PCEC News
Plan to Attend the Sixth Annual Roger That! Public Symposium on Space Exploration
December 16, 2021
Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) are proud to present the sixth annual Roger That! public symposium on space exploration on the weekend of February 18-19, 2022. The Roger That! symposium is named in honor of Roger Chaffee, a native Grand Rapidian who lost his life in the Apollo 1 fire. A wide variety of activities are included in this two-day event – there’s enough space for everyone! The 2022 event has a theme of “Women and Space” and will be presented in a hybrid format, beginning with virtual speakers Friday morning and transitioning to in-person events around 4pm Friday afternoon, with the remainder of the symposium in person.
The 2022 keynote, Colonel Eileen Collins, will speak at GVSU’s Loosemore Auditorium on Friday evening at 6:30pm and again at 11:00am on Saturday morning at GRPM.
Her presentation, “Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars,” is appropriate for all ages. Col. Collins became the first female to pilot a U.S. spacecraft with the Discovery shuttle flight in 1995, and the first female commander on the 1999 Columbia shuttle flight. Her talk is open to the public free of charge, and there will be a public reception preceding the GVSU talk in the Hager Exhibition Space on Friday 5:30-6:30pm. A flyer suitable for sharing with students is available by contacting Dr. Karen Gipson ([email protected]).
STEM kits will be available free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis in early January to any interested classroom teachers. These kits include instructions and equipment for hands-on exploration and are aligned with 5th grade NGSS standards. Teachers of any grade-levels may request and receive the kits. Please email [email protected] to reserve your kit(s).
STEAM activities for K-5 students are organized by GRPM on Friday, February 18, 2022 to afford younger students the opportunity to learn about space exploration through a series of programs including hands-on activities and planetarium presentations. Family-friendly activities also occur at GRPM on Saturday, February 19, 2022.
Design That! (a design challenge competition) is held at GVSU for 4th – 8th school students, with students working in teams to describe and solve problems in one of four areas – humans in space, communities in space, technology in space, or equal opportunities in space. Students are encouraged to design and build physical objects or use non-fictional and fictional narrative styles to present challenges related to space exploration. Design That! was carefully designed to align with specific NGSS standards, and students can present their projects in person and/or via short videos. Prizes will be awarded separately for 5th -6th grades and 7th -8th grades. Complete details about Design That! can be found on the symposium website (www.gvsu.edu/rogerthat) and a flyer suitable for sharing with students is available by emailing [email protected].
An academic conference at GVSU on Friday (8:30am - 4pm) features a series of presentation by experts in two domains: Space & Society and Space and Science. These talks are geared towards an adult lay audience, primarily college students and the general public, but high school classes are welcome to attend and specific talks are accessible to all ages. The conference is free, but registration is required. Abstracts for the talks will be available on the symposium website after January 10, 2022 and the registration page will be open shortly thereafter.
For more information about any aspect of the Roger That! symposium, see www.gvsu.edu/rogerthat or contact Dr. Karen Gipson at [email protected].
The Roger That! symposium is funded in part by the Michigan Space Grant Consortium and in part by GVSU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Col. Collins’ appearance and the 2022 STEM kits are made possible by special augmented funding from GVSU’s Center for Scholarly and Creative Excellence.