Valencia College student selected to visit NASA

ORLANDO – Steffen J. Camarato of Valencia College in Orlando has been selected to travel to NASA’s Stennis Space Center this spring to participate in the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars project (NCAS).

Camarato has been selected as one of 216 community college students from across the U.S. to be part of NCAS.

The five-week scholars program culminates with a four-day on-site event at Stennis Space Center and offers students the opportunity to interact with NASA engineers and others as they learn more about careers in science and engineering. While at NASA, students form teams and establish fictional companies interested in Mars exploration. Each team is responsible for developing and testing a prototype rover, forming a company infrastructure, managing a budget, and developing communications and outreach.

The on-site experience at NASA includes a tour of the facilities and briefings by NASA subject matter experts.

NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars is a project funded in part by the Minority University Research and Education Program, or MUREP, which is committed to the recruitment of underrepresented and underserved students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to sustain a diverse workforce.

With this project, NASA continues the agency’s tradition of investing in the nation’s educational programs. It is directly tied to the agency’s major education goal of attracting and retaining students in STEM disciplines critical to NASA’s future missions, which include missions to Mars and beyond.

“NCAS not only inspires community college students to advance in STEM fields, but it also opens doors for future careers at NASA.  NCAS has a legacy of alumni moving from NASA internships to and ultimately entering the NASA workforce.  It is rewarding to see the progression of a student from NCAS participant to NASA colleague.”  Tania B. Davis, Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Manager

For additional information, please contact National Community College Aerospace Scholars by email at [email protected] or by phone at 281-483-0493. For more information, visit:

http://ncas.aerospacescholars.org/

For more on MUREP visit:

www.nasa.gov/education/murep