5 Apr 2017

As part of the National Week at the Labs initiative, NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley hosted 73 students from 15 community colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area for a half-day shadowing experience. The program is designed to encourage young people, especially girls and minorities, to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math, known as the STEM fields.
Students from underrepresented and underserved minority groups were given a behind-the-scenes look at federal agencies and federally-funded research and development labs. The National Week at the Labs event occurred between Feb. 27 and March 3, 2017, and focused on broadening career options for community college students to include America's science laboratories as alternatives to business workplaces. The activity provided one-on-one contact with subject matter experts, exposure to STEM careers and pathways, hands-on activities and inspirational interactions with other STEM-interested students in the Bay Area.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled with the level of interest and participation,” said Brenden Sanborn, an education specialist and event manager at Ames. “The students couldn’t have been more excited to see actual cutting-edge and innovative research, and our experts couldn’t have been more pleased to host these inquisitive, passionate and unfortunately, often overlooked students.”
Participants were paired with NASA scientists, researchers or engineers who work in research and development laboratories and facilities at Ames. Through this, the students learned about Ames’ key work in high-end computer science, machine learning, space science, robotics, aeronautical engineering and more. The experience showed students what it is like to work at NASA, in general, and a nationally distinguished research and development center, specifically.

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Ames hosted students from 15 community colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area as part of National Week at the Labs, half-day shadowing experience (photos above). Brenden Sanborn, top right photo, education specialist and event manager at Ames, spoke to the students during their recent visit to the center.