Our NASA-supported EMERGE program successfully hosted a community hackathon on September 27 at North Lauderdale Library, where participants transformed NASA satellite data into tools for tracking mosquitos and environmental health.
Led by Dr. Di Yang, the event drew diverse participants from middle schoolers to librarians, who created maps, infographics, and dashboards using real NASA GLOBE Observer data.
Through seed funding awarded at the event, we’ve now launched 10 pilot grants for community-led environmental monitoring projects across Florida. These teams will complete their citizen science initiatives by year-end, directly engaging residents in NASA research.
This demonstrates UF Geography’s leadership in making space science accessible to local communities while addressing real public health challenges.