Dr. Andrei's Blog

NASA DEVELOP Internship Program 2011 Call for Fall 2011 Interns : All degree levels (Bachelors, Masters, PhD) are welcome to apply. DEVELOP is a NASA Science Mission Directorate Applied Sciences Training and Development Program. Students work on earth science research projects, mentored by science advisors from NASA and partner agencies to extend research results to local communities. The projects demonstrate to community leaders and organizations how NASA science measurements and predictions can be used to address local policy issues. Past projects at DEVELOP JPL include ecological forecasting and studies of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, natural hazard assessments of Los Angeles earthquakes and fires, air quality monitoring, and coastal wetland and sea level monitoring using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS).  DEVELOP students have had the opportunity in the past to do oral presentations of their research and network at such conferences as the American ...

The Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), National Academies, is pleased to announce the Graduate Research Award Program on Public-Sector Aviation Issues for the 2011/2012 academic year.  This program, sponsored by the U.S. DOT Federal Aviation Administration and administered by the ACRP, is designed to encourage applied research on airport and related aviation system issues and to foster the next generation of aviation community leaders.  Under the program, up to 10 awards of $10,000 each will be made to full-time graduate students for successful completion of a research paper on public-sector airport-related aviation issues during the upcoming academic year.  Candidates must be full-time students enrolled in a graduate degree program at an accredited institution of higher learning during the 2011/2012 academic year.  Successful papers will be presented at the January 2013, TRB Annual Meeting; and exceptional pape...

In 1854, the United States Government offered to buy two million acres of Native American land in the Pacific Northwest. The following statement on behalf of the environment was supposed to have been made by Chief Sealth (Seattle) in reply to President Franklin Pierce in December, 1854. It has been described as the most beautiful and prophetic statement on the environment ever made. Note: There is some controversy about whether or not these words were exactly what the Chief said, but the words still hold a lot of wisdom, so I'd like to think they are true. The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer. How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy th...