{"id":218875,"date":"2025-07-18T15:22:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T01:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=218875"},"modified":"2025-07-18T15:22:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T01:22:38","slug":"women-inmates-study-moon-planets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/07\/18\/women-inmates-study-moon-planets\/","title":{"rendered":"Women inmates study Moon, planets in UH<\/abbr> program"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Lunar education program instructors and students<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A six-week, hands-on lunar and planetary science education program, “Exploring the Moon and Beyond,” was offered at the Women\u2019s Community Correctional Center in Kailua in spring 2025. The opportunity was developed by researchers and staff members at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa and Washington University in St<\/abbr>. Louis (WashU<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

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Education program instructors in front of WCCC<\/abbr>: (from left) Barb Bruno, Nina Webb and Matt Miller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

People who are incarcerated represent a significantly underserved community with barriers to accessing opportunities to learn and advance in science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM<\/abbr>) fields.<\/p>\n

“There are huge obstacles preventing incarcerated people from pursuing further education and professional careers in STEAM<\/abbr>,” said Barb Bruno, program co-creator and research specialist at the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Institute of Geophysics and Planetology<\/a> in the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a> (SOEST<\/abbr>). “We recognized the need to provide scientific outreach and education to this community of learners. We\u2019re hoping this program helps inmates to imagine a positive future when they are released, and to imagine the possibility that they could be a scientist.”<\/p>\n

Sparking imaginations<\/h2>\n

The non-credit program reached maximum enrollment of 12 students and utilized the Moon and planets as vehicles to teach STEAM<\/abbr> content, build STEAM<\/abbr> skills and self-efficacy, share cutting-edge NASA<\/abbr> research, improve college readiness and stimulate further interest in education.<\/p>\n

Each two-hour class was planned and taught by a team of SOEST<\/abbr> and WashU<\/abbr> researchers, staff, graduate students and a community member, including Bruno, Nina Webb, Marcie Grabowski, Matt Miller, Emma Layton and Hawkins Biggins. Classes focused on the solar system, Moon, meteorites, requirements for NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s future missions to the Moon, and conditions for life on Earth and beyond.<\/p>\n

“The students engaged in meaningful and positive learning experiences each week,” said Miller, program instructor who was an atmospheric sciences<\/a> graduate student during the outreach program. “This experience really affirmed how powerful access to education can be in sparking peoples\u2019 imaginations. Science, and a love for geoscience especially, changed how I see the world, and I really enjoyed sharing how exciting science is.”<\/p>\n

Students in the course received a certificate of participation, which is placed in their case file to acknowledge their effort in taking pro-active steps to make positive plans for their future. The team plans to offer an additional six-week program at the men\u2019s Waiawa Correctional Facility in fall 2025.<\/p>\n

Education to prevent recidivism<\/h2>\n

A longitudinal study<\/a> by the U.S. Department of Justice that followed released inmates from 30 different states, found that 68% were arrested for a new crime within three years of release. That number jumped to 79% after six years and to 83% after nine years.<\/p>\n

“These results beg the question: what works to reduce recidivism?” said Webb, staff scientist at WashU<\/abbr> and co-creator of the outreach program. “Although the answer is clearly complex, many proven approaches involve education.”<\/p>\n

Read Grabowski\u2019s entire story on the SOEST<\/abbr> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> brings Moon and planet science to women inmates in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":218876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[745,173,170,1466,1467,1363,92,313,9],"class_list":["post-218875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-atmospheric-sciences","tag-geophysics","tag-hawaii-institute-of-geophysics-and-planetology","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-stem","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t