Partnering with NASA STEM Engagement
Engage with OSTEM
NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) collaborates with organizations across the STEM education and workforce ecosystem to create innovative, high‑impact student learning experiences. These collaborations leverage NASA’s mission, people, and facilities to inspire and prepare the next generation STEM and aerospace workforce.
OSTEM invites Statements of Interest from organizations seeking to co-develop national‑scale STEM engagement activities. Partnerships may lead to a non‑reimbursable (no‑funds‑exchanged) Space Act Agreement.
NASA prioritizes partnerships that:
- Provide free access to U.S. students and educators
- Make program materials publicly available
- Operate at national scale (available in all 50 states and U.S. territories)
Eligibility
- All U.S.‑based entities, including federal agencies, may submit a Statement of Interest.
- International organizations may be considered only if they serve established U.S. nationwide audiences.
Audience
NASA welcomes partnership proposals that support learners throughout their educational journey. The agency collaborates with organizations serving students from pre‑K through undergraduate levels, across classrooms, out‑of‑school programs, and digital learning environments.
Become a Partner
NASA has supported the U.S. education system by providing real world examples of STEM content in action. Partnerships typically:
- Engage audiences in NASA technical mission content
- Highlight STEM careers and role models
- Support awareness of STEM pathways
NASA typically provides collaborators with:
- Access to mission data and imagery
- Subject matter experts in relevant technical and STEM education fields
- Review of NASA related content for technical accuracy
Organizations interested in exploring a partnership with NASA STEM Engagement should submit a Statement of Interest of no more than five pages to NASAEdPartners@nasa.gov. Do not include Proprietary Data in the Statement of Interest, as NASA reserves the right to share Statements of Interest broadly inside and outside NASA.
Statements of Interest should include the following:
- Entity Name and Web Address
- Physical Address
- Country of Origin of Entity’s Headquarters
- Point of Contact Name and Title
- Overview of your organization, strategic goals and examples of past work with education audiences
- Overview of proposed partnership activities and anticipated products or programs to be produced through the relationship
- Intended outcomes of partnership activities
- Description how activities align with NASA strategic goals for STEM engagement
- Explanation of how the requested activities further your organization’s mission
- Description of target audience and anticipated student reach
- Summary of proposed organizational roles in the partnership. Include estimated commitment of NASA resources necessary (number of hours of requested staff time and facilities, etc.) to accomplish activities in non-funded relationship
- Proposed timeline for partnership activities
Statements of Interest will be reviewed against the following criteria:
Alignment to NASA
- Organization and requested partnership activities are consistent with NASA STEM Engagement mission, objectives and strategies
- The partner presents a plan to provide all or a substantial portion of resulting content/programming to US students and teachers at no-cost.
Overall Impact
- Benefit to NASA and Partner: Extent to which partnership describes a substantive benefit to both NASA and the Partner.
- Partnership Reach: Extent to which partnership will engage students at a scale NASA could not reach independently.
- Sustainability: Partnership results in products, resources, or publications that can be used by the public outside the partnership term.
- NASA Resource Commitment: Estimated level and availability of NASA resources (civil servant and contractor labor, facilities, etc.), necessary to support the request.
Management
- Viability: Extent to which organization demonstrates ability to fulfill proposed responsibilities within stated timeline and meet financial requirements to complete partnership activities.
- Organizational Roles: Anticipated roles of NASA and Partner are clearly defined and led by Partner.
Alignment to NASA Policy: Requested partnership activities do not violate any NASA policies or regulations.
Statements of interest do not have a submission due date and are received on a rolling basis. Typically, a response is provided within 2-4 weeks of submission. Subject to the availability of internal resources, NASA typically pursues 3-5 new, non-reimbursable relationships a year.
Statements of Interest are evaluated by Office of STEM Engagement against the stated criteria. Reviews are shared with Mission Directorates and Office of General Counsel for further review. OSTEM senior leadership maintains final decision on whether or not to pursue a Space Act Agreement partnership or other collaborative relationship. NASA takes a variety of factors into account in deciding whether or not to consider a Statement of Interest for a NASA partnership. Factors include, but are not limited to, resource availability, cost to NASA, and potential for high impact outcomes. All decisions on potential partnership opportunities are in NASA’s sole discretion.
Current Agreements
Pursuant to direction in Title III of House Report 113-171 accompanying H.R. 2787, the FY 2014 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill and pursuant to direction in Section 841 of the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, Public Law 115-10; NASA updates and posts on a quarterly basis applicable summary data on Space Act Agreements with U.S. Federal, non-Federal, and international partners.
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