John Dankanich
Chief Technologist, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Speaker Bio
John Dankanich has had career evolution from a window washer, knife salesman, security guard, public school teacher, university guest lecturer, and rocket scientist. He has two young children and hopes to pass his love of reading of all subjects and continuous learning to them both. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Purdue University in Aeronautical and Astronautically Engineering. He served as the Chief Technologist of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the NASA Agency capability lead for In-Space Transportation. He is a champion of innovation and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. He works with Space Technology entrepreneurs and promotes cross-industry collaboration. He is a recognized subject matter expert in advanced propulsion technology, system testing, and mission design. He helps prioritize investments in technologies to support future needs of the US Space Sector.
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46
Min
to your destination
46
Min
to your destination
46
Min
to your destination
Sheri Klug Boonstra
Director, NASA L'SPACE Program
Speaker Bio
Sheri Klug Boonstra is the Principal Investigator (PI) of NASA’s Lucy Student Pipeline and Competency Enabler (L’SPACE) Program) which is the NASA Lucy Mission’s Student Collaboration and is headquartered at Arizona State University. She is also the Director of Strategic Partnerships and co-founder/co-instructor for the ASU Space Works Program. Both programs are STEM workforce development programs built to help science and engineering students gain and apply relevant workforce skills and practices which lead to proficiencies that are valued by NASA and the space ecosystem.
Ms. Klug Boonstra has nearly 25 years of experience in creating and implementing national NASA STEM education pipeline programs that stretch vertically from pre-college to workforce including: PI for NASA’s largest undergraduate internship program (USRP) annually placing over r300+ science and engineering students in immersive projects nationally across all 10 NASA centers; Director of the Mars Education Program which produced and implemented NASA’s award-winning Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP). MSIP engaged more than 80,000 elementary through early college students by working in teams to conduct authentic research on Mars using ASU’s THEMIS camera onboard the Mars Odyssey Spacecraft. Ms. Boonstra has worked on multiple NASA projects including Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, Lucy Asteroid Mission, Mars Sample Return, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Astrobiology projects.
Ms. Klug Boonstra was selected to receive the "Excellence in Earth and Space Science Education" award from the American Geophysical Union in December 2020 and completed work on a committee working with the National Academy on a report for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate on the “Health and Vitality of the SMD Research Community”. She has raised over $60M for STEM education and workforce development projects.
Session recording
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John Dankanich
Chief Technologist, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Speaker Bio
John Dankanich has had career evolution from a window washer, knife salesman, security guard, public school teacher, university guest lecturer, and rocket scientist. He has two young children and hopes to pass his love of reading of all subjects and continuous learning to them both. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Purdue University in Aeronautical and Astronautically Engineering. He served as the Chief Technologist of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the NASA Agency capability lead for In-Space Transportation. He is a champion of innovation and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. He works with Space Technology entrepreneurs and promotes cross-industry collaboration. He is a recognized subject matter expert in advanced propulsion technology, system testing, and mission design. He helps prioritize investments in technologies to support future needs of the US Space Sector.
Session recording
Did you miss the session?
Click below to complete a summary report.
Sheri Klug Boonstra
Director, NASA L'SPACE Program
Speaker Bio
Sheri Klug Boonstra is the Principal Investigator (PI) of NASA’s Lucy Student Pipeline and Competency Enabler (L’SPACE) Program) which is the NASA Lucy Mission’s Student Collaboration and is headquartered at Arizona State University. She is also the Director of Strategic Partnerships and co-founder/co-instructor for the ASU Space Works Program. Both programs are STEM workforce development programs built to help science and engineering students gain and apply relevant workforce skills and practices which lead to proficiencies that are valued by NASA and the space ecosystem.
Ms. Klug Boonstra has nearly 25 years of experience in creating and implementing national NASA STEM education pipeline programs that stretch vertically from pre-college to workforce including: PI for NASA’s largest undergraduate internship program (USRP) annually placing over r300+ science and engineering students in immersive projects nationally across all 10 NASA centers; Director of the Mars Education Program which produced and implemented NASA’s award-winning Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP). MSIP engaged more than 80,000 elementary through early college students by working in teams to conduct authentic research on Mars using ASU’s THEMIS camera onboard the Mars Odyssey Spacecraft. Ms. Boonstra has worked on multiple NASA projects including Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, Lucy Asteroid Mission, Mars Sample Return, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Astrobiology projects.
Ms. Klug Boonstra was selected to receive the "Excellence in Earth and Space Science Education" award from the American Geophysical Union in December 2020 and completed work on a committee working with the National Academy on a report for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate on the “Health and Vitality of the SMD Research Community”. She has raised over $60M for STEM education and workforce development projects.
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John Dankanich
Chief Technologist, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Session Info
Are you ready to find out which idea has been selected to move forward?! This week, the primary speaker for the session will be John Dankanich. He will start by announcing the solicitation you will be following for your proposals and then discussing how to write a strong basis; the foundation of a strong proposal. We will close out the session with a "lightning round" where each selected idea will be shown and the PI of that idea will be given 60 seconds to provide a brief overview of the project! Come prepared and ready to learn. See you there!
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Session Info
We will start the session off with John discussing how to write a strong basis; the foundation of a strong proposal. We then will cover how to create a shell doc from the proposal and take the rest of the session to answer any questions you all might have!
John Dankanich
Chief Technologist, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
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Gwendolyn Blackwell
Supervisory Patent Examiner, Material Engineering Technology Center 1700 at the USPTO
Speaker Bio
Gwen Blackwell is a Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE) in the Chemical and Material Engineering Technology Center 1700. Ms. Blackwell also delivers lectures to new examiners at the Patent Training Academy on various topics concerning effective patent examination processes. She has also completed a 9 month detail as a Resource SPE at the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Office located in Detroit, Michigan where she helped to develop the K-12 outreach program. Ms. Blackwell began her career at the USPTO in December 2000 as an examiner in TC 1700, specifically addressing applications in areas such as semiconductors, nonstructural laminates, glass substrates with coatings, and artificial flora and fauna. In 2008, she became a Primary Examiner, allowing her to exercise independent judgment with regards to the applications upon which she worked. In January 2012 she was promoted to a Supervisory Patent Examiner and served as a Trainer for new examiners in the Patent Training Academy. She transitioned in the Fall of 2012 and began supervising an Art Unit of 13 examiners in TC 1700. She has worked in various parts of the USPTO, on temporary assignments, including periods at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, in the office of Patent Cooperation Treaty, and as a Training Assistant and Supervisory Patent Examiner at the Patent Training Academy. Ms. Blackwell received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She also received a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.
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Session Info
Congrats on submitting your final proposals! Tonight, John will be training you to be NASA reviewers so that in the coming weeks you can attend a review panel and perform a peer review of other proposals in the academy!
John Dankanich
Chief Technologist, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
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Session Info
Are you ready to find out who the winning team is? Well, join us tonight to find out! But first, John will cover other opportunities if you are interested in continuing your ideas outside of NPWEE.