STEM Engagement @ The Katherine Johnson IV&V Program

About IV&V STEM Engagement

NASA’s STEM initiatives engage students in the agency’s exciting missions, broad range of careers, and unique learning opportunities. NASA seeks to build the next generation STEM workforce for the agency and the nation by broadening pathways to STEM fields.

NASA’s IV&V STEM Engagement Program offers authentic experiences for K-12 school groups from across the region. Our robotics, rocketry, and aviation competitions engage thousands of students each year. Our educator program is preparing new K-12 teachers by providing access to NASA learning materials and educator professional development via its Education Resource Center (ERC). Our college programs provide students opportunities to engage with NASA missions and science through the Space Flight Design Challenge, the Science Public Outreach Team (SPOT), and numerous collegiate competitions. Our high school and college intern program engages students in intensive, authentic learning experiences with NASA’s people, content, and facilities. 

IV&V Student Opportunities

Competitive Robotics Programs
With funding from NASA’s Robotic Alliance Project the NASA IV&V Education Resource Center (ERC) coordinates over a half dozen unique robotics competitions and hosts state, regional, and international tournaments each year. ERC specialists provide training for new teams, coordinate robotics summer camps for students, and conduct annual boot camps for coaches.  Interested students or educator looking to start a team should visit www.WVRobot.org

Model Rocketry
The ERC provides workshops on-site for student groups on model rocketry as well as training and mentorship for teams competing in the American Rocketry Challenge (ARC). To request a student workshop visit www.nasaivverc.org.  To register an ARC team visit www.RocketContest.org. If your school or group needs help starting a team, safely launching rockets, ARC observers, or mentors, contact: Todd.Ensign@fairmonstate.edu

SPACE Camp
In partnership with Destination SPACE www.destinationspace-stem.org the NASA ERC offers an annual residential SPACE camp on-campus at Fairmont State University for high school students. The one-week program focuses on weather and climate, robotics, rocketry, and other STEM topics. If you are interested in learning more about this unique program, visit www.destinationspace-stem.org or contact Todd.Ensign@fairmontstate.edu

Student Programs 
NASA’s IV&V Program hosts workshops for groups of public, private or home-school students. These workshops are free of charge, cover a wide range of STEM topics, and are held here at NASA IV&V in Fairmont, West Virginia. Students will be led through engaging, hands-on activities by our education specialists and enjoy interacting with a NASA scientist or engineer. To schedule a student workshop or find out more information, visit www.nasaivverc.org.

For direct classroom engagement, we recommend the WV Science Public Outreach Team (WV SPOT).

West Virginia Science Public Outreach Team (WV SPOT)
The West Virginia Science Public Outreach Team (WV SPOT) inspires an appreciation of STEM and STEM careers in K-12 students through the delivery of interactive presentations by undergraduate students, which highlight innovative science and engineering research in the Mountain State. For more information or to request a presentation, visit their website at www.WVSPOT.org

For Educators

IV&V Education Resource Center (ERC)
Through a partnership with Fairmont State University, the NASA IV&V Education Resource Center (ERC) provides resources and training opportunities that support current educators and help prepare thousands of new K-12 teachers. The ERC provides in-service, pre-service, and informal educators with an easily accessible source of materials that reflect NASA’s current research and technology in Earth and Space sciences. For more information, visit: www.nasaivverc.org.

Educator Workshops
The ERC staff provides free workshops both on-site and partner hosted (at your location) and annual summer institutes for educators on a variety of topics to supplement the curriculum and help meet national and state educational standards. Topics include Aeronautics, Astronomy, Engineering Design Challenges, Mars, Moon Rocks and Meteorites, Planetary Geology, Podcasting, Rocketry, Robotics, or any NASA educational product. The ERC is also the WV Partner for the GLOBE Program and provides teacher certification workshops in the areas of Hydrology, Soils, Atmosphere, Land Cover, and Seasons, as well as training in Global Positioning System (GPS), remote sensing, and the latest Geographic Information System (GIS) tools. Once an educator has completed training, they are certified to borrow one of our 50+ classroom kits including portable planetariums, GPS units, robots, engineering challenges, and much more to increase the number of youth who have an authentic educational experiences.

Go to www.NASAIVVERC.org to see links for calendars, workshops and loan requests.

Contact Us

NASA IV&V Strategic Communications Office Lead

Jeff Northey: jeffrey.r.northey@nasa.gov

ERC Program Manager

Todd Ensign: todd.ensign@fairmontstate.edu