Public Engagement and Outreach

In the past 10+ years in the field of Public Education, Engagement and Outreach, Parshati has organized, developed and led over 400+ workshops and events. Some of the key events Parshati has led/co-led include Girls and Women in Space Night, Women in STEM booth at ScienceRendezvous at Western, Space Out (Science Literacy Week at Western), Asteroid Day, and International Observe the Moon Night. As part of her job, Parshati has developed several workshops and programs for K-12 students, including Analogue Mission (with 3D crater), Space Explorers Program and CubeSat Communications. Since 2016, Parshati has been Co-PI, Collaborator, Grant Manager or Grant Writer for 11 different grants totalling over $1.2 million.

Parshati has been leading the Education and Public Outreach program at the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at Western University since 2015. Currently, Parshati is on secondment to the Canadian Space Agency, where she is the STEM Program Designer and Education Advisor for the Youth STEM Initiatives. Parshati was the Lead Consultant/Senior Project Manager supporting the Canadian Space Agency’s Junior Astronauts Campaign in 2019-2020. Parshati was also the Education and Public Outreach lead in the Ukpik-1 CubeSat project led by Western University and Arctic College Yukon (currently on leave). In 2019, Parshati was the Outreach Advisor to Western University’s High Altitude Balloon Project.

Parshati has been heavily involved in Education and Outreach since 2012. Before 2012, her involvement with outreach began when she was pursuing her undergraduate degree. Parshati was the Director of Outreach for the Astronomy and Space Exploration Society from 2009 to 2010.

In 2012, Parshati started volunteering for the Western Worlds podcast. Her involvement in Western Worlds as an editor quickly expanded to running classroom workshops, co-producing the podcast, and organizing outreach events. Parshati has worked in various outreach programs at Western University in various capacities, including Junior Astronauts, Science Olympics, Cronyn Observatory, and Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (formerly known as Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration).

In the past few years, Parshati has explored a bit outside her comfort zone. These out-of-Parshati’s-world adventures have included: