Article in Marion Chronicle Tribune June 2 2009
Taylor University becomes launch pad for balloons
Workshop draws fifteen visiting universities
By AJ Colley
ajcolley@chronicle-tribune.com
Published: Tuesday, June 2, 2009 11:09 AM EDT
UPLAND — With a count backward from 10, teachers and professors on Taylor University’s campus released 10 high-altitude balloons into the sky Monday afternoon.
The school officials from areas spanning both U.S. coasts craned their heads toward the clouds, following the balloons as they inched closer to space.
The launch was part of Taylor’s balloon workshop being hosted at the university Monday and today. The workshop, attended by 15 universities, teaches professors at other institutions how to launch research-based high-altitude balloons, which gather data while rising as high as 20 miles into the air. It’s hosted by Taylor and StratoStar Systems, a company created by a Taylor alumnus. The program is funded through a National Science Foundation grant.
Fort Wayne-based University of St. Francis attended the workshop with Precious Blood School, a pre-kindergarten to eighth grade school in Fort Wayne. Teresa Beam, chairwoman of the St. Francis biology department, said the workshops are an opportunity to spread science in Fort Wayne and expand the university’s curriculum.
“We’re having a good time,” she said. “This is a really good program.” Beam said the biology department works with the university’s education program and has outreach programs in Fort Wayne. She said Taylor’s program was another way to collaborate with the community.
Karen Lohmuller, fifth grade teacher at Precious Blood, was looking forward to taking her skills back to the school to launch a balloon with her class next school year.
"They are going to think it’s awesome,” she said.
Jason Krueger, the Taylor alumnus who created StratoStar Systems, said he and Taylor tried to target the Midwest for participants with the most recent workshop. “It became bigger than we had thought,” Krueger said.
Don Takehara, Taylor’s director of the Center for Research and Innovation, said the June and July sessions approached the university’s maximum number of participants. He said the number of universities interested, coupled with the wide range of their locales, says something about the program. “I think it’s showing that there is interest,” he said.
Krueger said Monday’s participants came from different disciplines, but were all interested in expanding interest in science and engineering. Robert Eady, a high school physical science teacher from Conserve School in Wisconsin, works with students on low-altitude balloon launches. He said he wanted to learn how to launch high-altitude balloons because they are capable of carrying different types of tests and procedures.
Eady said balloon launches generate excitement about science among high school students.
“The science just kind of goes along with it all,” he said.
Workshop draws fifteen visiting universities
By AJ Colley
ajcolley@chronicle-tribune.com
Published: Tuesday, June 2, 2009 11:09 AM EDT
UPLAND — With a count backward from 10, teachers and professors on Taylor University’s campus released 10 high-altitude balloons into the sky Monday afternoon.
The school officials from areas spanning both U.S. coasts craned their heads toward the clouds, following the balloons as they inched closer to space.
The launch was part of Taylor’s balloon workshop being hosted at the university Monday and today. The workshop, attended by 15 universities, teaches professors at other institutions how to launch research-based high-altitude balloons, which gather data while rising as high as 20 miles into the air. It’s hosted by Taylor and StratoStar Systems, a company created by a Taylor alumnus. The program is funded through a National Science Foundation grant.
Fort Wayne-based University of St. Francis attended the workshop with Precious Blood School, a pre-kindergarten to eighth grade school in Fort Wayne. Teresa Beam, chairwoman of the St. Francis biology department, said the workshops are an opportunity to spread science in Fort Wayne and expand the university’s curriculum.
“We’re having a good time,” she said. “This is a really good program.” Beam said the biology department works with the university’s education program and has outreach programs in Fort Wayne. She said Taylor’s program was another way to collaborate with the community.
Karen Lohmuller, fifth grade teacher at Precious Blood, was looking forward to taking her skills back to the school to launch a balloon with her class next school year.
"They are going to think it’s awesome,” she said.
Jason Krueger, the Taylor alumnus who created StratoStar Systems, said he and Taylor tried to target the Midwest for participants with the most recent workshop. “It became bigger than we had thought,” Krueger said.
Don Takehara, Taylor’s director of the Center for Research and Innovation, said the June and July sessions approached the university’s maximum number of participants. He said the number of universities interested, coupled with the wide range of their locales, says something about the program. “I think it’s showing that there is interest,” he said.
Krueger said Monday’s participants came from different disciplines, but were all interested in expanding interest in science and engineering. Robert Eady, a high school physical science teacher from Conserve School in Wisconsin, works with students on low-altitude balloon launches. He said he wanted to learn how to launch high-altitude balloons because they are capable of carrying different types of tests and procedures.
Eady said balloon launches generate excitement about science among high school students.
“The science just kind of goes along with it all,” he said.
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