The twelfth year of the Houston Pre-Freshmen Enrichment Program (PREP) was conducted during Summer 2000.   A Pre-College Award for Excellence in Mathematics, Science, Engineering and Technology was awarded to the Center for Computational Sciences and Advanced Distributed Simulation (CCSDS) in 1998 for its Pre-College Programs (Houston PREP and Saturday Academy Programs).

The $300,000 grant by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters in Washington, D.C. has been awarded over a three-year period.  Its purpose is to enhance the program by:

1. Extending the curriculum from three years to four years

2. Developing basic Science curriculum throughout the four year program

3. Establishing additional sites

PREP was hosted by CCSDS at the campus of the University of Houston-Downtown from June 12 to July 28, 2000.  Program participants were recruited from the Greater Houston Area.  All participants were identified as high-achieving students with an interest in learning about the engineering and science professions.  The goal of the program was to better prepare our pre-college youth prior to entering college as mathematics, science and engineering majors.

Due to the large response of excellent applicants, an extra site was added to the program. The Houston Community College (HCC) Technology Center accommodated additional students in conjunction with the Houston Independent School District.

The program staff composed of college faculty members and high school teachers (thirteen of the 20 teachers were minority or women).  In addition to providing bus transportation, Aldine, Houston, and Galena Park Independent School Districts provided teachers to teach in PREP.  Sixteen of the twenty undergraduate students, who served as Program Assistants, were from minority groups or women.

Houston PREP had accepted 298 students (77 of which attended the HCC site) for this summer's program.  More than 90% were from economically and socially disadvantaged groups under-represented in the engineering and science professions.

The program participants were middle school and high school students from the Aldine, Alief, Clear Creek, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Galena Park, Houston, Katy, Klein, North Forest, Out of Town, Pasadena, Private, Spring, and Spring Branch Independent School Districts.

76.2% of the 213 students, who completed the program, were from economically and socially disadvantaged groups underrepresented in the engineering and science professions.

Investigative and discovery learning were key elements of PREP.  The academic components of the program included: Engineering, Computer Science, Introduction to Pre-Calculus, Introduction to Physics, Linear Algebra, Logic, Problem Solving, SAT Preparatory Seminars, Statistics and Technical Writing. This year, the visual and performing arts programs were incorporated into the Houston PREP Summer Program.

With financial support from CCSDS, the Fourth Year Program has been added to PREP since 1997.  The students worked with Silicon Graphics computers in the Advanced Distributed Simulation Research Computer Lab for their Computer Science course.  Additional course work involved Biology, Pre-Calculus, and Physics.

Engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and other professionals from private industry, government agencies and various universities discussed career opportunities and social problems with the program participants.  This year’s program also included an Engineering Fair held on July 12 and 13, 2000.  Various Engineering companies were represented at this special event.