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\u201cWe talk about sustainability all the time, but what about sustainability in space?\u201d says Lee. \u201cWe need to start bringing this idea to the public domain, we need to reach larger audiences.\u201d This complex task required an interdisciplinary approach, one which is central to Lassonde and is part of what differentiates the School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To spread awareness of this issue and make her research more accessible, Lee collaborated with a fellow professor from York on an interdisciplinary creative project that combines art with science, titled \u201cSpace Situational Awareness and Us,\u201d and aims to bridge knowledge gaps and address the world\u2019s greatest challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project was created by Principal Investigator Professor Joel Ong <\/strong>from the Department of Computational Arts in the School of the Arts, Performance, Media & Design (AMPD) at ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ, through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) New Frontiers in Research Fund grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The project was proposed in 2019 during a speculative conversation between Lee, Ong and their students, as well as data visualization artist Scott Hessels<\/strong> at Sensorium: Centre for Digital Art and Technology, an organized research unit out of AMPD where they discussed different perspectives on the visualization of satellites and space junk. \u201cWe realized that there were significant overlaps in our strategies, particularly in the way we were all finding creative solutions to read images, infer data and compose photographs. It made sense for us to take this further and build our skill sets through interdisciplinary experimentation,\" says Ong.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cSpace Situational Awareness and Us\u201d includes several artistic presentations and exhibitions about Lee\u2019s research regarding the environment in space, objects that orbit our planet and space surveillance using small satellites. During March Break (March 13 to 19), one of the artistic presentations, titled \u201cSatellites & You\u201d was demonstrated at the Ontario Science Centre to youth and their families. This presentation was co-written and directed by Lee\u2019s students: Akash Chauhan<\/strong>, PhD candidate, and Vithurshan Suthakar<\/strong>, MSc candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presentations about Lee\u2019s research were led by her graduate students who engaged with the audience using creative props, interactive demonstrations and informative videos. Youth in the audience were invited to write messages that will travel to near-space and back to earth with one of Lee\u2019s nanosatellites in an upcoming mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to presenting her research, Lee used the project to encourage youth to consider pursuing career paths in STEM. \u201cScience is usually introduced to students when they\u2019re older, but I think we should show younger generations what opportunities exist as early as possible,\u201d says Lee. Along with her students, Lee will continue showcasing space research to k-12 classrooms, summer camps and community-based programs over the coming months.<\/p>\n\n\n Another goal for this project was to promote diversity in space sciences and engineering, especially among young girls. \u201cWomen are already underrepresented in engineering, but there are even fewer women in space programs,\u201d says Lee. To help inspire girls, Lee ensured that most presentations of her project included at least one of her female students in a major role. \u201cI want to promote women in space in a subtle way, it\u2019s important for young girls to see what is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee will be continuing her work with Ong, developing creative installations that will be displayed at various exhibits, including the Macintosh Gallery at Western University in London, Ont. Ultimately, Lee hopes art can help reignite conversations about satellites. \u201cThere was a time when everyone was excited about satellites being launched into space,\u201d says Lee. \u201cI want to bring that passion back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two professors are collaborating to raise awareness around sustainability challenges in space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":332887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,22],"tags":[58,29,6,55,20,15,12,36,14,4],"yfileauthor":[],"qualifier":[],"yfile-author":[],"tags-to-show":[172,145,147,176,173,158,146,157,169],"workflow":[],"class_list":["post-332867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-picks","category-research-innovation","tag-ampd","tag-community","tag-faculty","tag-innovation","tag-lassonde","tag-sdg","tag-students","tag-sustainability","tag-teaching-and-learning","tag-yfile","tags-to-show-ampd","tags-to-show-community","tags-to-show-faculty","tags-to-show-innovation","tags-to-show-lassonde","tags-to-show-sdg","tags-to-show-students","tags-to-show-sustainability","tags-to-show-teaching-and-learning"],"acf":{"internal_publish_date":null,"original_image":null},"yoast_head":"\n![\"Professor](\"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/yfile\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/889\/2023\/04\/Professor-Lee-and-her-students-posing-at-the-Ontario-Science-Centre-.jpg\")
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