Dr. Calvin Mackie - speaker, author, professor and inventor - will give the keynote speech. A former associate professor of mechanical engineering at Tulane University, Mackie was honored by President Bush with the 2003 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring and appointed by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to head the Louisiana Recovery Authority following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  He is the author of “A View from the Roof:  Lessons for Life and Business” and was featured in Spike Lee’s HBO documentary “When the Levees Broke:  A Requiem in Four parts.”

This year’s conference follows the motto, “Shaping the Future:  Launching New Endeavors to Inspire the Next Generation of Explorers.”  Activities are aimed at enhancing the skills of teachers to improve their competence and confidence in teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  Over 400 college juniors and seniors are expected to attend in the company of their faculty advisors.

“The NASA Pre-Service Teacher Program has a rich history, since 1995, of providing prospective K-8 teachers, from over 100 minority serving colleges and universities, with the skills needed to help prepare them to be effective teachers of math, science and technology,” stated Dr. Paula Tucker-Hogan, NIA director of the NASA Pre-Service Teacher Program.

The Pre-Service Teacher Conference is held each spring and hosts several hundred prospective elementary and middle school teachers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and select majority colleges and universities.  The goal of the conference is to use the NASA mission, facilities, human resources and programs to provide exposure and experiences to support the enhancement of knowledge and skills.  Students and faculty are exposed to invigorating general sessions, hands-on workshops and participate in a judged poster session. This offers them an excellent opportunity to network and interview with recruiters from school districts and graduate schools across the country.

NIA is a non-profit research and graduate education institute headquartered in Hampton, VA.  It was formed in 2002 by a consortium of research universities to ensure a national capability to support NASA’s mission by expanding collaboration with academia and leveraging expertise inside and outside NASA.  NIA performs research in a broad range of disciplines including space exploration, systems engineering, nanoscale materials science, flight systems, aerodynamics, air traffic management, aviation safety, planetary and space science, and global climate change.  The Institute’s graduate program offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the fields of engineering and science through its university partners:  Georgia Tech, Hampton University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, and the College of William & Mary. 

More information about the NASA Pre-Service Teacher Conference is available at
http://research.NIAnet.org/pstc/.

More information about the National Institute of Aerospace is available at http://www.NIAnet.org. 

More information about NASA education is available at
http://education.nasa.gov.