Press Releases

Birmingham, AL – NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) has announced the selection of two minority serving institutions for cooperative agreement awards totaling approximately $1 million, to help strengthen science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curricula at their schools.

Lawson State Community College in Birmingham, Alabama, and New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn, NY, will receive as much as $500,000 each toward efforts to increase the number of historically underserved students studying STEM fields relevant to NASA's diverse exploration missions.

“This is more outstanding news for Lawson State Community College and continues to show why this institution is one of the crown jewels for educating students in our area,” states Congresswoman Sewell. “These funds will allow students from communities that have been historically disadvantaged to receive high quality training in advance science fields. By developing strong science, technology, engineering and math skills, these students will put themselves in competitive position to compete for the jobs of tomorrow.”

"We are delighted and very fortunate to be in a position to inspire tomorrow’s leaders in science and engineering through a partnership with Dr. Larry DeLucas, former Chief Scientist for the International Space Station at NASA headquarters,” said Dr. Perry W. Ward, president of Lawson State Community College. “This NASA award will allow science and engineering majors at Lawson State to use experiments conducted in the International Space Station to provide a comprehensive understanding of the underlying theories and experimental techniques utilized in microgravity research. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to experience world class scientific techniques and I am confident this will excel them to greater heights."

"NASA's MUREP program helps colleges and universities give students from underrepresented and underserved communities a strong foundation in STEM fields, which in turn helps create a strong STEM workforce," said Donald James, associate administrator for NASA's Office of Education, in a statement as a part of the announcement.

Background

Through MUREP's competitive awards, NASA provides financial assistance to minority serving institutions, including historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, American Indian and Alaskan Native serving institutions, predominantly black institutions and other minority serving institutions and eligible community colleges. These institutions recruit and retain underrepresented and underserved students, including women, girls, veterans and persons with disabilities, into STEM fields.

For more information on NASA's education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education