Astronaut Ronald Parise leads the first NASA sponsored,
professional development training for the principal
investigators of the Proyecto Access program starting May 15
at 1:00 p.m. EDT at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (8800
Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, Md.).
Proyecto Access, an agency program administered by the
University of Texas-San Antonio, works to broaden outreach
to Hispanic students and organizations from across the
country by involving them in NASA’s educational programs.
Proyecto Access consortium schools engage Hispanic middle
and high school students in various activities to inspire
them to pursue academic study and careers in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics.
Proyecto Access activities include a variety of seminars:
logic and application to math; algebraic structures;
probability and statistics; introduction to engineering;
introduction to computer science; introduction to physics;
technical writing; problem solving; research; and career
awareness. Each summer, Proyecto Access students engage in
an eight-week intensive curriculum of math and science at
their participating school.
During the professional development training, May 15 and 16,
Parise, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Education
Angela Phillips Diaz, and other agency staff will work
closely with principal investigators to introduce the goals
of NASA’s Education Enterprise. The NASA staff will work to
enhance the way agency content and resources are released
into classrooms serving a primarily Hispanic student
population.
Faculty from the Community College of Denver (Denver);
Florida International University (Coral Gables, Fla.);
Hostos Community College (New York); Inter-American
University of Puerto Rico (Bayamon, P.R.); Los Angeles City
College (Los Angeles); Jersey City University (Jersey City,
N.J.); New Mexico State University (Las Cruces, N.M.);
Oxnard Community College (Oxnard, Calif.); Pima Community
College (Tucson, Ariz.); and Richard J. Daley College
(Chicago) will participate in the inaugural Proyecto Access
training.
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For information about the Proyecto Access Program on the
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