A report published August 6, 2026, describes a Leadership Institute held July 27–29, 2026, at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The event was hosted by the Cosmic Storytelling with NASA Data (CosmicDS) project, led by Harvard University, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution's BEST AQI initiative, which guides teens through their own air quality research. Thirteen formal and informal educators who advise BEST AQI took part.

On the first day, CosmicDS Science Principal Investigator Pat Udomprasert led a session on TEMPO-Lab, a free online tool funded by NASA's Science Activation Program. The tool lets learners explore near-real-time measurements from NASA's TEMPO mission, which measures pollution across North America hourly during daylight hours. During the following two days, educators used it to build case studies on scenarios including wildfire smoke and emissions from rush-hour traffic, power plants and agriculture. A newly available beta-version ground-level ozone data product was integrated into the tool overnight after TEMPO scientist Heesung Chong described it at a science briefing, the report said.

The 13 attendees planned to share the BEST AQI toolkit and TEMPO-Lab with approximately 100 additional educators at partner sites in South Dakota, Maryland and New York, potentially reaching thousands of teen air quality researchers. The report also quoted Erika Wright, an education specialist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and BEST AQI principal investigator, on the tool's value for youth investigations.