Cypress, Texas (May 11, 2020) Awarded a new NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) grant, Lone Star College-CyFair will partner with NASA for a series of NASA-themed STEM activities to be held on the campus in 2021.

Chosen as one of 11 minority-serving institutions in the nation, LSC-CyFair will use the $25,000 grant to create a program incorporating the evidence-based NCAS model on campus in an effort to draw more diverse scholars into the science, technology, engineering and math fields.

In past years, LSC-CyFair has had several students chosen to participate in the NCAS program, in which students complete a 5-week online course followed with a four-day team project at NASA sites across the nation.

“The NCAS grant is new and aims to hold the team project portion and other activities on the college campus instead, benefitting more students,” said Dr. Yiheng Wang, LSC-CyFair professor of engineering, who will work with professor Jared Cammon in this NASA partnership.  “It's really a good opportunity to strengthen our college's connection with NASA. And being so close to the Johnson Space Center, we plan to work on getting other benefits for our students too, including NASA speaker events and site visits.”

The NCAS program provides connections for students with NASA-affiliated labs, museums, industry partners and NASA internships. Freshman and sophomore students completing the scholars program receive a hands-on, collaborative engineering experience with NASA content and relationships with experts in the STEM field early in their college careers.

While campus project details are being discussed, student recruitment for this program is planned to begin next spring 2021 with activities set to roll out in fall 2021. 

For more information about the NCAS NASA on Campus, go to go.nasa.gov/ncas. For information on LSC-CyFair programs, go to LoneStar.edu/cyfair.