The education and outreach plan is focused on advancing the education of under-represented students in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) areas via K-12 outreach, HBCU-REU, Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship, and Industrial Fellowship programs.

K-12 Outreach

To promote interest in the STEM areas among K-12 students from under-represented groups, the project is partnering with Georgia Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC) and Atlanta's Westlake High School, a 99% African-American science and mathematics magnet school. Specific initiatives include: (a) hosting teachers from Westlake High School as part of CEISMC's Georgia Intern-Fellowships for Teachers (GIFT) program for seven-week summer internships to expose them to scientific research, data analysis, curriculum development and real-world inquiry and problem solving; (b) hosting a team of three high school students to conduct a summer research project; (c) developing seismic risk mitigation term projects for Westlake's pre-engineering courses for juniors and seniors that utilizes the tele-presence capabilities of NEES to more directly engage students in collecting data for their projects; and (d) encouraging graduate research assistants to participate in CEISMC's Student and Teacher Enhancement Partnership (STEP) program, an NSF-sponsored K-12 program that places graduate students in area high schools.

HBCU-REU Program

Today's cadre of 117 Historically Black Universities and Colleges (HBCUs) play a critical role in undergraduate education of under-represented students in the STEM areas. HBCUs represent about two-thirds of the 25 institutions that awarded the largest number of STEM bachelor's degrees to black students. However, nationwide statistics show that few under-represented students attend graduate schools and pursue advanced degrees in STEM areas. To address the lack of under-represented students attending graduate schools, the project coordinates a collaborative REU program that targets students from HBCUs. In addition to research tasks and professional development activities, each student will have the opportunity to visit one of the NEES equipment sites.

Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship

While the number of under-represented students receiving bachelors degrees in STEM areas has increased over the past 20 years, the number of these students going on to tenure-track faculty positions remains extremely low. The project awards annual Fellowships will be awarded to outstanding postdoctoral candidates. These students will be involved in various aspects of the research program, advise graduate students, and participate in course development. The Postdoctoral Fellows will be mentored closely by the faculty at the host institution with the goal of preparing the Fellows for careers in academia. The expectation is that the postdoctoral fellows will be placed in competitive faculty positions following their postdoctoral experience.

Industrial Fellowship Program

The Industrial Fellowship Program encourages industrial partners to send their staff for short stays (1-2 weeks) at one of the research sites to work closely with the research team to facilitate knowledge transfer. The program allows practitioners to contribute their knowledge of seismic issues at ports to planning and interpreting the results of experimental and numerical simulations, facilitate technology transfer to the practicing engineering community, and generate interest and ideas for payload projects.