College of the Desert (COD) and Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) are among five minority serving institutions (MSIs) selected to receive grant funding from NASA to develop or enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses through NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP).
NASA’s MUREP Innovations in Space Technology Curriculum (MISTC) awards totaling $1.4 million will help the MSI community colleges develop “crosscutting, pioneering new technologies and capabilities” to sustain the space agency’s work, according to officials.
The schools receiving MISTC awards are Bronx Community College, College of the Desert, Los Angeles Pierce College, Passaic County Community College and Prince George’s Community College. Schools will receive up to $330,000 each and work with a NASA center or facility to achieve MISTC’s goals over a 15-month period.
Dr. Carl Farmer, director of the Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement Program and co-investigator of the new NASA grant at College of the Desert, said the MISTC award will help continue the college’s initiatives to encourage underrepresented students who largely come from the Coachella Valley to consider STEM careers.
The college plans to use the funding to develop three integrated work elements in the physics curriculum. The first development will introduce and enhance student understanding of space technology in the field of entry, descent and landing (EDL) phases of space mission concepts through laboratory work that promotes hands-on learning.
“This course will be offered as an introduction to undergraduate research experiences for the students, which is generally accepted at our state universities,” Farmer said.
A second development will give six students an opportunity to participate in a summer internship at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory where they will be exposed to real-world application of concepts learned in the EDL course.
