NASA and the U.S. Department of Labor
Back to School Satellite and WebcastTeleconference

Wednesday, September 27, 2000

The U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau and NASA have joined forces to narrow the wage gap and work toward gender equity by increasing girls' and women's interest in - and preparedness for - math, science, engineering and technology. This satellite teleconference is just one of many joint efforts these agencies are sponsoring to encourage women to pursue and persist in high-tech careers.

NASA will host a 1-hour, live satellite teleconference from NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC featuring a unique panel of diverse NASA women. The teleconference can be viewed on NASA TV or through streaming video on this site. During the webcast participants have the opportunity to interact with panelists via an open chat room. Participants are encouraged to research the featured women to formulate appropriate questions. Questions may be submitted in advance beginning Wednesday, September 20, 2000 to the room.

A preconference webchat the hour before the teleconference will feature female experts in Internet webcasting. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about the science of webcasting and video teleconferencing in order to prepare themselves for the conference and future interactive events.

The teleconference consists of four interrelated components.

• Research
  Profiles and biographies of the featured women are available for research prior to the event and can be found by linking from the featured woman's name on the schedule or on the profiles page. You are strongly encouraged to research the featured women prior to the chats in order to form appropriate questions that cannot be answered by another source. Archives and links to additional interactive events and resources are also included in their profiles.
• Preregistration
  Preregistration for both the webchat and webcast is not required. Although an unlimited number of participants can submit questions and take part in the events as observers, the number of questions we are able to answer live during the events is limited, based on the length of the experts answers. They will answer as many questions as time permits. Please research the featured mentors and prepare thoughtful questions to increase your chance of having your question selected. There are specific chat directions that you should become familiar with prior to the chat, and it is necessary to review the webcast proceedures and ensure you are technically prepared.
• Interacting
  To actively participate in the chat, click on the "join now" button on the schedule page. You may submit questions to the room prior to the event and your questions will be stored in the queu and posted to the chat room at the time of the event.
  To actively participate in the webcast click on the "join now" button from the schedule page. If your question is selected by the moderator for the panelists to answer, the response will be viewed as live video, via the web and satellite. Questions will not be responded to as text in the chat room.
• Follow-up
  All contents and information from these pages and this event will be archived and available as a link from the Women of NASA archives page. The archived events and profiles are a rich source of information when studying careers, gender equity, women's issues, and information specific to each woman's profession. Teaching tips on how you may use this event and the Women of NASA project are available on our teaching tips page.