Thaindian News

PORTLAND, OREGON (BNO NEWS) – The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) announced Monday that it received a $421,549 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The grant is destined for several projects designed to help further the museum’s energy and environment initiatives, including funding for program development utilizing NASA data for OMSI’s Science On a Sphere exhibit, which is a six-foot suspended sphere that uses computers and video projectors to display animated images of planets, the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and more. Additionally, two Magic Planets will be purchased, a type of portable Science On a Sphere.

Funds will also be used to make traveling versions of the OMSI-created exhibit about satellites, A View from Space, which will be able to be transported for school presentations. A permanent installation of A View from Space will also be produced.

Teacher professional development will also be benefiting from NASA’s grant.

Furthermore, OMSI’s long-range planning for the decade selected energy and environments its strategic priority to further support the region’s focus on sustainability, the community’s interest in energy options and technologies, and the importance of science to the understanding of complex systems like climate change.

“We are thankful to NASA for their generous support,” said Dr. Ray Vandiver, OMSI Vice President, Center for Learning Experiences. “OMSI has made it an institutional priority to create educational exhibits and programming that will help people better understand the Earth as a dynamic system that we shape through our choices. NASA’s grant will provide us with valuable tools to share this important and unique data with our visitors.”