July & August 2025
NETWORK NEWS
ASTC Conference 2025
We are looking forward to seeing many NISE Network partners at the ASTC Conference in the San Francisco Bay Area September 5-8. NISE Network activities include concurrent sessions, an exhibit hall booth, and a networking meet up during the first night of the conference.
nisenet.org/astc2025
NISE Network Networking Event
Friday, Sept. 5th, 5-7pm
Please join fellow NISE Network members as we gather together informally, all are welcome!
No need to RSVP
LeRoy King Carousel Plaza
in front of the Children's Creativity Museum
Corner of Howard Street and 4th Street
(next to Moscone South)
Snacks will be provided, we will be outside
Navigating Changing Federal Priorities for STEM, Public Engagement, and Education
Many federal programs have undergone significant transitions as federal agencies align with the priorities of the new federal administration. These changes have already led to major reductions in ongoing scientific research, public engagement in STEM, and educational programs. In addition to federal staff reductions, there have been sudden terminations of existing awarded grants and the “archiving” of active solicitations.
Congress is spending much of the summer determining FY26 appropriations bills funding federal agencies and programs. When contacting legislators, good advice is to make your message memorable by sharing a story and talk about an aspect of your life or community that is better because of federal funding or some aspect that is at risk due to cuts.
You may find the the following resources helpful as you are adapting to rapid changes and uncertainty related to federal administration priorities:
News from trusted sources:
- Afterschool Alliance Current Policy Landscape
- American Institute of Physics FYI Science Policy News
- American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Center for the Future of Museums Blog
- Save NSF coalition resources
- The Planetary Society space policy news
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- National Council of Nonprofits
- Nonprofit Quarterly
- The Chronicle of Higher Education
Sharing stories of impact:
- Assessing the impacts of federal policies on the US STEMM community
- Illustrated stories of scientists impacted by federal budget cuts
Federal grant and contract terminations:
- Crowd-sourced lists of terminated NSF and NIH grants
- NASA terminated grants from the Planetary Society
Advice about federal grant or contract termination:
- American Association of University Professors: Understanding the Law and Policies for Grant Terminations for the National Science Foundation
- American Alliance of Museums (AAM)
UPCOMING EVENTS
Online Workshops
The NISE Network hosts free online workshops as professional development opportunities for our partners to share with and learn from each other. Online workshops take place on select Tuesdays at 2pm-3pm Eastern. View upcoming online workshops at nisenet.org/events
We are taking a break from online workshops this summer, but stay tuned for more info about our fall online workshops schedule. Please feel free to take a look at recordings of recent workshops.
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
New Public Engagement Materials:
• Radio Technology Timeline Posters
This printable visual timeline highlights pivotal milestones in radio technology from the 1950s through the 2020s. Designed as a large-format educational resource, it showcases iconic breakthroughs and cultural moments in wireless communication. Part of the Making Waves with Radio Kit.
Online Workshop Recordings:
• America 250 - How Can Children's Museums and Science Centers Celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial? (recorded on 6-3-25)
Learn more
• Creating Relevant and Meaningful STEM Experiences
(recorded on 4-15-25)
Learn more
• Museum Experiences Participating in STEM Learning Ecosystems (recorded on 3-4-25)
Learn more
• Introduction to STEM Learning Ecosystems - Principles and Practices for Community-wide Partnerships
(recorded on 2-11-25)
Learn more
• More online workshop recordings
New Publications:
“Let’s Have a Plática – Tengamos Una Plática: Practical Considerations and Lessons Learned From Conducting Pláticas in Three Different Settings” by Regina Ayala Chávez, in International Journal of Qualitative Methods, with free access online.
“Implementing Culturally Responsive Evaluation Methods: Reflections on Challenges to Traditional Understandings of Power, Validity, and Rigor” in Visitor Studies with free access online.
You can find more publications including: 1) Externally published journal articles, books, and other professional publications, 2) Guides for professional learning, and 3) Evaluation reports and research studies.
nisenet.org/publications
United States 250th “Semiquincentennial”
Resources to help plan relevant programming for the United States' 250th anniversary (Semiquincentennial)
nisenet.org/america250
Looking for an easy way to discover resources on the nisenet.org website?
Check out our “Browse by Themes and Topics,” featuring curated collections of hands-on activities and resources by themes and STEM topics:
nisenet.org/browse-topic
COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bring Teen Science Cafés to Your Community
Apply by August 8 to become a Teen Science Café Fellow. Opportunity offers adult facilitators the training, support, and resources needed to launch their own Teen Science Café. Ten-month training program supported by a stipend of $2,500.
Learn more
Our World: Worldwide Day of Play - September 27
ACM and Nickelodeon are offering stipends for $600 to help support ACM members in offsetting the costs of hosting an event.
Learn more
International Observe the Moon Night - October 4
Prepare for this event with observing suggestions and tools for hosting, hands-on activities, and custom Moon Maps. You can register your event to NASA’s global map of lunar observers! Night Sky Network will be hosting an event planning webinar on Wednesday, August 6, at 6:00 PM Pacific Time (9:00 PM Eastern)
Learn more
NISE Network resources
International Day of Scientific Culture - Sept. 28
This event aims to highlight the importance of scientific culture in today's world; and celebrate activities and institutions that provide spaces for people to make science a relevant part of their lives.
Learn more
National Chemistry Week - October 19-25
This year’s October 2025 National Chemistry Week theme is The Hidden Life of Spices - a great opportunity to make chemistry and food connections.
Learn more
Rubin Observatory
First Look Images
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile, released its first images on June 23rd (Image is a new view of the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae).
Learn more
Free planetarium show available:
Messengers of Time and Space
Convocation on the Status of Informal Science and Engineering Education
Video recordings, posters, and white papers are available from the NASEM June convocation reflecting on progress made in the informal science field over the past 15 years since the release of the National Academies Learning Science in Informal Environments (2009) report.
Learn more
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
SCIENCE NEWS
Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, gave a State of the Science exploring the current status of the U.S. research enterprise and strategies for navigating a rapidly changing scientific landscape.
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS
Deep-brain stimulation involves inserting thin wires through two small holes in the skull into a region of the brain associated with movement. Since the devices were first approved almost three decades ago, 200,000 people have received this treatment to help alleviate Parkinson’s disease. Can this approach target other conditions?
NISE Network resources:
• Brain and neuroscience resources
GENETICS & HEALTH NEWS
Scientists have created contact lenses that allow people to see infrared light, a band of the electromagnetic spectrum that is invisible to the naked eye. A similar approach might help people with color blindness by converting wavelengths they cannot see into hues they can see.
NISE Network resources:
• Building with Biology: Super Organisms
SPACE NEWS
The largest Mars meteorite on Earth has sold at auction for $5.3 million to an anonymous buyer. Originally the 54-pound (25-kilogram) meteorite NWA 16788 was found by a meteorite hunter in Niger in Northwest Africa in 2023
NISE Network resources:
• Asteroids and Meteorite resources
WEATHER NEWS
Satellite data allows meteorologists to keep track of and predict severe weather, helping to keep people safe. Now meteorologists are losing access to some of these satellites.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Climate and weather resources
SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
A device powered only by sunshine can harvest drinkable water from the air — even in one of the world’s driest deserts. The prototype uses a spongy hydrogel that sucks water from the air during the cool night-time.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
ENGINEERING NEWS
Swarms of tiny micro robots, each no larger than a speck of dust, could be used to cure stubborn infected sinuses before being blown out through the nose into a tissue, researchers have claimed.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Engineering and robot resources
• Size, Scale, & Measurement resources
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION NEWS
Researchers from the University of Glasgow teamed up with Science Ceilidh to develop a dance to mark the 10th anniversary of the historic first detection of gravitational waves.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Theater and stage program resources
RADIO & SPACE NEWS
A powerful solar flare eruption from the Sun triggered radio blackouts this June, with the strongest impacts in Hawaii; solar flares are caused when magnetic energy builds up in the Sun's atmosphere and is released in an intense burst of electromagnetic radiation.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Making Waves with Radio kit
• Electromagnetic Spectrum
NANOTECHNOLOGY NEWS
Scientists have been inspired by squids’ color-manipulation abilities to develop flexible and stretchable visible appearance-changing nanostructure materials.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Light resources
• Biomimicry resources
• NanoDays activities
CHEMISTRY NEWS
Like the human hand, many molecules exist in “right-handed” and “left-handed” forms that are mirror images of each other and have different properties. Scientists have recently discovered an ancient protein that is ambidextrous.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Chemistry Makes Sense
• Chemistry resources
STEM THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
Discover activity ideas for incorporating current science, engineering, and technology content into events, special programming, holidays, and seasonal activities by visiting: nisenet.org/seasons
Year-long 2025
- International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ)
- National Science Foundation's 75th anniversary
- Planetarium Centennial
August
- What’s Up Skywatching Tips from NASA
- Perseid Meteor Shower (August)
- The Perseids are the most popular meteor shower as they peak on warm August nights as seen from the Northern Hemisphere
- NISE Network Asteroids, Comets, Meteors, and Meteorites resources
- National Immunization Awareness Month (August)
- National Sand Castle Day (first Saturday of August)
- National Aviation Day (August 19)
- National Radio Day (August 20)
- World Mosquito Day (August 20)
- American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA)
- Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) World Health Organization (WHO) resources
- GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper toolkit
- GLOBE Observer Mission Mosquito Larvae Hunters Guide
- NISE Network Should We Engineer the Mosquito? forum
- NISE Network health and medicine resources
- NISE Network genetics resources
- Frankenstein Day (August 30)
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born on August 30, 1797; she wrote the novel Frankenstein in 1816, and published it in 1818
- Frankenstein200 kit of activities
September
- Back to School (September)
- Read a New Book Month (September)
- National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15)
- International Observe the Moon Night (October 4, 2025)
- International Microorganism Day (September 17)
- National Pollution Prevention Week (P2 Week) (third week in September)
- International Coastal Cleanup Day (third Saturday in September)
& World Cleanup Day (third Saturday in September) - Fall Equinox (September 22 in the Northern Hemisphere)
- Solstices and equinoxes provide opportunities for planning quarterly programs related to the Earth, Sun, and Moon (astronomical seasons) or your local environment (meteorological seasons)
- Moon resources
- NASA Space Place seasons resources
- International Day of Scientific Culture (September 28)
- Astronomy Week (Fall) (9/22-28/2025)
- Worldwide Day of Play (late September) (September 27, 2025)
- National Public Lands Day (fourth Saturday of September)
October
- Campus Sustainability Month (October)
- Walk Bike & Roll to School (early October)
- World Space Week (October 4-10)
- Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) (October 3)
- Ada Lovelace Day (October 8)
- National Nano Day (October 9)
- National Nanotechnology Day is an annual celebration and pays homage to the nanometer scale, 10–9 meters.
- NanoDays activities and resources
- NISE Network size, scale, & measurement resources
- Metric Day (October 10)
- Indigenous Peoples' Day (Second Monday in October)
- International Day of the Girl Child (October 11)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) - World AI Week (second week in October)
- Earth Science Week (second full week in October)
- Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills (third Thursday in October)
- World CRISPR Day (October 20)
- National Chemistry Week (October 19-25, 2025)
- Imagine a Day Without Water (mid-October)
- International Archeology Day (third Saturday in October)
- Nuclear Science Week (third week in October)
- Take Me Outside Day celebration of outdoor learning (third week in October)
- World Origami Days (October 24 - November 11)
- Dark Matter Day (on or around October 31)
- Halloween (October 31)
NATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
- ASTC List of Conferences in the Community
Learn more - National Rural STEM Learning Summit, August 26-29, 2025,
Fort McDowell, AZ
Learn more - ASTC Conference, September 5-8, 2025, San Francisco, CA
Learn more - Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) Annual Conference, October 28-30, 2025 Pittsburgh, PA
Learn more - STEM Ecosystems Convening October 20-22, 2025, Washington, DC
Learn more - Association of Children's Museums (ACM) InterActivity, April 21-23, 2026, San Diego
Learn more - National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conferences
Learn more