{"593819":{"#nid":"593819","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Like the North Pole in December...","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor awhile on July 27, the halls of the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering felt like the North Pole right before Christmas: everyone was focused on sending out packages that would end up brightening the lives of thousands of Georgia children in just a few weeks.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut instead of skate boards and Barbie Dolls, the elves were puttng the final touches on Solar Eclipse Safety Packages that will enable 250K young people to view and learn from the rare celestial happening, which will occur on Aug. 21.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETeams of faculty, students, and staff crammed into the AE School\u0026#39;s tiny conference room, where, from 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m., 1,700 packages were assembled, addressed, and sealed. The complicated logistics were plotted out weeks ahead of time by Georgia Tech staffers\u003Cstrong\u003E Alysia Watson\u003C\/strong\u003E and \u003Cstrong\u003EMike Roberts\u003C\/strong\u003E. Funded by NASA\u0026#39;s Georgia Space Grant Consortium, the packages were mailed to schools and other educational venues where they will help make the solar eclipse as safe as it is cool.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd it will be cool. \u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVery cool.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor a brief period of time in the afternoon of Aug. 21, the moon will be aligned directly between the sun and the earth, causing a temporary nightfall here on earth.\u0026nbsp; Birds will roost. Cattle will settle down for the night. And the temperature difference will cause winds to pick up. At Georgia Tech, where the coverage will be 97 percent complete, several solar eclipse activities have been planned for the campus, which will be in the middle of its first day of classes. (\u003Cem\u003ENice planning, Mother Nature!\u003C\/em\u003E)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFind out more about Tech\u0026#39;s celebrations at\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/eclipse\u0022\u003EEclipse 2017 @ Georgia Tech\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor AE professor \u003Cstrong\u003EStephen Ruffin\u003C\/strong\u003E, the eclipse will be an opportunity to spread the word about the importance of space exploration to thousands of would-be scientists. As the executive director of NASA\u0026#39;s Georgia Space Grant Consortium, he knows that that a solar eclipse will heighten the public\u0026#39;s interest in science, engineering, and the importance of committing resources to space exploration. As the associate chair of the School of Aerospace Engineering, he is grateful that he was able to nudge a few of his colleagues to help out with Thursday\u0026#39;s mailroom extravaganza.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;We are grateful to NASA\u0026#39;s Space Grant Consortium for making these kits available, and for making space education a priority,\u0026quot; he said. \u0026quot;But getting them into the mail? That came directly from the heart and soul of Georgia Tech.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EA collaboration between several Institute entities has produced an array of events and educational offerings for the August 21 eclipse.\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/eclipse\u0022\u003ECheck them out now.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech gears up for the Aug. 21 Solar Eclipse"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor no less than 12 hours, the Georgia Tech chapter of NASA\u0026#39;s Georgia Space Grant Consortium hustled to put together more than 10K\u0026nbsp; solar eclipse safety kits that were mailed out to allow more than 250K Georgia school children.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students, faculty, and staff joined together July 27 to help the NASA-funded Georgia Space Grant Consortium package and mail more than 10K solar eclipse safety kits "}],"uid":"27836","created_gmt":"2017-07-28 16:52:00","changed_gmt":"2017-07-28 16:59:08","author":"Kathleen Moore","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-07-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-07-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"593811":{"id":"593811","type":"image","title":"It\u0027s in the mail","body":null,"created":"1501254676","gmt_created":"2017-07-28 15:11:16","changed":"1501254676","gmt_changed":"2017-07-28 15:11:16","alt":"Alysia Watson, Stephen Ruffin, and Mike Roberts","file":{"fid":"226362","name":"Eclipse Partee.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Eclipse%20Partee.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Eclipse%20Partee.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":713102,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Eclipse%20Partee.JPG?itok=L-0ArSRM"}},"593813":{"id":"593813","type":"image","title":"The Future\u0027s So Bright...","body":null,"created":"1501254825","gmt_created":"2017-07-28 15:13:45","changed":"1501254825","gmt_changed":"2017-07-28 15:13:45","alt":"About a dozen volunteers, all wearing the black-lensed solar eclipse glasses","file":{"fid":"226363","name":"Wearing the Glasses.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Wearing%20the%20Glasses.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Wearing%20the%20Glasses.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":732148,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Wearing%20the%20Glasses.JPG?itok=dRaFx3xY"}}},"media_ids":["593811","593813"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/eclipse","title":"Solar Eclipse 2017 @ Georgia Tech"}],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"136451","name":"Georgia Space Grant Consortium"},{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"174840","name":"solar eclipse"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/eclipse\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/eclipse\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}