The objectives of the comets project are: (1) to improve student engagement and success in foundational math courses and core engineering courses; (2) to provide ten participants each summer with…

The objectives of the comets project are: (1) to improve student engagement and success in foundational math courses and core engineering courses; (2) to provide ten participants each summer with research experiences in NASA ames, which they would not otherwise have in their usual academic environment; (3) to provide current community college students a year-long engineering design experience early in their academic career by participating in capstone design courses for graduating seniors; (4) to strengthen existing faculty relationship with NASA ames, and establish new collaborative relationships among two-year and four-year engineering faculty, and NASA ames research center; (5) to increase the number of academically prepared community college students transferring to four-year institutions as engineering majors; (6) to improve academic success of engineering students from underrepresented groups by providing academic support and mentorlng; and (7) to increase the number of minority students pursuing advanced degrees in stem fields. Improvements in math and engineering curricula will be accomplished through collaboration with faculty researchers and NASA ames personnel to develop contextualized teaching and learning approaches that incorporate NASA-related content as hands-on activities in math courses and design projects in engineering courses. Additionally, existing capstone senior design courses will be restructured to implement the NASA systems engineering process, and prepare students to work for NASA and space industry partners. Academic support services in the form of one-on-one and group tutoring, academic excellence workshops, supplemental instruction, academic and career counseling, and faculty and peer mentoring will be provided to support the success of students from underrepresented groups in stem fields. The 10-week summer internship program will provide full-time research opportunities to three SAN francisco state university students and three CA##ADA college students, and four half-time research positions to rising sophomore CA##ADA college students. These students will be engaged in a series of activities including hands-on research, mentoring, training and networking events at sfsu, CA##ADA college and NASA ames research center. This proposal will contribute to NASA's goals of attracting and retaining stem students, helping in the development the nation's stem workforce, engaging americans in NASA's mission, and building strategic partnerships and linkages. In addition, this proposal will create a vibrant community of stem educators who work collaboratively to create a culture of scholarly and systematic innovation to advance knowledge and practice of stem education. IT will also contribute to the understanding of the effects of contextualized teaching and learning on the success of underrepresented students in stem fields.