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>> I specialize in current science and technology.
So we have a stage dedicated to science in the news.
The latest research on vaccines.
The latest space mission.
So this really fits in exactly with what we're trying to cover.
>> I've been teaching astronomy for four years.
My degrees are in physics, but I did astrophysics specifically
and so it has always been my love.
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>> Personally, I'm both a pilot and an astronomer.
This is an airplane with a telescope in it.
This was made for me.
They just didn't know it.
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>> Science isn't for scientists, it's for society.
It's for people.
People need to be passionate about science
to see what's going on that real people are doing.
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>> Door is open.
You have 10 more minutes before the turn.
>> I have a live presentation at the Museum
of Science called Astronomy at 40,000 feet.
It's about why you would want to put a telescope on a plane,
how you put a telescope on a plane, and then what kind
of science SOFIA can do that can't be done anywhere else
in the world or off of it.
So being able to take that show and put in my own experiences
where I've directly seen the telescope in flight.
I've seen the team interacting with each other.
I've seen the science come up on the screen is going
to give it an extra push that a lot
of our presentations don't have
because we are just reporting on the science.
>> I think that's the best we've ever seen.
>> So being able to say
that I was there while it was being done is just going to give
that really incredible edge to a lot of the presentation.
>> [Inaudible].
>> Yeah they're way up here.
>> Well, I've integrated a lot of the information about SOFIA
into my astronomy elective for this fall.
I'm doing a special elective this year where we're focusing
on infrared astronomy and looking at SOFIA,
but in addition, there's a lot of physics involved
in the running of the aircraft, the engineering
of the telescope, and in the science --
the astronomy that they've done as well.
And so I can integrate that into various units
of the physics curriculum and give a real world example.
It's something that's exciting and current
that they can be inspired by, as well as learn from.
>> It could be defraction but it could be the nebula.
Some opportunity for me to see science in the active collection
and I need to see that so that my students will be able
to get a better idea of what it really is rather
than just reading about science in a book or on the Internet.
My partner and I have been doing an experiment up here.
And so we've videotaped cosmic ray hits on a Geiger counter
and matched it with elevation and time.
And so we're going to hand them over these videos of the data
and then expect them to come up with how they're going
to process it, make sense out of it,
and to see what the elevation compared
to the cosmic ray hits with the --
>> Yeah you should see at least 1, 2, 3, 4 stars.
Five maybe.
>> One, 2, 3, 4.
Yeah. All right.
>> Everybody here is here obviously
because they love what they do.
And there all these specialists
and these amazingly brilliant people
but not only are they willing to talk to you when you come
and ask them questions but they overhear our conversations
because they're monitoring our chat stations
and our discussions here.
And they come up and give input to us.
And they walk us to consoles.
And they show us how things work.
Everybody has been so amazingly engaging and friendly.
>> I've done a lot of things in my life.
This is without a doubt one
of the most amazing things I have ever had
and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.
It's just such a privilege.
>> [Music] Here you go.
There's the image up on the screen.
Beautiful.
>> Oh yeah.
[Inaudible].
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>> They're looking.
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It's awesome.