Impact Spotlight: Anna Voelker
Posted On: 11-23-2020
Posted In: Impact Spotlight, News,
Learn about Anna Voelker
Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ohio State University Department of Astronomy and the Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP)
Anna graduated from The Ohio State University in 2018 with a self-designed degree in Science Communication and Accessibility and a minor in Astronomy and Astrophysics. In 2018, they received the OSU President’s Prize, a $100,000 award for projects that foster social change. Anna used this funding to launch SciAccess, an international initiative designed to promote disability inclusion in STEM.
They hosted the inaugural SciAccess Conference at Ohio State in 2019, bringing together 250 attendees from around the world and featuring over 60 speakers who shared their expertise in science accessibility. This included keynote presentations by space explorer Anousheh Ansari and renowned autism advocate Dr. Temple Grandin. In 2020, the SciAccess Conference went virtual and had more than 1,000 registrants from 46 nations and all 7 continents. It featured a keynote address Dr. Soyeon Yi, the first and only South Korean Astronaut. Watch Anna’s YouTube video with additional details about SciAccess 2020.
The professional field of institutions, organizations and individuals who develop, implement, and study strategies and approaches for facilitating informal STEM learning has grown and diversified since the late 1960s to be recognized as a key actor in the national STEM education ecosystem. More recently, those who identify as working in informal STEM education, science communication, public engagement and/or outreach have increasingly become involved in synergistic, boundary-spanning efforts and events where they are sharing and comparing successes, challenges and opportunities and building knowledge through reflective research and practice.
Anna specializes in accessible astronomy outreach for diverse learners and has worked extensively with blind and vision impaired (BVI) students using 3D printing, data sonification, and other multi-sensory educational approaches. Anna currently runs a variety of astronomy outreach initiatives, including the SciAccess Zenith Mentorship Program, which connects BVI 7-12th grade students from around the world with Ohio State astronomy mentors. Anna also hosts Making Space for All, a public webinar series that showcases research conducted by underrepresented scientists and engineers. Anna is a 2018 Brooke Owens Fellow and previously worked in space science outreach at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the South African Astronomical Observatory, and the Aerospace Corporation.
Anna Voelker
Ohio State University Department of Astronomy
and the Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics