer course/workshop was held during May 20-31, 2013 at JSU, focusing on historical and technical concepts of remote sensing technology and applications to climate and global climate change. Nine students from meteorology, biology, industrial technology and computer science/engineering of JSU participated in the course/workshop. The lecture topics include: introduction to remote sensing and GIS, introduction to atmospheric science and climate, introduction to NASA innovations in climate education, introduction to remote sensing technology for bio-geosphere, introduction to earth system science, principles of paleoclimatology and global change, daily weather briefing, satellite image interpretation and so on. In addition to lectures, lab sessions were held for hand-on experiences for remote sensing applications to atmosphere, biosphere, earth system science and climate change using ERDAS/ENVI GIS software and satellite tools. Field trip to Barnett reservoir and National weather Service (NWS) was part of the workshop. Some of the activities of the sessions will be presented. Basics of Earth System Science is a non-mathematical introductory course designed for high school seniors, high school teachers and undergraduate students who may or may not have adequate exposure to fundamental concepts of the key components of the modern earth system and their interactions. This is an online course that will be delivered using Blackboard platform available at Jackson State University.