Thirteen educators gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from July 27–29, 2026, for a Leadership Institute focused on integrating NASA data into youth-led environmental research. The event was a collaborative effort between the NASA Science Activation Program’s Cosmic Storytelling with NASA Data (CosmicDS) project and the Smithsonian Institution’s Breathing Easier: Supporting Teen Air Quality Investigations (BEST AQI) initiative.
During the three-day workshop, participants received training on TEMPO-Lab, a digital platform that provides access to hourly air quality measurements from NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission. The tool allows users to analyze data related to various pollution sources, including agricultural emissions, power plants, wildfire smoke, and heavy traffic. The workshop demonstrated the agility of the software when developers successfully integrated a new beta-version ground-level ozone data product into the tool overnight, allowing educators to utilize the latest scientific findings the following morning.
Erika Wright, the BEST AQI Principal Investigator and an Education Specialist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, stated that the institute highlighted the platform's ability to empower youth. She noted that educators were particularly enthusiastic about the potential for students to use scientific evidence to drive positive change within their own communities.
The curriculum developed during the institute is intended to foster data literacy and provide students with a scientific framework to address environmental issues that directly impact their daily lives. The 13 participating educators intend to expand this reach by sharing the BEST AQI toolkit and TEMPO-Lab with approximately 100 additional instructors across New York, Maryland, and South Dakota, potentially impacting thousands of students.
Source: NASA
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