With summer being a time for many teachers to engage in professional development, one Gwinnett County Public Schools teacher will take that experience to new heights.

Rebecca May, a computer science teacher at Paul Duke STEM High School, has been selected to participate in the NASA’s LiftOff Summer Institute to be held at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

This nationally competitive program sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium selects teachers who will increase their knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math through space education. Educators selected will come together June 23-28 to conduct experiments, tour facilities, and network with other educators while sharing innovative lesson plans and ideas.

Related story: What do teachers do over summer break?

Related story: Gwinnett math teachers get hands-on training at summer institute

Related story: Dream trip to Belize combines education, conservation for local students

LiftOff 2019’s theme is The Legacy of Apollo! The workshops provide teachers the rare— and for most, unique— opportunity to spend a week working with professional scientists and engineers at the cutting-edge of space exploration.

Since its founding in 1958, NASA has reached that goal numerous times. From walking on the moon to landing on Mars, NASA has brought the wonders of space to people on Earth for decades. Thousands of people have been working around the world – and off it – for decades, trying to answer some basic questions. What’s out there? How do we get there? What will we find? What can we learn there, or learn just by trying to get there, that will make life better here on Earth?

Teachers selected for LiftOff will return to their school districts to not only use materials received in their own classroom, but to train other educators. The LiftOff workshops prove that the excitement teachers, and more importantly, their students, feel about earth and space science can be used to enrich STEM education and inspire the next generation of explorers.

Information: www.tsgc.utexas.edu/liftoff/

About the Author

Keep Reading

A Kennesaw State student’s mortarboard is decorated with “2025” during the Spring 2025 commencement of the Michael J. Coles College of Business at the Convocation Center, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Kennesaw, Ga. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Featured

In 2022, Georgia Power projected its winter peak electricity demand would grow by about 400 megawatts by 2031. Since then, Georgia has experienced a boom of data centers, which require a large load of electricty to run, and Georgia Power's recent forecast shows peak demand growing by 20 times the 400-megawatt estimate from just three years ago. (Illustration by Philip Robibero/AJC)

Credit: Illustration: Philip Robibero / AJC