Margaret Rhule Baguio is 2016 Recipient of the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 10, 2016) – The opening ceremony of the Space Foundation’s 32nd Space Symposium will begin with the presentation of its highest education award. Margaret Rhule Baguio, Senior Education Outreach Coordinator for NASA Texas Space Grant Consortium, has been selected by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Space Foundation as recipient of the 2016 Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award. The award is given annually in recognition of creative and innovative use of technology by K-12 educators, or district-level education personnel.

The award, named for Mercury and Apollo astronaut Alan Shepard, will be presented during the Space Symposium’s opening ceremony on April 11 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA. The ceremony is co-sponsored by Northrop Grumman, and the award presentation will be followed with a by-invitation reception co-hosted by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation.

About Baguio
Margaret Rhule Baguio has worked for more than 30 years in youth development and education in public schools for the Texas Cooperative Extension Service 4-H & Youth Development Program, she managed a USDA Science and Literacy project for underserved youth and she has promoted space education to students, teachers and the general public through the Texas Space Grant Consortium.

Highlights of her accomplishments include:

• Developing the LiftOff Summer Institute, held at NASA Johnson Space Center, a nationally competitive, week-long professional development program for educators. Evaluation results show that annually, this one week-long workshop reaches 50 educators, who train an additional 1,250 teachers, who then use the materials with 130,000 students.

• Implementing the Summer of Innovation program along the Mexican border of south Texas, with a 97 percent minority population and where the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. She trained 600 teachers, who then conducted week-long NASA-themed camps to more than 10,000 students in a four-year period. In addition, she initiated the first Space Camp at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, where students had the opportunity to engage in hands-on NASA STEM activities.  She was instrumental in receiving funding to engage Hispanic girls in NASA’s Minority Student Forum and Girls in Science.

• Through partnerships and collaboration, she has provided opportunities for teachers to fly on NASA’s reduced gravity aircraft with experiments. She also arranged for students’ protein crystal flight experiments to be launched on the Space Shuttle for use by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The students conducted authentic research, working with and being mentored by NASA scientists analyzing Earth-observing satellite data.

• During the past year she conducted STEM professional development training to 3,260 teachers and engaged 17,036 youth in STEM activities.

About the Space Symposium
The Space Foundation’s Space Symposium is the annual gathering of all sectors of the global space community. The 32nd Space Symposium will be held April 11-14 at The Broadmoor, and will include programs for select educators and students. See more about the Symposium at www.spacesymposium.org.

About the Astronauts Memorial Foundation
Founded in the wake of the Challenger accident in 1986, AMF honors and memorializes 24 astronauts who sacrificed their lives for the nation and the space program while on a U.S. government mission or in training. AMF is a private, not-for-profit organization approved by NASA to build and maintain two major facilities at the John F. Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex: The Space Mirror Memorial and The Center for Space Education. Through the Center for Space Education, AMF partners with NASA to provide space-related educational technology training to teachers and students to foster an understanding of space exploration, to improve education through technology and to improve the quality of the space industry workforce. For more information, visit www.amfcse.org.

About the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation’s civilian space program and aeronautics and aerospace research. Operational since 1958, NASA’s mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research. It has led U.S. space exploration including the Mercury and Gemini space programs, the Apollo missions to the Moon, the Space Shuttle, U.S. involvement in the International Space Station, the Hubble Telescope and robotic interplanetary and distant space missions. NASA is also responsible for long-term civilian and military aerospace research and research focused on better understanding Earth, the solar systems, and the universe beyond. For more information, go to www.nasa.gov.

About the Space Foundation
Founded in 1983, the Space Foundation is the foremost advocate for all sectors of space, and is a global, nonprofit leader in space awareness activities, educational programs and major industry events, including the annual Space Symposium, in support of its mission “to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity.” Space Foundation World Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA, has a public Discovery Center, including El Pomar Space Gallery, Northrop Grumman Science Center featuring Science On a Sphere® and the Lockheed Martin Space Education Center. The Space Foundation has a field office in Houston and conducts government affairs from its Washington, D.C., office. It publishes The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity, and through its Space Certification^TM and Space Technology Hall of Fame® programs, the Space Foundation recognizes space-based innovations that have been adapted to improve life on Earth.  Visit www.SpaceFoundation.org, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, Flickr and YouTube, and read our e-newsletter Space Watch.