As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I'm the director of NITARP (NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program) and we are now recruiting participants!

The purpose of this program is to provide educators (mostly but not exclusively grade 8-13 classroom teachers) with an authentic research experience in astronomy. In exchange, we ask educators to leverage this experience via providing professional development for their colleagues in their local area, or other similar activities. It involves several trips to collaborate with research astronomers and present the research results (at AAS meetings), all of which are paid for by the program.

The kinds of educators we are looking for are those who already know the basics of astronomy (e.g., what is a magnitude), and are interested in learning exactly how astronomy research is conducted via being in the trenches!  Moreover, we are more than willing to consider educators who are not necessarily classroom teachers -- about 1/3rd of our current crop of new teachers are not currently in the classroom!  If you have a good idea for sharing your experience with the public within the venue where you work, let us know your plans in your application.  Also, if you know of any interested educators, I would really appreciate it if you could relay this information!

Update, based on several questions: YES we take applicants from anywhere in the US. (Can't take applicants from non-US-based educators, but anyone from the US [well, those meeting the rest of our content requirements] is eligible.)

More information about the program can be found here: http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/

Wiki where groups are working now:http://coolwiki.ipac.caltech.edu/index.php/Main_Page

Next year's application direct link:http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/polproc/appl2010.pdf

The application asks for several long-form answers; upload your answers (in PDF) here:  https://cat.ipac.caltech.edu/nitarp/

The deadline for applications is Sep 24, 3pm Pacific time.  Note that this is coming up quickly!  If you have any questions, please let us know via comments or the feedback link below.