She isn't an astronaut and she doesn’t have a technical background, but Carie Lemack is inspiring the next generation of astronauts through education.
Three years ago when Lemack was looking for a career change, she kept thinking about a career in space. She’d gone to space camp four times as a kid and always kept that passion, but wasn’t sure where her industry fit was.
Then, she saw a need for space education in the classroom and ultimately co-founded DreamUp, an edtech startup that provides space-based educational programs for learners and educators.
The company partners with school districts, after-school programs, homeschools and a host of other educational organizations to provide space learning resources.
“We really try to make sure we empower the educators and the learners,” Lemack said.
Through DreamUp’s DreamKit, students are able to conduct the same experiments as astronauts and compare their results. A recent experiment, titled 'Germs in Space,' allowed students to collect germ samples and watch them grow, just as astronauts do.
The kit includes access to an online portal where students can compare their results to the results found by astronauts in microgravity.
The Germs in Space DreamKit retails for $79.99, with classroom bundles available for $549.99. Educator lessons plans for the DreamKits start at $149.99.
DreamUp has also sent more than 400 research payloads to the International Space Station, launching student experiments on SpaceX and Northrop Grumman rockets through a relationship with launch services provider NanoRacks and their Space Act Agreement with NASA.
The company recently announced its new headquarters in Boulder after moving from Washington D.C.
“Our goal is to make space accessible to everyone,” Lemack said. “Boulder is an ideal fit for DreamUp because entrepreneurship, innovation and education are all deeply ingrained in the fabric of the community.”
In addition to the move, the company announced its first advisory board, complete with a retired NASA astronaut and former U.S. Department of Education deputy director.
“We are excited about the new opportunities in front of us, and we look forward to leveraging the knowledge and guidance of our accomplished advisory board members as we continue to grow and evolve,” Lemack said.
Now that the move is complete, Lemack said she hopes to expand the two-person full-time team and make further educational partnerships.
She hopes to leverage an active and engaged education community in Boulder to help shape DreamUp’s next steps.
“We want to be working with educators to have them come up with what our next offering be. It’s important to be touching base with the people that are in the classrooms daily,” she said. “We want to be able to empower these educators to inspire.”
