Frances Dellutri
NSS Director of Education
It is with great enthusiasm that Frances Dellutri serves NSS and its mission as the Director of Education for NSS. In this role she founded and facilitated the NSS Student spUN (space policy and Universalization) Debate program starting in 2017 as in-person events at ISDCs until COVID-19 challenged her to adopt a completely virtual platform for 2020. Students ages 12-18 have debated space policy on international teams, resulted in over 100 student debaters representing 4 countries.
She has represented NSS and its mission “to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity” in various professional venues:
- Former member of the NSS Board of Directors
- ISDC 2017
- ISDC 2019
- Space Foundation, Colorado Spring, CO, 2019
- Space Explorers Education Conference (SEEC), Houston, TX; 2018, 2019
- Global Hands on Universe First Asia Regional Conference, Pokhara, Nepal, 2019
- Moderation and presentation at 2020 NSS Virtual Town Hall Meetings and Space Forums
Frances has been an avid educator through Yerkes Observatory and GLAS (Geneva Lake Astrophysics and STEAM), Williams Bay, WI from 2002-2019 and presented space-related workshops to teachers, camps to students 5 -15 years of age, and space education outreach to ages 3 – 81. She hopes to continue in these live endeavors post COVID-19 pandemic.
Frances is a life-long learner and educator. Her training as chemist (B.S.), project manager (M.B.A.), and science educator (M.S.) (20 + years) enable her to marry technical aspects of the NSS education programs with real-world opportunities for students K – University. The NSS website http://spacedge.academy/ (a repository for lessons, activities, and resources for students and teachers) is the perfect forum to accomplish this objective. Frances is an administrator and contributor of SpacEdge Academy (2015-present) recruiting, training, and managing the cadre of teachers in their Academy contributions, always seeking cutting-edge, best practices and technology usage.
Opening doors to all students around the globe to consider opportunities and careers in space related disciplines is of high importance to Frances as she works to use NSS resources to the best advantage, raising space science awareness and igniting it’s fire in Generation Z/ Post-Millennials.
Frances and husband Dale are involved in amateur astronomy and live in Libertyville, IL. She enjoys playing her harp as a contribution at various charitable events and delights in creating great memories with her family.
