The NASA Administrator's Fellowship Project (NAFP) will be discontinued beginning August 31, 2010.  Therefore, applications are no longer being accepted. 

PROGRAM OVERVIEW 

The NASA Administrator’s Fellowship Program (NAFP) increases the capability of Minority Institutions (MIs) to respond to NASA’s overall research and development mission through enhancing the professional development of NASA employees and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) MI faculty.  NASA employee fellows teach and/or conduct research at MIs while MI Faculty Fellows conduct research at NASA Centers. 

All NAFP Fellows engage in a comprehensive, integrated professional development curriculum to equip them with the skills to become progressive change agents in their organizations and institutions.  Curriculum areas include:

• Leadership Development
• Effective Communication
• Strategic Thinking and Planning
• STEM Education Policy and Review
• Proposal Writing
• Project Management
• Federal and State Relations

2009 Cohort 12 Graduates: Dr. Sukesh Aghara, Prairie View A&M University; Dr. Alamelu Sundaresan, Texas Southern University; Dr. Edgardo Oliveros, Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon, Dr. Muhammad Alim, Alabama A&M University, Dr. Martin Volz, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Dr. Andre Miller, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (not pictured)	Mr. Aaron R. Andrews, President/CEO,  UNCF Special Programs Corporation and  Dr. Carl Person, NASA MUREP Manager present  Dr. Oliveros with his graduation plaque.

Dr. Paul Mogan (Cohort 9) explains his research project.	NAFP Fellows participate in Radical Leadership Training, Lake Geneva, WI

PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS BENEFIT FROM THE FOLLOWING:

• Access to NASA’s internal and informal information networks
• Knowledge of NASA’s technical and scientific needs
• Opportunities to share information about specific MI capabilities and technologies
• Enhancement of undergraduate and graduate research
• Opportunities to build scholarly publication skills

 

Ed Conley (Cohort 12) attends a NASA Shuttle Launch	Edgardo Oliveros (Cohort 12) poses near the NASA launch pad

 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

• Eighteen (18) fellows were active during FY09 serving 11 minority institutions. Faculty fellows were in residence at Stennis Space Center, Ames Research Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center.
• NAFP fellows wrote and collaborated on grant proposals resulting in awards from the National Science Foundation, Space Grant, Proctor and Gamble, Tennessee Department of Transportation, NASA Office of Education, Johnson Space Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center. 
• NAFP fellows have instituted and coordinated precollege, university, and government sponsored STEM projects for underserved students in the Nashville, TN, public schools; Madison County, AL, schools; Baltimore Public Schools; and the Salish Kootenai Tribal Community. Fellows mentored NASA University Student Launch and NASA Great Moonbuggy Race teams.
• NAFP fellows were instrumental in the university establishing a master’s program in engineering at Alabama A&M, and fellows developed and taught the first two graduate courses in the program.
• A NAFP fellow facilitated a technical exchange between engineering managers at Marshall Space Flight Center and engineering faculty at Alabama A&M University.
• NAFP Fellows authored or co-authored 18 articles in peer-reviewed, technical journals and gave presentations at 21 technical conferences.
• NAFP fellows contribute to NASA’s diversity goals. The current ethnic distribution of fellows is 39 percent Black, 6 percent Hispanic, 22 percent White, 33 percent Other. Additionally, 28 percent of the fellows are female.
• Achievements of five (5) NAFP fellows are featured on the NASA portal.