Pair will teach about NASA exploration

By Joe Bauman
Deseret News science writer
Monday, December 31, 2001

A 20-year-old Utah State University student and an outreach expert who has worked with Hansen Planetarium longer than the student has been alive are Utah's "solar system ambassadors" for 2002, NASA has announced.

Patrick Wiggins, a Hansen Planetarium outreach expert, is a NASA ambassador for the second time. Michael Brandy, Deseret News

USU's Teri Gee and Patrick Wiggins of Hansen Planetarium are among 278 volunteers selected nationally to teach the public about the agency's space exploration.

2002 will be the first time that all 50 states and Puerto Rico have ambassadors under the program, which is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Ambassadors are each required to put on at least four public sessions a year - school lectures, star parties, displays or even musical presentations. JPL provides training and supplies such as photos taken by spacecraft.

Nearly half of the 2002 group, including Wiggins, have already served as ambassadors.

"I'm a little nervous about it, but I think it'll be really fun," said Gee. A third-year student at USU majoring in history with a minor in physics teaching, she was interviewed by telephone at her family home in Sugar City, Idaho.      

When she was about 10, Gee's elementary school class visited the planetarium of the nearby Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho (since renamed Brigham Young University-Idaho). There, she fell in love with astronomy.

She became fascinated with space. "We never really had a telescope at my house, but I just started reading books."

One volume, "National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe," was a real eye-opener. "I read that from cover to cover, quite a few times," she said.

"That was when I was about 10, and so ever since then I've been reading books about (space), taking classes whenever I could."

Gee once considered majoring in physics. Deciding she did not have the math background for that, she concentrated on earning a teaching degree. Eventually, she would like to go to graduate school for a doctorate in history.

A teaching career would fit well with her family background. Her father, Jerald, is an elementary school principal. "We're pretty much all teachers in my family," she said, except for her oldest brother, who has a doctorate and is engaged in psychology research

 

Teri Gee

Meanwhile, Gee has taken university courses in astronomy and general physics.

She receives weekly e-mail notices from NASA, one of which asked for volunteers for the ambassador program. Using an Internet link, she filled out an application.      

"It wasn't really a planned thing," she said. "I really didn't think I'd actually get chosen."      

Now that she is about to become a "solar system ambassador" to the Cache Valley region, she takes her responsibilities seriously. She wants to help teach area residents "about different space explorations being done by NASA" and to help foster their interest.

Of the four projects she's required to do, she said, "I really don't know exactly what I'll do yet." But she's looking forward to communicating with JPL about the program.

"They send e-mails on the different news stories and the different programs that NASA is considering. And so it's almost like getting firsthand information from NASA about what's going on."

Her family was surprised by NASA's choice. "They know I've been interested in it for a long time," she said, "but they all get a kick out of my title."

Wiggins agrees. "We joke around the planetarium about 'ambassador from Earth to the solar system,' but I don't get to go anywhere - other than around Utah," he said.      

This is the second year for Wiggins as an official NASA ambassador. However, he has been doing the same sort of thing for Hansen Planetarium for more than a quarter-century.

A big advantage is that NASA supplies many supporting materials such as slides, pamphlets, postcards, posters, videos and lithographs. The space agency is eager to have the information get to the public, Wiggins said.

Much of his outreach program is through visits to schools throughout Utah. He does school visits once or twice a week and also conducts star programs at national and state parks.

A favorite moment at a star show is to let someone see Saturn through a telescope for the first time. "You get the usual jaw drop, then they say, 'It looks just like its picture!' "

Wiggins, known for his infectious enthusiasm, notes two other recurring questions at presentations: "Are we alone in the universe?" and "How does an astronaut go to the bathroom in space?"

To answer the first, "I tell them - of course, my personal opinion, not speaking for anyone else - is personally I think the universe is teeming with life."

He has no idea if extraterrestrials have ever visited Earth. Wiggins notes that he is unhappy that so many others have claimed to see E.T., while "I've been studying the sky for more than a quarter of a century, and I have yet to see anything in the sky that I can't explain."

What about the other query? Well, it's been asked so much that astronaut Bill Progue has written a book, "How Do You Go to the Bathroom in Space?" Wiggins can quote from the book when the inevitable question arises.

Meanwhile, he's excited about sharing his enthusiasm for space through the ambassador program.      

"I live it," Wiggins said. "Astronomy is basically my life. No apologies; that's just simply the way I am."