OUTREACH
For more than a decade, outreach has been a central part of my career, with numerous events, workshops, and informal efforts all focused around using art not just as a way to engage the public in science, but allow them to participate in it. In 2024, I was awarded the American Astronomical Society’s Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication, my field’s highest honor for outreach work.
Art Interviews:
- Art the Science, art-focused science communication
- transverse RANGES, an online magazine about how geoscientists come to be
In 2013 I founded The Art of Planetary Science, an annual exhibition featuring art inspired by the solar system alongside works created from scientific data. Since then, we’ve hosted 15+ art shows throughout the United States. You can read my paper with Culture & Cosmos on the important role that art can play in the future of space exploration .
I’ve now expanded this work with Making Space: A Workshop on Space, SciArt, & Society. This workshop aimed at artists and educators is focused on using art as a tool to explore, learn about, and communicate scientific ideas, and demonstrates techniques in creating data-driven art. If you’re interested in hosting a workshop, get in touch!
The Skyhorse Carousel is an amusement ride and piece of art which celebrates human culture and cosmology throughout ancient and modern times. In 2024, we brought it to the Burning Man art festival where we gave 5000 rides! You can read our Engagement Report (pdf) here. We are currently preparing to repaint the scenery panels in preparation for returning in 2026.
This is a new outreach effort supported by my NASA Early Career Award to create planetary science and astronomy theme content modules for the table-top role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. These modules will offer simple introductions to science concepts that players might use in world-building, such as what tides and sea travel might be like on a world with two moons or how their orbits and phases might affect werewolves. More info to come in 2026!
The Frame Of Reference is an interactive light sculpture which offers new perspective on our familiar sky by using the real positions and distances of stars to explore what our constellations might look like from another part of space. Humans have been telling stories about the sky for thousands of years—what kind of stories might beings from other worlds tell? This work was shown at Burning Man in 2025.
See photos!
In 2019, I built a mini Mars rover using the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Open Source Rover plans. It was so fun! We brought it to the Burning Man art festival and drove it around, talking to people about space exploration. It’s name is PARSLEE (Planetary Analog Remote Sensor and ‘Lil Electronic Explorer).
SERVICE
I am the founder and director of DAIS (Disabled for Accessibility In Space), a peer networking, support, and advocacy group for Disabled space professionals. This group has become a valuable resource for the community, and I work to contribute to DEIA efforts by speaking at conferences, writing white papers, and consulting on accessibility for conferences.
I also served as the Flight Operations Lead for Mission: AstroAccess, a project advancing research on disability and human spaceflight by flying disabled researchers on parabolic zero-gravity flights. I guided a team of 50+ volunteers in developing the experiments crews would perform on three flights, which investigated tools and technologies to help mitigate challenges that might be faced by future disabled astronauts in weightlessness. You can read our publication on the outcome of this work here.
Jamie L. Molaro 