OSS Education Forums represent the four general space science themes of NASA OSS research: Search for Origins, Structure and Evolution of the Universe, Solar System Exploration, and Sun-Earth Connections. The Forums support, help organize, and disseminate the E/PO efforts of OSS missions and research programs related to their theme. Each Forum is co-located with prominent research institutions and are national in scope.

Forums focus on questions within a particular aspect of space science, and work to bring people together in search of answers. They do so through education and public outreach, as educational needs are identified in a collaboration between educators and scientists. These needs are addressed through curriculum materials, data resources, interactive programs, and other tools made available to educators.

Four Forums
1] Astronomical Search for Origins
2] Structure and Evolution of the Universe
3] Solar System Exploration
4] Sun-Earth Connection

Astronomical Search for Origins (ASO)
How is it that the Big Bang produced the galaxies, stars, planets, and chemicals for life all around us? Beyond this, are we alone in the universe or have other life-sustaining planets been produced in the evolution of the universe we know? ASO hopes to decipher the events that produced the universe we see, and discover our relationship to this process.

Contact: Ian Griffin
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Phone: (410) 338-4733
E-mail:
ASO Related links

Structure and Evolution of the Universe (SEU)
SEU probes the evolution of galaxies, stars, and more to understand the processes and relationships of the universe. Examination of black holes and dark matter may reveal secrets about the nature of time, gravity, matter, and energy. SEU hopes to discover unknown forces that could unite physics disciplines.

Contact: Roy Gould
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Phone: (617) 496-7689
E-mail:
SEU Related links

Solar System Exploration (SSE)
Studying the planets in our solar system reveals clues about their formation and the striking difference between them. SSE examines these facts, and relates them to the special conditions that contributed to the uniqueness of earth. They search for evidence of life, and attempt to determine the future habitability of the solar system.

Contact: Ellis Miner and Leslie Lowes
Phone: (818) 354-4450 / (818) 393-7734
E-mail: /
SSE Related links

Sun-Earth Connection (SEC)
SEC works to understand the sun and its variability. They consider the interactions between the sun and the galaxy, and the impacts of sunlight and radiation on the solar system. Given this, they attempt to determine what solar processes hold for the future of life and society.

East Coast
Contact: Richard Vondrak
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Phone: (301) 286-8112
E-mail:

West Coast
Contact: Isabel Hawkins
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Phone: (510) 643-5662
E-mail:
SEC Related links