Connie Gusmus: NASA 2016 Airborne Astronomy Ambassador
In 2016, Connie Gusmus stood beneath a modified Boeing 747 at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy in Palmdale, California. A sixth-grade science teacher at Guntown Middle School, she was among the latest group of educators and scientists taking part in NASA’s Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program.
Attired in a blue nylon jacket adorned with the space agency’s well-known insignia, Gusmus was on the experience of a lifetime. The plane was built for long-flight passenger transport but now carries the world’s only flying infrared astronomy laboratory and telescope used to examine the invisible cosmic light spectrum flowing through Earth’s atmosphere.
AAA is NASA’s professional development opportunity to help teachers enhance their classroom skills. By sharing the SOFIA experience, Ambassadors also can encourage young learners to consider taking advance courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics—STEM, for short.
After having led mathematics classes for nearly two decades, Gusmus’s new journey began when she decided to switch to teaching science. With neither spare time nor schedule flexibility to become a traditional student, she nevertheless earned a master of science degree offered online through the College of Arts and Sciences at Mississippi State University.
Gusmus chose the Teachers in Geosciences curriculum. Via computer, she followed TIG course lectures, completed classwork and took tests, all while continuing to work at Guntown Middle School. “I didn’t skip a beat!” said the secondary school veteran now in her 12th year as a science teacher.
To be part of this “very golden” Golden State experience, Gusmus and Bob Swanson, an astronomy instructor at Itawamba Community College, teamed up to apply for the special NASA training. Of nearly 180 U.S. applicants in 2016, only 11 two-person teams were formed. The Northeast Mississippians were the contingent’s only Magnolia State residents.
After completing a required graduate course in astronomy, they joined a federal astronomy team for two 10-hour flights. For celestial study, the 747 cruises at approximately 45,000 feet and carries a specially fitted 100-inch telescope connected to a suite of seven powerful measuring instruments.
Gusmus said her most memorable moments included watching from 43,000 feet the brightly dancing light streams of Aurora Borealis—aka Northern Lights—and following at 300 mph the winding path of famous Route 66.
The Lee county resident credits the MSU graduate degree program for these and her many other Ambassador experiences. “I want to thank all the instructors in the online TIG program, without which I would not be teaching science today,” she said.