Colorado-Based International Science and Education Program
Receives Prestigious Award

Nearly 200 Colorado Schools Have Participated in the Program

November 16, 2004

BOULDER— An international science and education program based at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation is the recipient of a $25,000 Goldman Sachs Foundation Prize for Excellence in International Education. The prestigious foundation presented the award to the GLOBE program last night at the States Institute on International Education in Washington, D.C.

The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Asia Society created the Prizes for Excellence in International Education to help promote international literacy and raise U.S. students' awareness of educational activities conducted around the world. More than 400 applications and nominations worldwide were evaluated. GLOBE won in the Media and Technology category.

Nearly 200 Colorado schools have participated in the GLOBE program, 127 of them along the Front Range. Worldwide, more than a million primary and secondary students in more than 15,000 schools have taken part in GLOBE since its founding in 1994.

Students using the GLOBE Cloud Chart to identify clouds (Photo courtesy The GLOBE Program.)

GLOBE works with students, teachers, and scientists worldwide to gather important data for the global Earth science community. As of this fall, students in 107 countries have reported more than 11.5 million scientific measurements they collected using procedures developed by scientists. Some observations are taken daily, while others are one-time events. The most recent event was an international count of contrails (the cirrus clouds formed from water vapor in aircraft exhaust) on October 14-15.

Among the participants are Superior Elementary School and the Alexander Dawson School in Boulder County. (See below for a list of other GLOBE schools along the Front Range.) Fifth-grade teacher Frances Matsumoto of Superior Elementary says her students collect atmospheric data throughout the school year.

"What really got my kids excited was when scientist Matt Rogers from Colorado State University came to our school and talked to over 150 fourth and fifth grade students," says Matsumoto. "He told them how the scientists are drawing conclusions about weather patterns and climate change from the data the students are collecting, how what they're doing is making an impact on the scientific world. When the kids heard it from an actual scientist, they saw the merit of this program. They are so eager to go out there every single day and collect data," she says.

Superior Elementary students are also planning to use the GLOBE Program to exchange environmental and cultural information with their sister school in Nepal, the Surya Boarding School.

"We are honored that GLOBE was chosen from among so many excellent educational programs," says GLOBE program director Craig Blurton. "The prize money will be used to facilitate meetings for our country coordinators who are interested in establishing regional committees," he said.

GLOBE regional consortia engage corporations, governments and their communities to find funding and develop goals and activities according to their regional needs and interests.

UCAR and Colorado State University manage GLOBE under a cooperative agreement with NASA, with support from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of State. Internationally, GLOBE is a partnership between the United States and more than 100 countries.

Front Range schools currently participating in GLOBE

• Adams City High School, Commerce City
• Alexander Dawson School, Lafayette
• Denison Montessori, Denver
• Goddard Middle School, Littleton
• Holmes Middle School, Colorado Springs
• Mackintosh Academy, Littleton
• Olander Elementary School, Fort Collins
• Rocky Mountain High School, Fort Collins
• Superior Elementary School, Superior

 Related sites on the World Wide Web 

The GLOBE Program

Schools participating in the GLOBE Program

The National Center for Atmospheric Research and UCAR Office of Programs are operated by UCAR under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation and other agencies. Opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any of UCAR's sponsors.