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In a 20-foot vertical spin tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center, aerospace technologist Steve Riddick tests free-flying models of fighter aircraft, transport vehicles and capsule vehicles to see how they perform under different conditions. “It’s one of the better places to give a tour because there’s a lot of visual stimulation with that tunnel,” Riddick said. “You get to actually see something going on, as opposed to some computer collecting data.” And that’s what STEM is all about. As the United States focuses more on these academic subjects, NASA is on a mission to engage students, educators and families in STEM fields, as well as to strengthen the future workforce of the organization and the nation. Almost half of NASA’s current workforce consists of baby boomers, and by the end of fiscal year 2010, more than 20 percent of the organization’s workers will be eligible to retire, according to a 2008 presentation by Toni Dawsey, assistant administrator for human capital manage...

The University of Texas at El Paso has received a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for nearly $2.9 million. The “Science for a Sustainable Future: Developing the Next Generation of Diverse Scientists” award will provide fellowships to minority graduate students in NSF-supported disciplines such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The doctoral students will build their science and teaching portfolios and bring their leading research findings into K-12 learning settings in an effort to inspire the next generation of scientists. The fellows will serve as a STEM resource for El Paso’s Early College High School (ECHS) science teachers and as mentors for the students, helping them build practical understandings of science. “This success in securing federal funding from the National Science Foundation is a good example of the quality of competitive proposals UTEP faculty generate, integrating education and research benefiting our students an...

Four-hundred years ago, the legendary Galileo created a device called the telescope to gaze into space from a distance. To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first use of the telescope in astronomy, schools in the southeast region of Australia united for a star-gazing project, where students used modern-day distance learning devices to interact remotely. In New South Wales, Australia, students attend schools in various locations, from the coastal capital of Sydney to the in-land rural, mining city Broken Hill. Organized by Western NSW Region, the "Learn Astronomy From Our School" project brought more than 2,000 K-12 students together in 63 virtual classrooms last Spring. For the astronomy-themed project, each school group produced a video conference presentation. They had to come up with an engaging title and a summary of the information. They also advertised their projects to participants for two weeks in advance. At the end of the school term, students spent 25 minute...