Starfly

Starfly is an educational app built to bridge the gap between gender and racial profiles in astronomy.

Women and people of color (POC) are small minorities in the space industry. Women make up only about a third of NASA’s workforce, and they comprise just 28% of senior executive leadership positions and are only 16% of senior scientific employees. An even smaller amount of the space industry is African American. In 2018, a survey conducted by the American Astronomical Society found that only 2 percent of its members identified as black or African-American. In 2020, there was only around 22 black female astronauts in the U.S. The underlying factors contributing to the racial and gender gaps in astronomy are largely a result of:

• Conformity to social expectations
• Gender stereotypes and gender roles
• Fewer female teachers in STEM subjects
• Inequality in the labour market and wage gaps
• Limited opportunities for career counseling, scholarships, and mentoring for women in STEM
• Lack of role models and limited understanding of the value of STEM fields

A TEAM-UP report found that the only main two factors contributing to the poor level of representation of African Americans obtaining physics and astronomy degrees were environmental and economical. In addition to the TEAM-UP report, a survey I conducted found that young girls in America show just as much interest as young boys in astronomical fields. Most girls lost interest in STEM subjects after the age of 15, with a peak of ages 11-14. The reasons for the loss of interest overlapped to a great extent with the reasons contributing to the racial and gender gaps in astronomy. The representational levels of both parties were directly proportional to the extent of answers of these two questions:

1. Do they have a supportive environment? and
2. Do the people they are surrounded with face financial challenges?

It's also nothing new that diversity in astronomy is important. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) allows people from all backgrounds to contribute their experiences to a field. Providing access to STEM education and careers helps alleviate disparities and advance social equity. Different perspectives are especially important in astronomical fields to benefit creativity. In addition, STEM skills are always in demand with the demand for computational and informational research expected to rise by a whopping 21% in the next decade.

All of this further cements that the lack of women and POC in astronomy is becoming an increasingly apparent problem. Astronomy is the STEM field with the lowest representation from these minority groups even though it should be one of the highest.

Starfly is a mobile iOS app coded in Swift and is designed for minority groups while still being accessible to anyone else with a device running iOS. 

Starfly (the chatbot) employs advanced AI/ML (OpenAISwift) and is what makes the app user-friendly. Now, because of the integration of a chatbot into the educational app, anyone can use Starfly with comprehensibility regardless of background.

 The way a user progresses through the app is through the learning road.

 Starfly employs lesson plans and projects that support 2D and 3D modeling through augmented reality. In order to do this, a new technology had to be created using Apple's SceneKit. Originally designed as a 3D game engine system, SceneKit was reutilized to make the astronomical lessons visualizable. Students who went through Starfly's digital rocket physics project using 3D modeling and augmented reality understood and remembered far better than the other learning methods that were used in the same type of setting. The ability to pick up this information faster is what ultimately called for the need of an easier way of learning to prevent discouragement and is also what led to the SceneKit implementation.

The completion of these lessons awards the user with in-game coins with the amount being proportional to the difficulty of the lesson. This form of rewarding learning was also extremely effective in trial runs. These coins can be used to purchase more lessons and more customization for the user's own avatar. In addition, users can even collaborate and message other users safely to take projects together and share their passion with each other.

There is also a tab in the app dedicated to the latest space news about activities at international space agencies and people for users to continue to be engaged. The space news tab prominently impacts Starfly's intended audience.

Starfly targets young minority communities in astronomy (young women and people of color) ages 11-14. By the time students reach high school and college, the underrepresentation of these minority groups in astronomy becomes larger. This further reinforces for the students the stark effects of social conformity and lack of accessible education, discouraging students even more from astronomical fields. Because of this, Starfly targets those younger than 15. The importance of these groups in astronomy are more important now than ever before. In a technologically advancing world, the demand for STEM skills in astronomical fields has been increasing exponentially. Consequently, Starfly's reach is apparent. Of the current generation of kids ages 11-14, more than half are either female or a person of color. 

The majority of the reasons why minority groups continue to be channeled away from astronomy are either environmental or economical. Starfly combats these factors. Starfly is extremely accessible because it is an iOS application. There are more than 1.2 billion iPhone users in the world, and it has become easier and easier to purchase an iOS device. Because Starfly has no other equipment or mandatory in-app purchases, anyone from any background can use the app. In addition, many of the astronauts and scientists featured on the Space News tab are female and are people of color. They serve as role models and inspire users to continue learning. This is the most effective way to increase minority representation in astronomy and physics. Additionally, the chat feature allows Starfly users to find likeminded individuals around the world to build virtual learning communities of their own. The user interface and lesson plans themselves are rewarding to do and have pronounced, researched effects. Starfly's impact on these groups will directly increase the amount of people from these groups that choose to work in astronomy or other STEM related fields. 

My name is Andrea Yang, and I am a 14 years old high school freshman with extensive background in STEM problem-solving. I've been using my STEM skills to solve problems from a young age, and I've won many awards at all levels (regional, state, national). It began with math, branching out into biology and chemistry. Starfly has been where all of my time and concentration has been pinned on with many, many hours of hard work being poured into the project.

My great-aunt was the person who started my passion for programming. She works in IT, and she started when programming was first becoming a practical career. Before I knew about her working in an area of computer science, I had only a vague idea of what coding was. As a child, I had always accepted coding as a mysterious area of expertise that I just couldn't do. No one around me ever talked about pursuing computer science. It wasn't until I knew about my great-aunt being a programmer that I started to show interest in the subject. From there, my love for coding spiraled further as I grew older.

I took up coding and made a few minor projects. Eventually, I wanted to inspire and empower other young girls just like my great-aunt did for me. I knew I wasn't the only one who could solve problems using STEM skills around me. There were countless individuals who had so much potential to impact our world and create innovative ideas. As a young woman aspiring to go into STEM, I could understand what other girls my age would want and need. The origins of Starfly were then born: empowering minority groups to code and learn about astronomy to show representation in the fields with the smallest amounts of it. After I did the baseline coding, I reached out to many organizations and universities in hopes of a collaboration to further develop the app. Eventually, I was lucky enough to partner with the University of Southern California (USC) Roski School of Design and USC Viterbi School of Engineering. I collaborated with undergraduate students from each department on designing the UI from user response and incorporating Swift augmented reality/SceneKit into Starfly in addition to research. We conducted extensive pilot research tests in elementary and middle schools. These trials lasted months along with the development. After a year of extensive work, Starfly is very close to completion, with just financial and publicity barriers left until it can be published on the App Store.

Although Starfly is a one-person project, it has received help from many generous individuals. Starfly is looking for more partners and team members to help execute the rest of the functions.

In December of 2021, the origins of Starfly were born. I wanted to empower women to pursue astronomy and other STEM fields. Soon, that expanded to all minority groups in the industry. I wanted to help bridge the gender and racial gaps that I saw were obstructive to the full potential of STEM innovation. The first thing I did was send surveys to find my target audience. The highest proportion of students interested in an astronomical field were white and male through local elementary, middle, and high schools. Additionally, the percentage of minority groups interested in astronomy fields spiked in middle school and dropped off rapidly in high school. From these surveys, I found just how big the prospective impact of Starfly was and knew my prospective audience. I coded a prototype for Starfly and began research at University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi. This is where I first implemented SceneKit into the application with help from the school. After the implementation, I piloted the method with students at elementary and middle schools with big success. I designed the UI/UX with help from a UX designer from USC Roski. The UI/UX was designed from user response.

At this point, I had a good prototype of Starfly ready for further piloting and testing and local schools. Specifically the coin system, news system, social ability, and screens were tested. All of them were successes and were far better other tested learning methods in the original prototype in terms of information remembered and engagement. The majority of the students said they would want to continue learning using Starfly against traditional learning methods (around 90 percent). Before using Starfly, only 20 percent of the students interested in STEM were part of a minority group. After Starfly, that number rose to 80 percent, further solidifying the success of the app.

Starfly is the first educational app designed for bridging the gap between gender and race in astronomy/STEM. Because of this, Starfly already has no direct competitors. Adding on to this, Starfly implements augmented reality and 3D modeling in a way that is efficient, reasonable, and necessary compared to other educational apps that have a disconnected augmented reality feature. Starfly's AR is seamless through SceneKit and ARKit innovative technology. 

Additionally, Starfly's reach is large. Every feature has been tailored to its specific audience for maximum potential, resulting in a huge potential for success. Each feature has been thoroughly piloted in elementary and middle schools with success. Starfly is extremely effective because:

• Majority of Starfly's computation and UI/UX is finished
• Presence of coin system for rewarding learning
• Augmented reality and 3D modeling hands on projects
• Ability to collaborate on difficult subjects or lessons with other friends
• Creates digital global groups of scholars through the ability for chatrooms and messaging, all while being digitally safe
• Keeps users informed and engaged with space news forums, allows for others to talk with others about astronomy subjects
• Presents an accessible way to inspire/empower/provide role models for minority groups in STEM through all features (news videos, lessons, staff members, Starfly's origin story, messaging others of the same minority online)
• Integrated AI/ML chatbot that makes educating easier than ever before
• Tested, researched, piloted features

Starfly wishes to increase minority group representation levels in astronomy and STEM related fields. This was tested with a small selection of the population. Already, with piloting in elementary and middle schools, Starfly increases the level of interest in astronomy from females and POC by 60% further reinforcing the reach the app has. This is achieved through the culmination of all of Starfly's features. First of all, the entire UX/UI was designed with user-friendliness and accessibility in mind. The target audience, minorities under the age of 15, were kept in mind throughout the entire graphic design process. The app is straightforward to navigate. The chatbot further allows for Starfly to be more accessible. Anyone, regardless of background, can ask the chatbot a question and immediately have an answer. The lessons and projects are fun and engaging, with complex ARKit code being assimilated into the project to turn an originally difficult to visualize physics project into an easy one.

Starfly is an iOS application coded in Swift and with Xcode. It uses SceneKit, RealityKit, ARKit, and OpenAI.

Starfly runs OpenAI's new Ada GPT-3 model with modifications so the model works confined within Starfly's purposes. Ada was specifically chosen because it is the model that works best with the app's purpose.

Machine learning algorithms are in place to filter and scan words in simultaneous chat groups and messaging systems.

(This is the basic framework of iOS machine learning algorithms. Ada follows this framework and was altered for Starfly's purposes).

ARKit is implemented through 3D model incorporation using nodes. Particle systems, physics, and SceneKit are built in through the implementation. All 3D models were created in Blender, then were imported to Xcode. SceneKit performs physics calculations in accordance with each imported node for particle physics, collisions, etc. ARKit works by allowing you to assign properties to nodes with features like QuickLook that makes development easier.

(The nodes are assigned global properties that set the actual view's scene. Views are every type of thing that you see in your screen).

Starfly's code is entirely on GitHub. All UI/UX is included in the project.

Starfly is on track to release by the end of 2023. While not yet released, Starfly has undergone focus group testing to very positive feedback. The roadmap for Starfly’s release is to initially onboard 1,000 children who align with the target audience in collaboration with 3 middle schools and 7 elementary schools. By the end of 2024, the goal is to collaborate with policymakers to make Starfly an educational tool available to everyone in California. By 2025, I hope Starfly can become an educational staple in the United States, providing increased access to STEM education for everyone.

Starfly's current team and purpose has financial issues as the most obstructive barrier to Starfly's full reach. Money is needed for Apple's Development Kit, sustainability of the Ada model of ChatGPT-3, website domain, and more financial issues regarding the integration of certain features. Additionally, publicity is needed for Starfly to fulfill its entire purpose. With publicity and all of Starfly's features being financially covered, again, the reach is substantial (with numerous pilot tests already proving this in the target audience). If these issues could be solved, Starfly's reach would increase exponentially. Because Starfly is an app, the resources required for Starfly to be published are substantially smaller than other solutions. After Starfly overcomes publicity and financial barriers, it would be ready to be published on the App Store and to start impacting millions. 

Starfly is currently partnered with the following organizations:

• University of Southern California Roski School of Design: I worked with USC Roski to design the interface of the app and conducted research with them specifically on the best layouts for the UI/UX screens. 
• University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering: I worked with USC Viterbi on all programming aspects and on making the new Starfly technology work inside the app. 

Yearly, Starfly will require a minimum of 150 US dollars to keep it on the app store and to keep its domain. After adding the fee for Chat-GPT3 and further investments into the availability of certain features using the App Store, this number rises to 250 US dollars. Furthermore, if more personnel are needed to support Starfly as it expands, I will reach out to volunteer developers interested in our educational mission to support expansion. If the app grows to a national scale, experienced developers may need to be hired to support the growth which would increase the cost by thousands.

Educational grants can sustain the application until it reaches publicity levels high enough for the subscription to work. Starfly has help from federal student aid in funding. Further funding is required for national scale-wide expansion. 

After educational grants sustain the application throughout the years needed to raise enough money for personnel, a potential income source would be through the Starfly premium subscription available for 10 US dollars. The subscription grants the user access to all of the projects and plans without having to learn all of the previous ones methodically. This is accomplished through daily log-in digital coin rewards which can be used to purchase items in the shop. This is the best way for Starfly to earn its revenue besides educational grants because it (1) encourages subscribers to keep coming back each day and (2) allows subscribers to explore any interest that appeals to them. This is the best fit for after potential developers are hired because allowing an app on the App Store to have in-app purchases requires financial steps that would require a legal adult to execute.