![\"2019](\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/06\/virtualsciencefairwinners.jpg\")
<\/a>Winning teams from Medford, NJ; Auburn, MA; Santa Fe, NM<\/p><\/div>\n
The students, along with their teacher\/coach, won invitations to watch the GOES-T satellite launch \u2013 though they will be responsible for their own travel costs. The invitations allow them each to bring three guests and explore Kennedy Space Center for three days (the day before, day of, and day after the launch). In addition, each student will receive a $25 gift card, while teachers will receive travel support to attend and make a presentation about their students\u2019 research at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) meeting in 2020.<\/p>\n
The Virtual Science Fair was devised as a novel way for students and teachers to learn satellite meteorology, participate in a small research project, and share what they learned. To participate in the fair, small teams of students, with the guidance of a teacher\/coach, created and submitted a scientific poster about their research, along with a video describing their poster and work.<\/p>\n
Margaret Mooney, director of the CIMSS EPO office, described the Virtual Fair as the \u201cnext step\u201d in the GOES-R Education Proving Ground program developed at CIMSS. Echoing the GOES-R program theme of launch readiness, Mooney said that they wanted teachers to be \u201claunch ready\u201d as well \u2013 to be able to explain to their students the importance and benefits of this weather satellite program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted the educators to be ready to work with the data,\u201d said Mooney. \u201cNow that the satellites are in orbit and the data is coming down, why not get students to use the data?\u201d<\/p>\n