In conjunction with National Small Business Week, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, NASA Headquarters’ Office of Small Business Programs and Cuyahoga Community College are hosting a Women-Owned Small Business Industry Day to promote and integrate all small businesses into the competitive base of contractors that pioneer the future of space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.

Industry Day will be held at Corporate College East, located at 4400 Richmond Road in Warrensville Heights, Ohio on Tuesday, May 3, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will include national and local speakers, presentations, breakout sessions, networking opportunities and a matchmaking event. Registration is required.

“This is a unique opportunity for networking, knowledge sharing and training,” said Kaprice Harris, chief of the Procurement Division at Glenn. “We are bringing academia, government agencies and businesses, both large and small, together during Small Business week to maximize acquisition opportunities for Service-Disabled Veteran–Owned, Women-Owned and Historically Underutilized Business Zone businesses.

Admission to the event and parking are free and open to small businesses who want to do business with NASA, or meet and network with NASA contractors and large contractors seeking teaming opportunities with small businesses. Industry Day provides a platform for representatives of NASA, federal government prime contractors and other federal government agencies to answer questions about doing business with their respective organizations.

Glenn supports small business through its Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, and Small Business Technology Transfer, or STTR programs. Since 2011, the center has issued SBIR and STTR awards totaling $124.4 million. These awards fund small business research supporting Glenn’s six core competencies: Air-Breathing Propulsion, Power, Energy Storage and Conversion, In-Space Propulsion and Cryogenic Fluids Management, Communications Technology and Development, and Physical Sciences and Biomedical Technologies in Space. The SBIR and STTR amounts are roughly 20 percent of NASA’s total annual awards.

Media interested in attending must contact Jeannette Owens at jeannette.p.owens@nasa.gov or 216-433-2990 by noon on Monday, May 2.

To learn more about Glenn’s Research Center Woman-Owned Small Business Industry Day and to register, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1ML2Kgm

For more information on NASA Office of Small Business Programs, go to: http://osbp.nasa.gov/