Invite an award-winning author and former NASA flight controller to speak at your school or conference.

Will American kids be PIONEERS on Mars? ENGINEERS building lunar factories? SCIENTISTS studying alien lifeforms?

NOT IF THEY DROP OUT OF SCHOOL!

Nationwide only 52 percent of students graduate from high school! Half of these dropouts will be unemployed at age 24. [ Houston Chronicle, 4-23-08, Time Magazine, April 2006.]

Let's show them a better future!

The number one thing researchers recommend to heal the dropout problem is to GET KIDS READING. And...

INTEREST IN SPACE EXPLORATION IS A POWERFUL MOTIVATOR TO GET KIDS READING (and writing, and studying math and science).

I am just one example. I was so determined to be part of the space program that I worked extra hard to get good grades, especially in math. Even though I got a C in my first physics course, my interest in space drove me to keep trying until I got B's and then A's. I stayed in school and was the first woman in my family to graduate from college, earning a degree in physics cum laude. I became one of the first ten women flight controllers, working as a Flight Activities Officer in Mission Control.

I left NASA to raise my children and now share my passion for space through writing and presentations. Space Station Science won the Golden Kite award for best nonfiction book of 1999. Home on the Moon won the prestigious American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award in 2004. Space continues to inspire me to write and talk to as many people as I can about the positive future that we can create by exploring and one day, settling, space.

I offer programs for all ages, from short keynote speeches at conferences to all-day hands-on science workshops for kids or teachers. I am a freelance magazine and science editor, and I am available as a research consultant (see Contact page) on space and astronomy topics. I am based in Houston, Texas, and will travel for school or conference visits as long as fees and expenses are covered.

Send email to Marianne . See Contact page for mailing address. Note that mdyson.com = mariannedyson.com.