Office+of+Education

=NASA’s Office of Education Strategy= NASA will continue the Agency’s tradition of investing in the Nation’s education programs and supporting the country’s educators who play a key role in preparing, inspiring, exciting, encouraging, and nurturing the young minds of today who will manage and lead the Nation’s laboratories and research centers of tomorrow.

In 2012 and beyond, NASA pursued three major education goals:


 * **Strengthen NASA and the Nation’s future workforce** - NASA will identify and develop the critical skills and capabilities needed to ensure achievement of the Vision for Space Exploration. To help meet this demand, NASA will continue contributing to the development of the Nation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce of the future through a diverse portfolio of education initiatives that target America’s students at all levels, especially those in traditionally under served and underrepresented communities.
 * **Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines** - To compete effectively for the minds, imaginations, and career ambitions of America’s young people, NASA will focus on engaging and retaining students in STEM education programs to encourage their pursuit of educational disciplines critical to NASA’s future engineering, scientifi c, and technical missions.
 * **Engage Americans in NASA’s Mission** - NASA will build strategic partnerships and linkages between STEM formal and informal education providers. Through hands-on interactive educational activities, NASA will engage students, educators, families, the general public, and all Agency stakeholders to increase Americans’ science and technology literacy.

As the United States begins the second century of flight, the Nation must maintain its commitment to excellence in STEM education to ensure that the next generation of Americans can accept the full measure of their roles and responsibilities in shaping the future.

Higher Education projects are designed to contribute to the development of the nation’s technical workforce in an effort to offer NASA a pool of highly qualifi ed candidates to support its future employment needs. NASA’s Higher Education Division achieves this outcome by providing opportunities that lead to employment options in the STEM workforce. NASA will identify and develop a diverse pool of candidates with the critical skills and capabilities needed to achieve the Vision for Space Exploration.

The strategy for reaching this goal is depicted in the following schematic drawing, which shows education and training progression from projects that inspire students, to those that employ individuals in the Aerospace and Aeronautics workforce.