Outreach

We organize public seminars with invited speakers on planetary science and space missions, and through the Tennessee Space Grant Consortium, we support undergraduate research programs and K–12 STEM outreach. The UT Space Grant Consortium funds STEM outreach and research across campus, Knox County, and throughout Tennessee.

Current programming includes support for rocketry and robotics teams in engineering, undergraduate research on astrobiology, planetary surfaces and planetary interiors, and planetary science research at the graduate level through a research assistantship. Space Grant-funded students and affiliates also participate in STEM nights at primary and secondary schools. A longstanding partnership with the Muse Children’s Museum supports STEM workshops, lesson-plan development, planetarium shows, and a summer STEM ambassador program for students from local Title I high schools.

For more information about public outreach through Space Grant, please contact Prof. Nicholas Dygert ([email protected]) or Prof. Robert Jacobsen ([email protected]).

Selection of Space Grant and CPSE Activities in 2025

February 24, 2025 – Geoscience Career Day, including live Zoom sessions with NASA employees.

March 6, 2025 – NASA Space Grant presentation and STEM open house at Norwood Elementary School, Oliver Springs, TN.

April 5, 2025 – Moon Meet-Up and Star Party for EEPS students with three amateur astronomers from the Smoky Mountain Astronomical Society, Lakeshore Park, Knoxville.

April 12, 2025 – Star EX workshop hosted by the Civil Air Patrol for students at St. John Newman Catholic School, Knoxville.

September 23, 2025 – College of Arts & Sciences Majors Fair, Student Union; display of meteorites and planetary science materials.

December 2, 2025 – Presentation at McClung with elementary home-schooled students, including planetary demonstrations and meteorite presentations.