Microbes, Apps, and Backflips-in-Space at 3rd Annual White House “State of STEM” Event for Kids
Posted by Becky Fried and Meredith Lightstone on January 22, 2015 at 09:27 AM EST on White House OSTP
Yesterday, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Megan Smith, kicked off an afternoon of conversation between senior Obama-Administration scientists and technologists, outside innovators, and one of the toughest, most inquisitive audiences that could be conjured: DC-area elementary, middle, and high-school students.
CTO Smith launched the event by recapping the multitude of science and technology references in the prior evening’s State of the Union Address—including STEM education, climate change, tech-skills, and space exploration, to name a few. She then shared a personal account of the beauty of being a techie in public service, and the importance of bringing all of America’s talent to the table when it comes to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers – especially including women and minorities.
Next, NASA Administrator (and former astronaut… and former Marine) Charlie Bolden took the stage, revving the kids up for a special surprise: a live video Q&A with astronauts currently in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Students eagerly lined up to ask about life in zero-gravity, how the astronauts got their awesome jobs, and even what the weather’s like up in space. (Captain Barry “Butch” Wilmore half-joked that the weather is “consistently clear” aboard the ISS, just one of the many perks of his job.) Wilmore was joined by Colonel Terry Virts, and Captain Samantha Cristoforett, who answered students’ questions one-by-one, all while sporadically flipping upside down in their gravity-free environment.