STEM Engagement Reach Map and Metrics

In Fiscal Year 2023, NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) reached students and educators through institutional awards in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. 

	Next Gen STEM • $14 million NASA’s Next Gen STEM project is an integrated portfolio of grants, partnerships, activities, educational products, and student opportunities designed to engage K-12 students nationwide in the agency’s missions, people, and resources. The project’s efforts aim to inspire the STEM workforce of tomorrow by bringing the excitement of NASA to students, whether in the classroom, at home, in afterschool programs, or in informal education settings.
	Space Grant • $58 million NASA’s National Space Grant College and Fellowship Project (Space Grant) brings together partners from across academia, industry, and government to invest in STEM education and research. Space Grant’s 52 consortia — one in each state as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia — connect more than 1,251 affiliated institutions to fund fellowships and awards and create enriching STEM opportunities for Americans to understand and participate in NASA’s aeronautics and space projects.
	EPSCoR • $26 million The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) establishes partnerships with government, higher education, and industry that are designed to effect lasting improvements in a state or region’s research infrastructure, research and development capacity, and its national research and development competitiveness. The NASA EPSCoR project is directed at those jurisdictions that have not participated equitably in competitive aerospace and aerospace-related research activities. Twenty-five states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam currently participate.
	MUREP • $45.5 million NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) expands the agency’s reach in communities historically underrepresented in STEM. MUREP offers opportunities for college students at Minority Serving Institutions to contribute to the agency’s exploration goals and also boosts these schools’ research capacity and infrastructure. NASA invests in the Artemis Generation and a diverse future workforce through MUREP’s competitive awards, research opportunities, and engagements at career fairs and conferences.
	SciAct • $52 million The NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Activation (SciAct) program connects NASA science with diverse learners of all ages in ways that activate minds and promote a deeper understanding of our world and beyond, with the ultimate goal of increasing participation in the advancement of human knowledge. SciAct operates through a cooperative nationwide network of three dozen competitively selected and community-based teams and several activities at NASA centers.

Metrics

In Fiscal Year 2023 (October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023), NASA STEM Engagement Investments (including OSTEM projects) provided 521 awards to lead institutions across 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands; engaging 112K+ educator, 768K+ student, and 80.3M+ other participants in NASA STEM engagement activities and educational content.

NASA’s Organizational Health & Performance Reach of STEM Engagement Metric (FY 2023)	EPSCoR	NGS	MUREP	Space Grant	Other STEM Engagements	Totals
Institutional Award Data
Total # of Institutional Awards	245	56	153	61	6	521
Total # of Institutional Awards to MSIs	41	1	173	12	1	228
Total # of Awards to MSI-Eligible Institutions	26	1	142	9	1	179
Total # of States and U.S. Territories	28	32	31	52	2	54
Total Institutional Awards Funding Amount	$21.8M	$3.7M	$28.7M	$50.9M	N/A	$105M+

Institutional Award Data Definitions:

• Institutional Awards represent STEM Engagement investments awarded to lead/primary award institutions (both formal and informal), via a grant/cooperative agreement solicitation process
• Institutional Awards to MSIs represents the MSI classification of lead/primary award institutions that received awards (NOTE: An institution may have more than one MSI classification.  Also, EPSCoR and Space Grant lead/primary award institutions make sub-awards which are not reflected in this data)
• Institutional Awards to MSI-Eligible Institutions represents the MSI designation of lead/primary award institutions per award received (NOTE: An institution is counted once per award if MSI-eligible regardless of how many MSI classifications it may have.  Also, EPSCoR and Space Grant lead/primary award institutions make sub-awards which are not reflected in this data)
• States and U.S. Territories represents where Institutional Awards were made
• Institutional Awards Funding Amount represents the amount of funding awarded to Institutional Awards

NASA’s Organizational Health & Performance Reach of STEM Engagement Metric (FY 2023)	EPSCoR	NGS	MUREP	Space Grant	Other STEM Engagements	Totals
Participant Data
Total # of Student Participants	842	87808	21709	603255	54943	768557
Total # of Educator Participants	812	14066	2757	32759	62173	112567
Total # of Other Participants	9	4069506	27902	477030	75801685	80376132

Participant Data Definitions:

• Student Participants represents student participants reached through STEM Engagement investments
• Educator Participants represents educator participants reached through STEM Engagement investments including Science Activation (SciAct) Educators
• Other Participants represents general public participants (e.g., uncategorized students of all ages, parents, educators, and adult participants) reached through collective STEM engagement investments, including 75.8M SciAct Learners

Additional FY 2023 Key Data Points:

• Space Grant, MUREP, Next Gen STEM, EPSCoR and SciAct grantee and awardee institutions reported 3,577 peer-reviewed publications, technical papers and presentations representing opportunities for learners to contribute to NASA’s aeronautics, space and science missions and work
• Notably, 61% percent of the peer-reviewed and other technical publications were authored or coauthored by students
• Approximately 9K students received internships, fellowships, research opportunities, educator professional development, challenges, and other college/pre-college STEM engagement opportunities
• Over $44.3M in direct financial support to higher education participants
• 14.8% of participants identified as racially underrepresented*
• 17.4% of participants identified as ethnically underrepresented**
• 43.2% of the Agency’s internship and fellowship positions were filled by women

NOTE, underrepresented statistics for race and ethnicity exceeded the national averages for underrepresented students enrolled in STEM degree programs (per the National Center for Educational Statistics – https://nces.ed.gov)