The SOFIA Education and Public Outreach Program

The SOFIA Education and Public Outreach plan is defined and described. Scheduled to begin science flights in late 2001, SOFIA will be operated for NASA by USRA. The EPO program is being developed and will be operated jointly by the ASP and SETI Institute. The authors believe SOFIA is the first research observatory in which close participation by educators and journalists is being designed into both the physical facility and the administrative structure of the observatory. With the overall goal of contributing to the public's awareness and understanding of science in general and astronomy in particular, SOFIA EPO will include formal K-12 and undergraduate educational activities, public outreach, and media relations. Provision is being made to enable educators, journalists, and students to fly aboard the observatory and closely observe the scientific and technical staff at work. Other key EPO programs will include extensive web and classroom-based materials. A variety of metrics will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of these EPO programs. SOFIA PIs and GIs are invited to closely coordinate their individual EPO activities with those of the observatory, in order to maximize their effectiveness.