NASA Extends Research Program With $6 million Grant To Texas State

SAN MARCOS – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has extended the NASA Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Engagement and Educator Professional Development Collaborative (NASA STEM EPDC) at Texas State University through 2021 with a $6 million grant.

Araceli Martinez Ortiz and Leslie Huling with the LBJ Institute for STEM Education and Research at Texas State will oversee the grant. This is a continuation of the previously funded, five-year, $15 million NASA STEM EPDC project, which reached more than 275,000 educators.

Texas State’s NASA STEM EPDC project is a research-based effort designed to support NASA’s STEM engagement and educator professional development strategies at a national level.

The project’s mission is to understand the impact of creating educator communities of learners who are guided in the use of NASA’s educational resources. The research also seeks insight on curricular and teaching factors that might motivate diverse student audiences to prepare for, and consider pursuing, STEM fields of study.

NASA STEM EPDC includes more than 20 Texas State faculty and staff who work with students and educators at all levels to share STEM learning experiences through NASA STEM contexts.