HAMPTON, Va. -- An effort to engage
and educate underrepresented middle and high school students about
NASA's role in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) has
earned two NASA Langley employees national recognition.
Seven years ago Joel and Arlene Levine noticed there wasn't much
diversity in the NASA audience during a space shuttle launch; and
they decided to do something about it.
Along with the support of the National Alliance of Black School
Educators (NABSE), the Levines submitted a proposal to NASA
Headquarters' Planetary Exploration Division to develop a program of
interactive lectures on atmospheric and planetary science that would
target African-American students across the country. The goal was to
acquaint minority students with NASA programs and motivate them to
pursue NASA-related careers, as well as to promote science literacy.
For this continuing education and outreach activity, the Arlene and
Joel Levine just received the NABSE Presidential Award at the 38th
Annual Meeting of NABSE in Fort Worth, TX. NABSE invited the NASA
Associate Administrator for Education and former Astronaut, Leland
Melvin, to present the award to his former Langley colleagues and
personal friends, Arlene and Joel Levine.
The program got its start at NASA Langley in 2005 and was broadcast
through a video teleconferencing system to schools identified by
NABSE. Since then, the program has evolved and is now broadcast
throughout the country through NASA's Digital Learning Network. Joel
Levine gives the lectures and Arlene Levine works behind the camera
and coordinates with NABSE.
"By working with NABSE, we ensure that schools that include
underrepresented minorities are targeted, but these lectures are open
to school systems nationwide, regardless of the racial population of
the schools," said Arlene Levine. "NABSE includes Hispanic student
populations as well as African-American student populations." Joel
Levine added, "Now that the U.S. has established as a national goal
to send humans to Mars and return them safely, we clearly need the
brain power of the best and brightest that our nation has to offer.
This means we must engage former underrepresented student populations
in science and engineering disciplines.
For more information about NASA, visit:
www.nasa.gov