2000 Houston PREP Accomplishments
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Up to Accomplishments

• In 2000, the Pre-College Award for Excellence in Mathematics, Science, Engineering, and Technology was continued with funding to Houston PREP. The grant by NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. totaling $300,000 over three years was awarded to CCSDS to enhance PREP by:

  1. Continuing support of the Fourth Year Program

  2. Continuing the integration of science, mathematics and technology in all Houston PREP curricula

  3. Continuing support of the additional Houston PREP site

• As part of this grant, Houston PREP conducted week-long teacher training sessions in the summer, led by Ms. Mitsue Nakamura, before the program began. A team of secondary school mathematics and science teachers developed lesson plans which integrated NASA objectives and technology. 
• Through several grants awarded to the CCSDS, the UHD Scholars Academy was created on the UH-D campus. Five Houston PREP scholars received scholarships through the Scholars Academy to major in computer science or natural science at UH-D.
• A group of Houston PREP teachers attended the Alliance Chautauqua 2000 conference, entitled "Grid Power - Get Connected," at the University of Kansas from August 1-3, 2000. The conference helped the teachers to implement technology in the classroom.
• Another group of Houston PREP teachers attended the Supercomputing 2000 Conference in Dallas, Texas from November 4-10, 2000. They participated in the Education Program, which offered the opportunity to learn computer modeling and simulation techniques, which could applied to science and mathematics curricula.
• The 3^rd Annual Houston PREP Engineering Fair was held on June 12-13, 2000. Ms. Estella Gillette, Director of Equal Opportunity Programs Office at NASA Johnson Space Center, presented the keynote address and enlightened the participants with a brief testimony.
• The 2000 Houston PREP Class was composed of Hispanic (35.2%), African-American (40.8%), and women (62.0%) students who are interested in possible engineering and science professions. The overall Houston PREP population was 89.2% minority and female students.
• The 2000 Houston PREP follow up survey of former PREP Scholars showe a 99.7% high school graduation rate. The survey results showed 80.5% are college students. Of these, 83% are minority or female; 48.5% are science and technology majors. Also, of the college graduates, 83% are minority or female; 53.2% were science and technology majors.