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For Release: January 30, 2003

Katherine K. Martin
Media Relations Office
216/433-2406
katherine.martin{at}nasa.gov

Microgravity Experimenter Teams Selected
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Behavior of various phenomena in the absence of gravity is the focus 
of successful proposals from four high school teams recently selected 
by NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, to participate in the 
Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) Program.

Microgravity investigations will be conducted in Magnetic Force by a 
team from Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 
Sonoluminescence (sound and light) by the Gettysburg Area High School 
in Gettysburg, Pa., in Buoyancy by Troy Athens High School in Troy, 
Mich., and in Crystal Formation of Supercooled Water by a team from 
Cleveland Heights High School, Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

DIME is a project-oriented educational program consisting of 
scientific investigations and design challenges that last one full 
school year for the selected teams. The program links students 
directly to NASA's diverse and exciting missions of research and 
discovery. Teams that entered the DIME competition developed a 
hypothesis that could be tested through experiments and then prepared 
a scientific research proposal based on their hypothesis.

"DIME provides the opportunity for high school age students to 
progress through the experimental process from conception to final 
report just as NASA researchers do in their work," said Richard 
DeLombard, aerospace engineer at Glenn and project manager for the 
DIME Program. "We look forward to working with the student teams when 
they test their experiments at NASA."

After designing, building and testing their experiments in one-g 
(Earth's gravity), the teams will visit Glenn from April 29 through 
May 1 for DIME Drop Days. During this time, they operate their 
experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower, participate in microgravity 
workshops and tour some of the major Glenn facilities. In addition, 
the students' operations in the Drop Tower will be webcast so that 
many other students can benefit from the experience.

For the first two pilot years, the competition entertained proposals 
only from Glenn's six state region. This year, teams based in all 
fifty states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico were eligible to enter. 
Glenn evaluators did not know the location or identity of the sixteen 
proposals received in order to promote fair and impartial evaluation 
of the scientific content of the teams' proposals.

More information about the DIME competition can be found at:

http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/DIME.html

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