Biography: Mark Kaufman is a Science Journalism graduate student at NYU, presently interning at the NASA Langley Research Center. Previously, he spent 5 years working as an interpreter for the National Park Service, recently in bear-rich Katmai National Park. He plans to apply the communication skills he learned as park ranger to create Earth science focused features, articles, and documentaries.

Abstract:  NASA’s GLOBE Observer app, which encourages participants to observe, question, and examine their natural environments, will be introduced this year. Participant contributions directly benefit a variety of NASA missions. National Parks, Wildlife Refuges and similar settings would provide an ideal platform to introduce millions of curious minds to an app that promotes an ongoing effort to better understand our planet and natural surroundings. Additionally, GLOBE Observer can benefit interpreters and environmental educators: it is a novel interpretive tool that can be realistically applied in parks, refuges and similar settings.