The world's finest educators supporting Science, Technology Engineering, and Math (STEM) learning for pre-kindergarten to post-graduate students using real-world applications from satellites and satellite data.
The Satellite Educators Association is a non profit, professional organization of educators and those who want to enhance the education environment to excite students about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) through space-based technology -- satellites and satellite data.
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Founded in 1989 in response to an overwhelmingly positive turn out for the first Satellites & Education Conference, the Satellite Educators Association (SEA) is a professional organization of educators and those who want to enhance the education environment to excite students about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through space-based technology – satellites and satellite data. The first Satellites & Education Conference was chaired by Dr. Michael Haines, the Dean of the School of Education at West Chester University, West Chester, PA and grew out of an innovative weather satellite project, which Helen Martin developed and implemented at Unionville High School in 1984.
Martin, a teacher of mathematics and Earth and space science facing the seeming apathy of underachieving high school students, turned her classes into student-led quests for knowledge and understanding. With her guidance, and help from NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, learners chose to explore weather and built a weather satellite direct read out station in their classroom. Receiving weather satellite imagery live in their own learning environment became a daily source of new questions about the physical world and all of its inhabitants. Empowered by their own choices and questions, learners organized, planned, and went in search of answers from which they constructed meaning and application.
The first Satellites & Education Conference was held in 1988 as an experiment to determine how many other teachers were also using satellite direct read out. It was immensely successful. From 1989 to 2001, the Conference was coordinated by Nancy McIntyre, Director of West Chester University's Educational Center for Earth Observation Systems which she founded. The conference continued to grow in popularity throughout the 1990s. Martin's program became a model of truly effective educational practice.
The conference moved to California State University, Los Angeles in 2002 under the guidance of then President Dick Calef and Dr. Paula Arvedson of Cal State LA's Charter College of Education. Arvedson became the new conference coordinator, and, in the same year, initiated the Multinational Youth Studying Practical Applications of Climatic Events (the M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. Program) to accommodate, develop and support high interest in teams of K-12 students doing research on the impact of global environmental issues on the areas local to their schools. Today, active and developing M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. K-12 research teams can be found world wide. M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. teachers are endorsed by their schools, trained and committed. M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. student participants tend to develop significantly greater interest in STEM careers.
Satellites & Education Conference XXV was held August 8-11, 2012 at Cal State LA celebrating a quarter century of service to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. K-12 teachers, university educators, pre-service teachers, students of the M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. program, government-supported scientists and education outreach specialists, and aerospace leaders were welcomed by Dean Davis, SEA Vice President and aerospace engineer. Present to share their insights on 25 years of "satellite education" were (pictured left to right) Duane Laursen, science teacher (ret.) and SEA founding member; John Tillery, science teacher (ret.) and first SEA Vice President; Ron Gird, National Weather Service Outreach Program Manager (ret.) and long time conference planner; and Pete Arvedson, science teacher (ret.) and SEA founding member. Together they recognized and honored all those visionaries whose contributions have made the conference such a success.
Satellites & Education Conference XXXV gathered in-person and on ZOOM on July 29-30, 2022, celebrating 35 uninterrupted years of service to education. As small satellites (CubeSats, ThinSats, and high altitude balloon programs) become increasingly available to middle and high school audiences, SEA has chosen to sponsor SmallSats Education Conference at Kennedy Space Center October 28-29, 2023, in lieu of Satellites & Education Conference XXXVI.
The SEA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation headquartered in Pasadena, California. It is supported by its members, NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, NOAA's National Weather Service, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a solid list of industry partners.
The Vic Everett Memorial Service Award is given to SEA members of good character who have demonstrating excellence in service to the Satellite Educators Association and others by helping promote the vision and mission of the organization inside and outside of SEA events and assisting in preparation and delivery of SEA programs. Active SEA members can nominate deserving individuals online. The final decision is made by the Executive Committee (elected officers). The award recipient is honored during the annual Satellites & Education Conference.
The SEA Service Award is named in memory of Victor Lee Everett, long-time member and tireless volunteer worker for the Satellite Educators Association. Learn more about Vic HERE
The first Service Award was granted in 2015. These outstanding individuals have received the Vic Everett Service Award from the Satellite Educators Association:
Each award recipient receives an attractive plaque attesting to the honor. The name of each recipient is added to a perpetual plaque that is displayed in the SEA exhibit booth at the Satellites & Education Conference and other significant Association events.
Mark McKay served as President of the Satellite Educators Association from 2012 until his passing in August 2020 shortly after Satellites & Education Conference XXXIII.
"Mark McKay was many things; he was first and foremost an educator and a life-long learner who considered Science a verb as well as a noun. He loved the California coast, and the Monterey Bay in particular. In his honor, the family has set up a memorial scholarship fund to benefit Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, which is managed by San Jose State University and focuses on marine biology research on the California coast...The funds will be used to help marine biology students at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory with expenses not covered by grants and other scholarships." -Judy McKay
While this fund is not affiliated with the Satellite Educators Association (SEA) in any way, the SEA is pleased to invite you to support this worthwhile endeavor in memory of Mark McKay. Click the SCHOLARSHIP button below for donation information.
For more about Mark, his impact on SEA and all those he encountered, please watch the video Tribute to Mark (11:55) first presented on July 24, 2021, at Satellites & Education Conference XXXIV.