Join us for a 5-day Astrobiology Workshop geared towards Middle and High School Science Teachers, to be held at the U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Observatory!
June 29 – July 4, 2025
During this conference, teachers will:
- Understand the foundations of Astrobiology
- Learn about careers and current research in Astrobiology
- Be able to implement new activities, designed to meet NGSS standards, with their students or clubs
- Collaborate with other educators to develop lesson plans for their classes
- Attend two scientific lectures daily, led by Dr. Jay Lockman, world-renowned Astronomer and Scientist Emeritus at NSF GBO
- Become confident in teaching their students about the intersections of Biology and Astronomy
- Collect their own radio data to go home with, and
- Enjoy the beauty of the Allegheny Mountains in Green Bank, WV
Every day, you will collaborate with other teachers, engage in scientific lectures, participate in fun hands-on activities, build curriculum content, and enjoy the setting of the NSF Green Bank Observatory.
All Teachers will receive:
- Travel support up to $400.00 per person.
- Room & Board starting at 5 PM on the 29th and ending after breakfast on the 4th.
- A $400.00 stipend for attending the full program (stipends are available for U.S. Citizens only.)
Registration is free and will be accepted on a first come, first-served basis! There are only 20 spots available and priority will be given to middle and high school teachers.
NSF Green Bank Observatory is excited to host this workshop for Science teachers, thanks to the generous support provided to the observatory and the American Philosophical Society by the Chair and CEO of United Therapeutics, Inc., Dr. Martine Rothblatt.
The Blumberg funds are named in honor of Dr. Baruch Blumberg, Nobel Laureate, first Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and President of the American Philosophical Society from 2005 until 2011. Dr. Blumberg was also Chair of United Therapeutics’s (Unither’s) corporate parent’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Workshop Speakers
Felix J. (Jay) Lockman is an astronomer emeritus at the Green Bank Observatory of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), home of the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). He served as Project Scientist then six years as Observatory Director during the construction of the GBT, then as GBT Principal Scientist for 15 years. His research involves study of the structure and evolution of the Milky Way.
Brett McGuire received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009 and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 2014. He was a National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Jansky Fellow and then a NASA Hubble Fellow from 2014-2020 at the NRAO and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. In 2020, he started a faculty position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he is now an Associate Professor of Chemistry. Research in the McGuire Group uses the tools of physical chemistry, molecular spectroscopy, and observational astrophysics to understand how the chemical ingredients for life evolve with and help shape the formation of stars and planets.
Dr. Caitlin Ahrens is a research scientist from the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology II at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. Ahrens received her B.S. in Physics/Astrophysics and Geology from West Virginia University in 2015, and a Ph.D. in Space and Planetary Science at the University of Arkansas in 2020. She is a member of the Diviner Science Team with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and serves as a technical support scientist for the Extravehicular and Human Activities Program to assist in risk assessments of astronaut, rover, and lander activity at the lunar surface. She is also the Lunar Lead for the Goddard Center of Astrobiology.
Dr. Hanna Sizemore grew up in a state park in rural West Virginia and graduated from Pocahontas County High School. She completed her bachelor’s degree in physics at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, before earning her MS and PhD in Astrophysics & Planetary Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. As a postdoc at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Dr. Sizemore was a Mars Phoenix Lander science team member, and subsequently worked as a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at Ames Research Center. She was a Guest Investigator on NASA’s Dawn mission to Ceres, and she is a Co-I in the Mars Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM) project. She is currently a Senior Scientist at Planetary Science Institute and an adjunct scientist at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Ellie White (she/her) is a graduate student and longtime science geek. She is currently working on a Master’s degree in Physics at Marshall University, where she has also taught introductory astronomy and physics classes. Through the years she has worked on research projects in the fields of astronomical instrumentation and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) with the Green Bank Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the UC Berkeley SETI Research Center, and the SETI Institute, for which she received the 2021 SETI Forward Award and was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2025. She is passionate about astronomy / STEAM outreach and the importance of making science accessible, and she is a founding member of the nonprofit, West Virginia Alliance for STEM and the Arts. She enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and pets, exercising/enjoying the outdoors, baking obsessively, reading, and watching too many rom coms.