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NASA Advisory Council

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

Engagement Committee

NOTES

October 1, 2020

STEM Engagement Committee Members

Present: Dan Dumbacher (Committee Chair), Darryl Williams (Committee Vice Chair), Ray Mellado,

Carl Person, Michael Lach, Norm Fortenberry

Not Present: Cristin Dorgelo

Others Present: General Lester Lyles (NASA Advisory Council Chair), Beverly Girten (Executive 

Secretary), Michael Kincaid, Kris Brown, Elaine Ho, NASA HQ Office of STEM Engagement; Rick 

Gilmore, Anne Gooding, Glenn Research Center

Opening Comments

Dr. Beverly Girten, Committee Executive Secretary welcomed everyone and noted the meeting is a 

virtual meeting via Webex is taking place in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act

(FACA). Meeting will be recorded. Dan Dumbacher, Chair, General Lyles, Chair NASA Advisory 

Council (NAC), provided introductory comments. Individual members introduced themselves.

National STEM Updates

Mr. Kincaid shared the next Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Committee on STEM 

Education (CoSTEM) progress report will be posted to the OSTP web site in a few weeks. Mr. 

Kincaid also welcomed committee members to respond to the Request For Information to support 

the implementation of the CoSTEM Strategic Plan and to gain insights into the impact of COVID-19 

on the STEM community.

Office of STEM Engagement Updates

Overview / Impact of Coronavirus / Accomplishments / Strategic Outlook

Kris Brown shared progression and decisions for conducting work despite coronavirus impact. Ms. 

Brown highlighted the transition of the internship program to completely virtual for summer 2020 

and the solicitation, Remote Opportunities Rapid Response solicitation created in response to 

COVID-19 which was defined and executed in its entirtiy before end of fiscal year. General Lyles

inquired about what a virtual internship looks like. Ms Brown explained laptops were shipped to all 

students. Students were provided with tools for enabling virtual interactions with mentor and 

mentor teams. Mentors developed projects that could be transitioned to virtual implementation.

Obviously students were not able to participate in hands-on, side-by-side learning with mentors 

but were able to engage in technical work with mentors. Student had opportunities to meet with 

people, including Dr. John Mather, Nobel Prize recipient and Senior Astrophysicist at Goddard 

Space Flight Center, to learn about technical work. Students participated in an Agencywide virtual 

poster session at end of summer, joined by NASA’s technical community. Students and mentors 

praised the swift and thoughtful transition to virtual. Mr. Dumbacher confirmed some of his
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students participated in the virtual internship and came away with positive experiences and were 

thankful for the work that went into the internship program. Plans for fall and spring internships 

are all virtual. Mr. Kincaid noted they had 1600 interns in the summer and that the fall program 

will be bigger than ever and acknowledged the mentors who signed up for the program. It is not us 

throwing money. He also indicated the virtual model allowed OSTEM to reach some people who 

may not have been able to participate in a in-person internship. Dr. Williams noted NASA can 

serve as a leader for modeling virtual and hybrid internships. Kris Brown noted OSTEM is 

continuing to build on experiences and looking at what a hybrid model might look like. Some 

Centers will be all virtual while other Centers may have opportunity for some in person bringing 

interns onsite. Mr. Dumbacher closed the topic by noting that we need remain aware of 

underserved and underrepresented communities and their ability to access virtual internships,

specifically for students who may have limited internet access. 

Strategic Outlook

Ms. Brown shared the updated NASA Strategy for STEM Engagement 2020-2023 noting this is an 

agencywide strategy that includes the work of HQ functional offices, Mission Directorates, and 

Centers. This revised strategy document moved from focus areas to strategic goals and added a

new goal, Strategic Goal 3, for attracting diverse students to STEM. The work was completed with

a Tiger Team from the STEM Engagement Council which also looked at the priorities for FY 2021 

and FY 2022. The STEM Engagement Council elected to move to a systemic model with two key 

priorities: pre-college and higher education.

Program Upate

Ms. Elaine Ho reviewed progress made in each of the four projects for moving to a mission-driven 

STEM Engagement program commenting the team seeks out opportunities for integration and 

collaboration across the projects. Ms. Ho shared FY 2020 program highlights, introduced the new 

MUREP strategy for using planning grants to develop concepts for building Minority Serving 

Instituion (MSI) capacity. During COVID, projects individually engage every OSTEM PI at regular

frequency to understand the impacts of COVID. Ms. Ho highlighted how OSTEM is working 

collaboratively with the Mission Directorates, noting matching dollars from Science Mission 

Directorate (SMD), Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), Human Exploration and 

Operations (HEO) Mission Director and the Office of the Chief Economist to Space Grant 

institutions to leverage Artemis Student Challenges. General Lyles asked about the different 

themes for Artemis Challenges which are online training curriculum for Artemis, building 

hardware, and student Competitions. When asked about efforts for Space Grant institutions to 

reach out to and mentor MSIs, Ms. Ho replied Space Grant institutions partner with other 

institutions, including MSIs, and that they always look for ways to include MSIs. Mr. Kincaid added 

the funding goes to lead the institution in the state. NASA doesn’t decide how money is 

transferred and lead institions have ability to partner across states. Mr. Kincaid noted a prime 

focus is to reach underrepresented communities and there is an expectation for lead institutions 

to partner with MSIs. Mr. Mellado noted it is a best practice across the whole Federal government 

to partner with MSIs. 
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Artemis K – 12 STEM Engagement Framework

Mr. Kincaid shared the Artemis K-12 STEM Engagement Framework and how OSTEM reaches 

students across the OSTEM ecosystem. Mr. Kincaid also discussed the Engaging the Artemis 

Generation fireside chat livestreamed over YouTube in July 2020 as well as the recently released

Moon Pod Essay Contest. Committee members are encouraged to share this contest with their 

networks to encourage student participation. General Lyles asked about opportunities to engage

pre-K students, citing the partnership Northrup Grumman has with Wolf Trap. Ms. Brown noted 

OSTEM is in final stages of signing a partnership agreement with an organization that serves the 

pre-K audience but is unable to share the name of the partner in a public forum in midst of final 

signature stages. Mr. Dumbacher asked about involvement of the Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate (ARMD) to which Ms. Ho responded that OSTEM has a new position, an ARMD embed 

within OSTEM whose role is to look for an initiate opportunities between OSTEM and ARMD. 

STEM Engagement’s Strategy for Broadening Student Participation

Dr. Fortenberry inquired about OSTEM’s efforts to broaden participation at majority institutions to 

which Mr. Kincaid responded that Ms. Brown is leading a STEM Engagement Council (SEC) working

group on broadening participation. The working group reviewing data to identify focus areas for 

the working group. Ms. Brown noted the group is currently developing an action plan for FY 2021. 

Dr. Fortenberry added the Department of Education recently changed the definition of HispanicServing Institution (HSI). University of California Irvine is now an HSI. Within the portfolio of HSIs, 

some have a population of 50% Hispanic while others have a population of 25% Hispanic. Torrey 

Johnson added that NASA is working with the National Science Foundation to identify areas for 

investigation. Mr. Johnson noted that when making awards, they have balance factors and do 

look at MSI diversity, for example, if they have not had recent awards to Tribal Colleges and 

Universities, they will delve deeper into that space. Mr. Mellado added that even institutions 

designated as HSIs or other MSIs, while they may have large enrollment of underrepresented 

students for the institution as a whole, enrollment among underrepresented students in 

accredited engineering and science programs may be limited.

General Lyles asked when working with mission directorates if there is balance among the 

directorates to which Mr. Johnson responded there is engagement on different fronts. Over 

certain periods of time, mission directorate may have had larger participation but they do look for 

balance among all mission directorates over time. Mr. Dumbacher asked if OSTEM interacts with 

MSIs to identify they support structures the institutions need to become more successful. Mr. 

Johnson responded OSTEM has continual dialogue with MSIs to identifiy ways NASA can be 

supportive, for example, timing of when solicitations are released ad providing mentoring through 

Space Grant to schools which may need additional support. Mr. Kincaid added that NSF INCLUDES 

gets back to what MSIs want from Federal agencies. 

Performance and Evaluation: Diversity Update

General Lyles questioned whether the summary statistics provided on under represented race and 

ethnicity awards were broken down by specific groups to which Dr. Gooding comfirmed they were. 

Dr. Williams suggested conducting a deeper exploration of how and to what extent we are 

creating access for particular groups to be able to be aware and understand the opportunities they 

have with NASA. Mr. Gilmore explained they are conducting multiple studies around broadening 
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participation and using key takeways to effect chage in portfolio. 

General Lyles asked if there are any studies looking at retention? Mr. Gilmore responded they do 

look at retention and recruitement. Mr. Kincaid noted for OSTEM, rentention is if students finish 

one of our programs, when we get them to come back for another one and then can we get them 

back for our workforce. When government changed rules for coop, what is now Pathway, agencies 

struggled with converting internships to workforce. This is something they are trying to figure that

out at the CoSTEM level. Mr. Mellado asked if there are any studies with current science and 

technology NASA workforce to see how each mission directorate is doing with respect to diversity 

and inclusion. Mr. Gilmore responded that studies are based on data they have access to, 

specifically internships funded by mission directorates. OSTEM has limited access to current 

workforce data. Mr. Mellado noted it would be interesting to see how NASA is doing as a baseline

and then to see how NASA programs affect a change. Mr. Gilmore noted OSTEM does not have 

access to that data but that they may be able to look at that in the future. 

Mr. Kincaid noted OSTEM is looking at students in the OSTEM population. Specifically, are the

students succeeding, not just in the NASA workforce but also in the contractor workforce. Looking

at the NASA workforce is not within the scope of OSTEM. Mr. Kincaid noted NASA is kicking off a 

Unity Plan to look at representation at different levels but that it is not a STEM Engagement 

activity. It is a benchmark but not something for the evaluation team to answer. 

Mr. Dumbacher asked if there is a geographic component to the analysis. Mr. Gilmore noted that 

currently there is not a geographic component but that they are looking into adding into the new 

data management system. The team is working with the CoSTEM interagency working group to 

define that work

Observations, Findings and Recommendations

Finding

Title: Agencywide Approach to STEM Engagement

The Committee requests that NASA continue the “whole of NASA” approach to STEM and 

particularly the involvement of Minority Serving Institutions. NASA’s Mission Directorates (ARMD, 

HEOMD, SMD, STMD) should continue to be encouraged to identify and grow opportunities to 

partner with OSTEM. Focused effort with MUREP by the Mission Directorates are needed to 

increase awareness and engagement with Minority Serving Institutions. 

Engagement should inform and build MSI understanding of Mission Directorate efforts and 

programs and opportunities for research and program participation. The goal of this engagement 

is to maximize the impact of the MUREP funding on NASA missions and inclusion of MSI’s more 

deeply in NASA efforts. This engagement should be focused on locations of highest potential 

impact including geographic locations currently not receiving MUREP funding. 

Mission Directorates have improved their respective coordination with OSTEM recently. This is 

evidenced by the OSTEM Artemis focused activities and the multiple Mission Directorate 

collaborations. The Committee implores the NAC through the various Committees to support 

OSTEM’s strategy for STEM engagement. Consistent and valued effort with OSTEM across the 

Mission Directorates will lead to more coordinated, streamlined, and impactful results.
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NASA is the first and only Agency to have established a goal of one percent of total contract value 

of prime and subcontracting awards for acquisitions to Historically Black Colleges and 

Universities/Minority Serving Institutions. NASA is to be commended for implementing the 1% 

goal. Currently NASA has only achieved .16% and .17% in FY18 and FY19 (data provided by the 

Office of Small Business Programs), respectively towards the goal. This reflects contract awards 

with only 50-60 MSIs in FY18-19 (per the Office of Procurement data). The “whole of NASA” 

approach must continue, in earnest, in order to realistically meet the 1% goal.

Recommendation:

Title: Continued Emphasis on the Agencywide approach to STEM Engagement

The Committee recommends that NASA require regular, periodic reporting at the Administrator 

and NAC levels on how Mission Directorates are supporting OSTEM in meeting the STEM 

Engagement Objectives. This includes Mission Directorate support and coordination on 

engagement, use and growth of Minority Serving Institutions, and meeting the 1% contracting 

goal.