Media Advisory 08-018
NSF, NASA Invite News Media to "Polar-Palooza" at National Geographic March 13th
Polar scientists available for interviews
March 10, 2008
This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.
As part of a national tour of science museums and science centers, "Polar-Palooza: Stories From a Changing Planet," an educational initiative supported jointly by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), comes to the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., on March 13th.
Polar-Palooza is an immersive multimedia presentation featuring original high-definition video clips, polar artifacts, soundscapes and still photographs -- along with engaging stories from some of the country's leading polar experts -- designed to focus public attention on, and help to explain to a general audience, the effects on the polar regions of global climatic changes.
Members of the news media are invited to attend the March 13th event, which begins at 7:30 p.m., at the National Geographic building at 1600 M St., N.W. Polar scientists participating in this event will be available for interviews earlier in the day--between noon and 2 p.m.--at the M Street location. Earlier still, media can observe a Polar-palooza workshop involving scientists and students in grades 6 to 10, beginning at 10:30 a.m.
The Polar-Palooza event in Washington, a presentation of the "National Geographic Live!" lecture series, features Richard Alley, a geoscientist at Pennsylvania State University; Jackie Richter-Menge, a sea ice researcher; Richard Glenn, a geologist, whaler, traditional drummer and vice president of the Alaskan Native-owned Lands at the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; Michael Castellini, of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Andy Revkin, environment reporter, for The New York Times; and Waleed Abdalati, of the cryospheric sciences branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
NSF and NASA have funded the producers of Polar-Palooza to capture images and video of scientific field work in the Arctic and Antarctic, and created the national tour as part of their contributions to the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008, a global scientific campaign involving research, field work and satellite observations by scientists from 60 nations. NSF is the lead federal agency for IPY.
Polar-Palooza is produced by Passport to Knowledge, of Morristown, N.J., as an integral part of IPY outreach efforts.
-NSF-
Media Contacts
Peter West, NSF, (703) 292-7761, email: pwest@nsf.gov
Maria C. Zacharias, NSF, (703) 292-8070, email: mzachari@nsf.gov
Stephen Cole, NASA headquarters, (202) 358-0918, email: stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
Stephanie Montgomery, National Geographic Society, (202) 857-5838, email: smontgom@ngs.org
Related Websites
The U.S. Government's Web portal for the International Polar Year: http://www.ipy.gov
The Passport to Knowledge Polar-Palooza Web site: http://passporttoknowledge.com/polar-palooza/
The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.
Connect with us online
NSF website: nsf.gov
NSF News: nsf.gov/news
For News Media: nsf.gov/news/newsroom
Statistics: nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards database: nsf.gov/awardsearch/
Follow us on social
Twitter: twitter.com/NSF
Facebook: facebook.com/US.NSF
Instagram: instagram.com/nsfgov