April 15, 2005

Katherine K. Martin
Media Relations Office
(216)433-2406
katherine.martin@grc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 05-013

STUDENT TEAMS PREPARE TO "DROP" AT NASA GLENN

They've been working all school year in classrooms, labs and basements
and will now get the chance to test their work at NASA's Glenn
Research Center, Cleveland. Four student teams arrive at Glenn next
week to watch their experiments perform in weightlessness conditions.

NASA Glenn will conduct DIME (Dropping In a Microgravity Environment)

Drop Days for the fifth straight year on April 19-21. The teams and
their experiments which have been selected to participate this year
are:

Tualatin High School, Tualatin, Ore.

Creating an Isolated Droplet in Zero Gravity

Glenbrook North High School, Northbrook, Ill.

Interactions in Microgravity Conditions

Columbus High School, Columbus, Ga.

Microgravity Effects on Newly Discovered Light-Reactive Film

Troy Athens High School, Troy, Mich.<br/ > The Drag Force in
Microgravity

DIME is a NASA science competition sponsored by Glenn for high school

student teams. The project-oriented educational program consists of
testing students' hypotheses with investigations and design
challenges throughout one school year. DIME links students directly
to NASA's diverse and exciting missions of research, exploration and
discovery of new concepts.

Early in the school year, student teams throughout the country

developed a hypothesis that could be tested through experimentation
and prepared a proposal for how to complete the testing. Four teams
were then selected to proceed to design and build their experiments.

NASA provides travel funds for four students and an adult advisor from
each selected team to come to Glenn for the 3-day DIME Drop Days.
During this time, the student teams see how their experiment performs
in a reduced-gravity environment in Glenn's 2.2 Second Drop Tower
under the guidance of NASA Glenn scientists and engineers.

"The scientific process the students go through is similar to the

processes NASA researchers use," said Richard DeLombard, DIME creator
and coordinator as well as electrical engineer in the Human Health &
Performance Systems Project Office. "The students experience first
hand what NASA researchers do in their work."

In addition to the drop tower experience, the student teams visiting

Glenn will participate in a SCUBA orientation on Wednesday, April 20
at 7 p.m. Each student team must construct a large device similar to
an International Space Station hatch while underwater. After
construction, each team member must successfully swim through it. The
purpose of the activity is to parallel the training that astronauts
experience at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

While at Glenn, the teams will also tour several of the Center's major
facilities and reduced-gravity laboratories, and participate in
workshops. The teams will also analyze their experiment's data with
their Glenn mentor.

A webcast of the drop tower activities will offer students in

classrooms everywhere an opportunity to observe each student teams'
experiment drop. Observers will also have the ability to e-mail
questions to the Glenn scientists and participating team members. The
program is open to student teams that may be comprised of groups such
as science classes, clubs or scout troops. To be eligible for
participation in this annual event, a team must develop an experiment
concept, prepare a proposal and submit the proposal to Glenn by
November 1. Teams are judged on the following criteria: scientific
objectives, creativity and originality. A panel of Glenn exploration
researchers, scientists and engineers evaluate the proposals.

More information about the DIME program, including instructions to

access the webcast, can be found on the Internet at:
http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/DIME.html

Note to Editors: News Directors: Media representatives are invited to

the 2.2 Second Drop Tower for the team DIME Drops on either Tuesday
from 1 to 4 p.m. for the initial session drops or Wednesday from 9
a.m. to 4 p.m. for the science competition. News media planning on
covering the event should call Katherine Martin or the Media
Relations Office, 216-433-2901, in advance, in order to be cleared
through security.

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