E/PO Committee of the Planetary Sciences Section of the AGU

AGU Planetary Sciences E/PO > Participants > Brooke Hsu

Vice-chair: Brooke Hsu

Lunar & Planetary Institute (LPI) and Goddard Space Flight Center

• Education and Public Outreach Lead for Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission
• Director, International Observe the Moon Night
• Scientist Engagement Lead, NASA SMD Earth Forum

Education

• BS Geology, University of Maryland, 2002
• M.A. Science Education, University of Maryland, 2005

Project Affiliations

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
• International Observe the Moon Night
• MAVEN mission

Planetary Science Topic Interests: Moon, Mars, comparative planetology

Educational Interests: educator (formal and informal) professional development, public outreach events, Science On a Sphere content development

In some ways, I have always known that I would wind up as an educator. Right out of high school, I became a part time marching band instructor while I attended school to become a high school band teacher. Even though I abandoned my k-12 music education career in my first year of college, I continued to teach high school marching band for another four years.  Unsure of what I wanted to do with my life, I dappled with being an accountant and an astrophysicist before I finally settled on getting my Bachelor’s degree in geology. As graduation approached, I struggled with the decision of moving on to graduate school in geology versus teaching high school earth science.  I decided that the best decision was no decision, and the easiest course of action for me at the time was to stick with what I know – school!  So, I decided to go to graduate school and study structural geology.  I continued to flip-flop in graduate school, where the goals of being a scientist and an educator fought it out in a knock-down-drag-out fight in my heart. At that point, I didn’t think that the two could be resolved. Deep down, I knew that my heart was in education, and I would rather spend my energies teaching than doing scientific research.  So, after a year and a half of geology graduate school, I finally made the decision to move to education and finish my graduate career with a Master’s in Science Education.  Through some local contacts, I was able to get a full-time job at Goddard Space Flight Center while I finished my thesis.  That’s where my life became a happy coincidence.

At Goddard, I met one of the many science education specialists and realized that I could marry cutting-edge science with education in a fun and challenging career!  I took 6 months off of work to finish my thesis, and then was hired as an education specialist myself. The rest is history!

Last modified: 27 October 2011
Created: 18 May 2011