Posters Archives - STELLA

STELLA at AGU 2025 MacGyver Session

Michael Taylor — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:59:50 +0000

STELLA at AGU 2025 MacGyver Session

NASA’s Low-Cost, Open-Source Instruments Empowering Workforce Development and Community Science

Mike Taylor presented STELLA (Science and Technology Education for Land/Life Assessment) at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2025, showcasing NASA’s innovative approach to democratizing remote sensing technology. The poster demonstrated how NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientists have created affordable (~$200) instruments that teach the same fundamental remote sensing principles used in advanced remote sensing satellites. Taylor’s presentation highlighted STELLA’s critical role in building America’s technical workforce while explicitly showing why continued investment in cutting-edge space technology remains essential for maintaining leadership in Earth observation and space exploration. Featured in the MacGyver Session, which celebrates novel, self-made, and improved sensor solutions that contribute to citizen and community science, the presentation illustrated how accessible instruments can inspire the next generation of space scientists and engineers while creating clear pathways to NASA’s future workforce.

Presentation Details:

Presenter: Mike Taylor
Session: SY31D – The MacGyver Session
Date & Time: Wednesday, December 17, 2025 | 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM CST
Location: New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Format: In-person poster presentation
Abstract ID: 1858474

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STELLA at AGU 2025 Education Session

Michael Taylor — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:32:53 +0000

STELLA at AGU 2025 MacGyver Session

Poster PDF (12 MB)

Co-Creating Open-Source Remote Sensing Tools for STEM Workforce Development

Mike Taylor presented STELLA’s collaborative educational model at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2025, highlighting the innovative partnership between NASA scientists and engineers, educational researchers, and classroom teachers. The poster showcased how this cross-sector collaboration has successfully co-designed affordable DIY instruments (~$200/unit) that enable students to collect data similar to NASA satellites while developing workforce-relevant technical skills. Taylor’s presentation demonstrated how the STELLA team united NASA engineers, scientists, and educators to create instruments with varying complexity levels, allowing educators to match technology challenges to students’ skill development needs. Featured in the Co-Creating Science Education session, the presentation illustrated how students using STELLA devices develop authentic skills in remote sensing, data analysis, and engineering that align with workforce needs in agriculture, environmental science, and satellite technology fields, while offering a replicable model for educational tools that bridge education with workforce preparation through meaningful partnerships.

Presentation Details:

Presenter: Mike Taylor
Session: ED11D – Co-Creating Science Education: Collaborative Models for Education and Outreach
Date & Time: Monday, December 15, 2025 | 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM CST
Location: New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Hall EFG (Poster Hall)
Format: In-person poster presentation
Abstract ID: 1883622

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AAES Brings NASA’s STELLA Remote Sensing to Virginia’s Eastern Shore

Michael Taylor — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 01:18:00 +0000

AAES Brings NASA’s STELLA Remote Sensing
to Virginia’s Eastern Shore

Story by Rachel White AAES

The Aerospace Academy of the Eastern Shore (AAES)—a STEM-focused lab school led by Old Dominion University in partnership with Accomack County Public Schools, Northampton County Public Schools, and Eastern Shore Community College—is expanding hands-on aerospace learning through remote sensing using NASA’s STELLA (Science and Technology Education for Land/Life Assessment) instruments. STELLA is an open-source, low-cost suite of DIY instruments (including student-build spectrometers) that introduces learners to the same Earth-observation concepts used in NASA missions—connecting local measurements to satellite-based remote sensing and analysis.

Most recently, AAES ninth-grade students built a STELLA-Q2 device in teams and collected preliminary spectral data. The STELLA-Q2 is designed for classroom accessibility (connector-based, no soldering) and includes multiple spectrometer sensors that measure irradiance in the visible to near-infrared range, making it an ideal entry point for students new to scientific instrumentation and data collection. Students celebrated the moment their devices “came to life,” and the build process intentionally reinforced productive struggle—requiring careful assembly, debugging, and iteration as they learned to trust both the engineering process and the data.

AAES students using STELLA-Q2 spectrometer to understand field of view (FOV).

AAES students using STELLA-Q2 spectrometer collecting 3 spectral data timelines for comparison.

AAES students using STELLA-Q2 spectrometer to understand field of view (FOV).

Looking ahead, AAES plans to scale STELLA across the full four-year program as a student-built toolset for authentic, place-based investigations on the Eastern Shore—where coastal ecosystems, agriculture, and NASA Wallops’ aerospace context create a powerful living laboratory. Over time, students will use STELLA to connect field measurements to NASA Earth observation datasets (e.g., Landsat) and apply remote sensing to real questions, building the quantitative, technical, and analytical skills that translate directly to aerospace and geospatial careers.

Planned applications at AAES include:

Coastal & wetland monitoring: vegetation health and change detection in marsh systems
Agriculture & land management: crop/plant reflectance patterns and seasonal trends
Student-designed investigations: hypothesis-driven field studies that pair STELLA readings with satellite imagery and mapped results
Future expansion into aerial data collection: exploring how lightweight STELLA instruments can support UAV-enabled investigations as students’ skills mature

Rachel White, Joy Phillips and Mike Taylor at AAES

AAES instructors and visitors building STELLA-Q2s.

AAES students building STELLA-Q2s and receiving some guidance from Mike Taylor.

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On the Statistical Significance of Local Land Cover Measurements: A Comparative Analysis of Citizen Science and Remote Sensing Programs

Michael Taylor — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 23:33:00 +0000

On the Statistical Significance of Local Land Cover Measurements: A Comparative Analysis of Citizen Science and Remote Sensing Programs

Abstract: Accurate land cover data can provide powerful insight into characterizing the effects of climate change. Remote sensing satellites enable state-of-the-art land cover measurements, but data collected on the Earth’s surface offers a new perspective on land cover characteristics through its more localized scope. Areas that may be generalized to a single pixel in a remote sensing satellite’s data products can be observed at a more granular level through on-site data collection strategies.

Low-cost sensors, such as NASA’s Science and Technology Education for Land/Life Assessment (STELLA), make such granular data collection more cost-effective. Citizen Science programs, like the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, provide a blueprint for reliably scaling this type of on-site data collection.

STELLA is an open-source platform that allows volunteers, like Citizen Scientists, to measure electromagnetic waves to calculate irradiance and temperature in a specific Area Of Interest (AOI). STELLA is cost-effective, as its kit can be assembled by any user with access to makerspace tools commonly found in educational institutions, like 3D printers and
soldering irons.

This work presents a comparative analysis of the land cover measurements recorded by the STELLA sensor and remote sensing satellites, such as LANDSAT 9. Surface temperatures were recorded hourly using the STELLA sensor on four different types of land cover within a 500-square-meter area in Reno, Nevada.

The results indicate a statistically significant discrepancy between measurements recorded by the STELLA sensor and LANDSAT, highlighting an untapped data trove in localized sensor measurements. Additionally, we present a data collection control flow for Citizen Science volunteers to record reliable STELLA sensor data. We demonstrate how such Citizen Science data can provide a valuable alternative perspective when compared to its state-of-the-art counterparts, rendering it a valuable tool for future studies.

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Quantifying Plant Biodiversity Using Different Spectrometers, Spectral Unmixing, and UAV Imagery

Michael Taylor — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 23:15:00 +0000

Quantifying Plant Biodiversity Using Different Spectrometers, Spectral Unmixing, and UAV Imagery

Abstract: Monitoring biodiversity is an effective way to quantify and assess the impacts of climate change, but methods for doing so can be inaccessible, laborious, or invasive to an ecosystem. In Arctic environments, permafrost peatlands are thawing at accelerated rates and causing wetter conditions that are suited to fewer plant species, resulting in a loss of biodiversity. We used aerial imagery from unpiloted aerial systems (UAS) (collected July 2022&2023) combined with field collection and in-situ spectral characteristics of plant species to characterize vegetation landcover and predict sub-habitat changes. Our field site was at Stordalen Mire, Sweden. Field collection involved creating a spectral library using portable spectrometers such as the 350-2500nm Spectra Vista Corp. HR-1024i, which can be expensive and cumbersome.

This research aims to address the tradeoffs of cost and precision in an effort to make large-scale biodiversity monitoring more accessible by testing alternative spectrometers such as the NASA STELLA Q and Sherwin-Williams® ColorSnap Tool®. In addition to testing different sampling tools, this research will look at different classification methods including classifying by cover type or species through spectral unmixing, such as Random Forests.

Spectral unmixing breaks down a UAS image into the probability of end members at the pixel scale, finds which signature is prominent in each, and displays the species associated with it. Spectral unmixing is helpful in tracking sub-habitat changes over time, predicting areas of high concern in the future, and measuring biodiversity throughout a study area to indicate ecosystem health.

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STELLA Poster AGU2023

Michael Taylor — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 23:45:00 +0000

STELLA Poster AGU2023

Abstract ID and Title: 1432877: STELLA: An Open-Source DIY Handheld Spectrometer
Final Paper Number: ED31B-0907
Presentation Type: Poster
Session Number and Title: ED31B: Amazing Technologies and Capabilities That Contribute to STEAM I Poster
Session Date and Time: Wednesday, December 13th; 8:30 AM – 12:50 PM PST
Location: MC, Poster Hall A-C – South

STELLA derived average of grass compared to ASD and Landsat data collected from USGS’s Spectral Library – https://crustal.usgs.gov/speclab/QueryAll07a.php – Lawn_Grass GDS91 green BECKa AREF

STELLA derived average of grass from averages below.

Averages from 3 days using 11 different STELLAs across full sun days between 12 and 2pm, 19 readings with 20 measurements per reading.

STELLA derived average of grass. STELLAs used UID 316, 5279, 5309, 7451, 9967, 2479, 4139, 5548, 8319, 8637, 8879- ASD and Landsat data collected from USGS’s Spectral Library – https://crustal.usgs.gov/speclab/QueryAll07a.php – Lawn_Grass GDS91 green BECKa AREF

Poster References:

Do Hands-On, Technology-Based Activities Enhance Learning by Reinforcing Cognitive Knowledge and Retention? (Anthony R. Korwin, Ronald E. Jones), Spring 1990, JTE v1n2
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v1n2/html/jones.html

Lee, W. S. (2020). An Experimental Investigation Into the Application of a Learning-From-Mistakes Approach Among Freshmen Students. SAGE Open, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020931938

Berman, Alexander, Garcia, Brittany, Nam, Beth, Chu, Sharon, & Quek, Francis
(2016). Toward a making community of practice: The social aspects of elementary
classroom-based making. In Proceedings of the 6th annual conference
on creativity and fabrication in education (pp. 9–16). http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3003397.3003399.

Gourlet, Pauline, & Decortis, Fran.oise (2018). Prototyping a designerly learning
through authentic making activities in elementary classrooms. International
Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 16, 31–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.Ijcci.2017.11.002.

Tuhkala, Ari, Wagner, Marie-Louise, Iversen, Ole Sejer, & K.rkk.inen, Tommi
(2019). Technology comprehension—Combining computing, design, and societal
reflection as a national subject. International Journal of Child-Computer
Interaction, 20, 54–63.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2019.03.004.

Montero, D., Aybar, C., Mahecha, M.D. et al. A standardized catalogue of spectral indices to advance the use of remote sensing in Earth system research. Sci Data 10, 197 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02096-0

Compton J. Tucker, Red and photographic infrared linear combinations for monitoring vegetation, Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 8, Issue 2, 1979, Pages 127-150, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-4257(79)90013-0.

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