The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University have been selected to participate in a new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) outreach program administered by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA).
The Electronics Engineering Technology Program (EET) at Texas A&M will team with the Project Management Institute Clear Lake-Galveston (PMI-CLG) to provide an innovative approach to project management education and training for students at three high schools - Cypress Woods, Cypress Ranch and Conroe High.
Through its High School Students United with NASA for the Creation of Hardware (HUNCH) program NASA sponsors high school teams for projects that fabricate training and flight hardware support for NASA’s International Space Station National Laboratory Education Projects.
One teacher at each of the three high schools has been selected by NASA’s HUNCH program to do a project and Texas A&M was chosen to teach project management to their students.
"Project management is one of the most important aspects of education," said Dr. Joseph A. Morgan, a professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M. "The NASA award will allow us to develop and teach project management tools and processes to the high school teams participating in the HUNCH projects."
Morgan along with other Texas A&M engineering faculty members will begin working with the students on Friday (Sept. 21). The professors will meet with the students at their high schools on Fridays to provide training in project management.
Additionally, four student volunteers from Texas A&M’s EET program who are currently working on their Capstone Design project will serve as mentors to the high school students. The volunteers, who are working on their own product design and development projects will work with the high school teams in using project management tools to better manage their projects.
PMI-CLG will serve as advisors to both the Texas A&M student mentors and the high school teams.
"Introducing project management principles within engineering projects is a great way to motivate high school STEM students while teaching them the importance of these processes for project success," said Dr. Wei Zhan, associate professor and Co-Principal Investigator.