Communities

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Community Programming

Connecting communities has been a priority since the early days of NASA programming with the Saturday Academy for Space Science at Chicago State University. By empowering families, organizations, and STEM stakeholders we are creating strong communities that will have a wealth of science, engineering, technology, and mathematics capabilities as well as a generation of young people that will be ready to take the lead in 21st century innovations that will make our world a better place. If you or your organization is interested in booking one of the programs below, please use the Contact Us link to get more information.

NASA Solar System Ambassador Presentations and Workshops

Community organizations, schools, non-profits, churches, and individuals can request a Solar System Ambassador presentation. These events are free to the public and can be tailored to your organizations specific goals. My past SSA presentations have included:

NASA Imagine Mars
Community Sustainability Events (Earth Day,
Science Family Nights
NASA Minority Student Education Forum, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland OH
Solar Dynamics – Our Magnificent Sun
Moon Dance – Discover Earth’s amazing Moon NASA GRAIL
Mission to Saturn – Cassini
Folklore – Juno (Jupiter) and NASA’s new mission to Jupiter

“Let’s Do Launch”
A pre-engineering awareness workshop for 5th-12 grade girls designed to provide participants with an introduction to engineering and STEM careers through an informal lunch and hands-on workshop activity with female engineering professionals and graduate students pursuing advanced STEM degrees.

Young Aviators Program: Exploring Aerospace Engineering

Willa Brown and Harold Hurd were two of Chicago’s African American Pioneer Aviators. In keeping with the tradition of involving our young people to reach for the sky and beyond, the Young Aviators Program was begun in cooperation with the Willia Brown-Harold Hurd Aeronautics Education Laboratory. Funded by NASA, the lab provided flight simulator training, aeronautics engineering activities, and NASA STEM related activities as well as pre-engineering college readiness skills. The lab has gone mobile and can come to your organization, school, or institution. There are a variety of activities, extended programming, and special events to choose from.

Imagine Mars
The NASA JPL Imagine Mars program is an excellent after-school activity that engages students in planning a future community on Mars with a focus on green technologies. Students learn about the planet Mars, research and investigate possible locations on the planet to build their community, use Google Sketchup to create architectural renderings, and build small scale models of their final community designs. A minimum of six weeks with forty contact hours is recommended.