From the Desk of the

Founding Executive Director

 

As I prepare to travel to NASA Kennedy Space Center to chair one of the small group breakout sessions at the Pre-Launch Education Forum, the invitation makes it clear the Alliance has been and continues to be successful. The invitation from NASA stated, and I quote, “Your work and that of the organization you represent are well known and respected regarding the issue of broadening participation,” unquote. I am confident that leaders present at the sessions will provide solid recommendations and innovative strategies to NASA management on what we believe will work to attract more individuals from underrepresented groups, as well as institutions and geographic areas that do not participate in NASA research and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives at rates comparable to others.

When a group of state-supported historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) decided in 1990 that forming an alliance to work together would be an effective and efficient way to strengthen their science and engineering research and education programs, the idea was not readily embraced by funding agencies because the concept among academic institutions was so unique. The leadership of these institutions understood that forming a partnership to work collaborative together would bring new challenges and also new possibilities. Therefore, with a steady gaze toward the 21^st century, they quickly concluded that the sum of their collective efforts would yield far greater dividends than their individual, isolated efforts, especially in an era when economic resources were rapidly dwindling from all segments of society.

There were some critical concerns raised at the outset. One was that the academic institutions coming together were spread over a four-state geographical region from Alabama to Texas. Even if the geographical issue was overcome, another major concern was “how can an alliance be developed and the new relationship managed such that it would successfully demonstrate that the sum would truly be greater than the individual parts, and will great financial sacrifices be required to fund the cause?”

 

The individuals engaged in the early discussions believed that under the leadership of a visionary and risk taker, a successful alliance could be formed among the academic institutions notwithstanding that the institutions were located in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Recognizing the challenges and the possibilities associated with the institutions forging a partnership around collaborative research, world renowned Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) joined on to add administrative and technical support to the new entity.

In addition to chairing one of the Pre-Launch Education Forums, I have been asked to represent the SEA academic institutions by attending the Monday afternoon, November 16, 2009 viewing of the launch of STS-129: Space Shuttle Atlantis at the Banana Creek location also at Kennedy Space Center. We continue to seek resources to support science and engineering students traveling with us to witness events of this magnitude -- http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html.

 

With warm regards, 11/09/2009

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