About This Series
NASA’s mission is to “drive advances in science, technology, aeronautics, and space exploration to enhance knowledge, education, innovation, economic vitality and stewardship of Earth.” NASA citizen science projects are part of this mission and offer members of the public a chance to participate in scientific discovery, and while doing so, to learn firsthand about the process of science. Click here to learn more about some of those participants.
This site is the hub for series of virtual events designed to provide current, past, and future NASA citizen science program leaders time and community in which to share and learn practices and approaches that lead to successful and rewarding citizen science projects.
Our events are designed to:
Provide you with opportunities to connect with other NASA Citizen Science leaders;
Share actionable insight and strategies to advance work towards the dual goals for NASA citizen science: advancing scientific research and building public understanding of the process of science;
Celebrate the work and accomplishments of NASA Citizen Science projects and people.
NASA civil servants, collaborators, grantees, contractors, and partners involved or interested in citizen science are encouraged to attend. Likewise, if you are involved in citizen science and interested in NASA resources and practices, our events are a good place to begin.
Meet Our Planning Team
Sarah Kirn (she/her) is the Citizen Science Strategist, NASA at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. She leads the planning and hosting of this ongoing series of events for the NASA citizen science leaders and community. She supports NASA’s Citizen Science Officer Dr. Marc Kuchner on strategic tasks to advance and grow NASA’s citizen science program.
Jennifer Shirk (she/her) is the Executive Director of the Citizen Science Association and supports this event series through connections to the broader citizen science field of people and practices. Jennifer studies and supports outcome-focused program and project design.
Heather Fischer (she/her) is the Proprietor of Crowd Informatics, LLC, and a senior researcher at the STEM Research Center of Oregon State University. She contributes to design and evaluation of all our events.
Reanna Putnam (she/her) is the Program Manager for the Citizen Science Association. She provides event communications to CSA's diverse network of citizen science practitioners. She helps design and execute our events.
Marc Kuchner (he/him) is an astrophysicist and the Citizen Science Officer for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. He is also a founding scientist of two popular and successful Zooniverse citizen science projects, Disk Detective and Backyard Worlds: Planet 9.
Visit this website to learn why pronouns matter.
The Gulf of Maine Research Institute pioneers collaborative solutions to global ocean challenges. Our work spans a broad mix of scientific research, hands-on education programming, and resources that support community innovation and adaptation in the face of a changing climate. GMRI has been working with NASA on education programs since the 1990s, and active in citizen and community science since 2000.
The Citizen Science Association connects and engages people across this vibrant and multi-disciplinary community of practice to support and celebrate excellence in public-research partnerships. CSA hosts online and in-person events, including a biennial conference, C*Science, and publishes the peer-reviewed journal Citizen Science: Theory & Practice.
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate oversees the nation’s space research program in Earth and space science. The Directorate engages the external and internal science community to define and prioritize science questions to expand the frontiers of five broad scientific pursuits: Earth Science, Planetary Science, Heliophysics, Astrophysics, and space experiments in Biological and Physical Sciences.