NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Former astronaut John Herrington presents students at Sanders Middle School, Sanders, Ariz., with a 2006 NASA Explorer School flag. NASA photo by Tom Tschida The NES Project establishes a three-year partnership between NASA and school teams, consisting of teachers and education administrators, from diverse communities across the country. The NES Project works primarily with groups of students who are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions or who are traditionally underserved in rural or urban parts of the country.

NES joins educators, students, and families in sustained involvement with NASA's research, discoveries, and missions. The project is designed to assist 4-9 grade education communities improve teaching and learning in STEM through significant structural techniques such as professional development, stipends, grants, curricular support based on NASA’s resources, and the innovative use of instructional technology provided primarily by the NASA Digital Learning Network (DLN). Since the inception of the Project in 2003, NASA has established 200 NES partnerships, representing a total of 249 schools from diverse communities located in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) has partnered with four cohorts of NASA Explorer Schools since 2003.

NASA Explorer Schools (NES):

2003 Cohort Teams:

Black Mountain Elementary and Middle School – Golden Valley, AZ
Flagstaff Unified School District – Flagstaff Middle School – Flagstaff, AZ and Demiguel Elementary School – Flagstaff, AZ
Edwards Middle School – Edwards, CA
Gifford C. Cole Middle School – Lancaster, CA
Porter Elementary School – San Diego, CA

2005 Cohort Teams:

Columbia Middle School – Adelanto, CA
Jack Weaver/Oak Grove Institute – Murrieta, CA
Rosa Parks Elementary School – San Diego, CA
Arrowhead Elementary School – Phoenix, AZ
Westwind Intermediate School – Phoenix, AZ

2006 Cohort Teams:

Cottonwood Day School – Chinle, AZ
Sanders Middle School – Sanders, AZ

2007 Cohort Teams:

San Cayetano Elementary School – Fillmore, CA
Vintage Magnet School – North Hills, CA

NASA Dryden Center Contact:

Russell Billings, Pre-College Education Manager
Phone: 661.276.2445
Email: Russell.L.Billings@nasa.gov

Sondra Geddes, NES Project Assistant
Phone: 661.276.2359
Email: Sondra.L.Geddes@nasa.gov

Rob LaSalvia, NES Program Manager
Phone: 216.433.8981
Email: Robert.F.LaSalvia@nasa.gov

For additional information please visit:
http://explorerschools.nasa.gov