DC Space Grant Supports NASA STELLA Workshop for Educators

Last month, NASA’s Science and Technology Education for Land/Life Assessment (STELLA) initiative organized a hands-on workshop for middle and high school teachers at American University focused on advancing remote sensing skills and STEM workforce development. STELLA is a low-cost, open-source, handheld spectrometer platform that participants build and use to measure light reflectance and environmental parameters, helping connect field-based observations with NASA satellite remote sensing.

STELLA Team Lead Mike Taylor led the workshop, with NASA Acres’ Drs. Mike Humber and Allison Bredder serving as contributors alongside Paul Mirel, creator and lead engineer of STELLA, who delivered a talk and Q&A, and Natalia Quinteros Casaverde, who shared a presentation on her use of STELLA to support home garden monitoring in Jamaica. The workshop was organized and planned by Chelsey Brown, Program Manager for the NASA District of Columbia Space Grant Consortium and the Integrated Space Science and Technology Institute (ISSTI). Funding was provided by a grant Chelsey received from the American Physical Society. It included contributions from Rachel Stagner, a nationally recognized STEM educator, 2023 PAEMST Awardee, 2018–19 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at NASA, and founder of STEMTeachersDMV, which also organized and sponsored the workshop.

Read the full story on science.gsfc.nasa.gov

Author Credit: NASA Acres

Image Credit: NASA STELLA

Original Post Date: 2.21.26