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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2002

Processes and Procedures of the Higher Education Programs at Marshall Space Flight Center

The purpose of my research was to investigate the policies, processes, procedures and timelines for the higher education programs at Marshall Space Flight Center. The three higher education programs that comprised this research included: the Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP), the National Research Council/Resident Research Associateships Program (NRC/RRA) and the Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP). The GSRP award fellowships each year to promising U.S. graduate students whose research interest coincides with NASA's mission. Fellowships are awarded for one year and are renewable for up to three years to competitively selected students. Each year, the award provides students the opportunity to spend a period in residence at a NASA center using that installation's unique facilities. This program is renewable for three years, students must reapply. The National Research Council conducts the Resident Research Associateships Program (NRC/RRA), a national competition to identify outstanding recent postdoctoral scientists and engineers and experience senior scientists and engineers, for tenure as guest researchers at NASA centers. The Resident Research Associateship Program provides an opportunity for recipients of doctoral degrees to concentrate their research in association with NASA personnel, often as a culmination to formal career preparation. The program also affords established scientists and engineers an opportunity for research without any interruptions and distracting assignments generated from permanent career positions. All opportunities for research at NASA Centers are open to citizens of the U.S. and to legal permanent residents. The Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP) is conducted each summer. NASA awards research fellowships to university faculty through the NASA/American Society for Engineering Education. The program is designed to promote an exchange of ideas between university faculties, NASA scientists and engineers. Selected participants in fields of science, engineering, math, and other disciplines spend approximately 10 weeks working with their professional peers on research projects at NASA facilities. Workshops and seminars further enrich the experience. This program is only for U.S. citizens.

Pamala D. Heard↗
DOE OSTI2024

Sustainable Enablers of Knowledge Management Strategies in a Higher Education Institution

By facilitating the capture, organization, and dissemination of knowledge within and beyond the institution, knowledge management (KM) in higher education institutions (HEIs) fuels innovation, enhances research impact, and strengthens collaboration, ultimately leading to the creation of new knowledge and its valuable exchange. However, there is still much to explore in terms of the enablers of knowledge creation, sharing, and transfer. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the enablers of effective KM in the Polytechnique University of Leiria, which serves as a benchmark for other higher education institutions due to its leadership role in RUN-EU, a consortium of European universities. To achieve this, a narrative analysis based on information from SCOPUS and the institute’s website, focusing on innovation, research, and development strategies, is proposed. The findings suggest that for KM initiatives to be successful, they need to be strategically designed, culturally supported, technologically enabled, and integrated into existing workflows.

Santos, Eleonora (ORCID:0000000346930804)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Data Centers in Higher Education

This fact sheet summarizes some of the key needs, barriers, and opportunities related to data center management and operations in the Higher Education Sector.

data center, data center management, higher educat↗
DOE OSTI2024

Higher education institutions can do more to lead society toward resilience and sustainability

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are beginning to recognize their role as leading societal institutions in the movement toward resilience and sustainability by empowering their students as sustainability stakeholders and leaders and recognizing the value of faculty and staff as facilitators in this mobilization toward a more sustainable future. This chapter identifies seven goals derived from academic research that can be used to foster student leadership in sustainability and support faculty and staff in facilitatory roles. To date, however, most research has focused on sustainability in the classroom environment or the establishment of living labs. To illuminate how these seven goals can be achieved, the chapter adopts stakeholder theory and conducts an integrated case study assessment. Overall, the chapter helps to (i) develop a stronger understanding of sustainability and resilience, (ii) identify best practices for empowering student leaders and to better understand the facilitatory role played by faculty and staff in achieving the seven goals, and (ii) offer further insights through a reflective case study.

Sustainability and Resilience, Sustainability Syst↗
DOE OSTI2023

COVID-19 prevention at institutions of higher education, United States, 2020–2021: implementation of nonpharmaceutical interventions

Background, In early 2020, following the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, institutions of higher education (IHEs) across the United States rapidly pivoted to online learning to reduce the risk of on-campus virus transmission. We explored IHEs’ use of this and other nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the subsequent pandemic-affected academic year 2020–2021. Methods, From December 2020 to June 2021, we collected publicly available data from official webpages of 847 IHEs, including all public (n = 547) and a stratified random sample of private four-year institutions (n = 300). Abstracted data included NPIs deployed during the academic year such as changes to the calendar, learning environment, housing, common areas, and dining; COVID-19 testing; and facemask protocols. We performed weighted analysis to assess congruence with the October 29, 2020, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance for IHEs. For IHEs offering ≥50% of courses in person, we used weighted multivariable linear regression to explore the association between IHE characteristics and the summated number of implemented NPIs. Results, Overall, 20% of IHEs implemented all CDC-recommended NPIs. The most frequently utilized NPI was learning environment changes (91%), practiced as one or more of the following modalities: distance or hybrid learning opportunities (98%), 6-ft spacing (60%), and reduced class sizes (51%). Additionally, 88% of IHEs specified facemask protocols, 78% physically changed common areas, and 67% offered COVID-19 testing. Among the 33% of IHEs offering ≥50% of courses in person, having < 1000 students was associated with having implemented fewer NPIs than IHEs with ≥ 1000 students. Conclusions, Only 1 in 5 IHEs implemented all CDC recommendations, while a majority implemented a subset, most commonly changes to the classroom, facemask protocols, and COVID-19 testing. IHE enrollment size and location were associated with degree of NPI implementation. Additional research is needed to assess adherence to NPI implementation in IHE settings.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Higher education responses to COVID-19 in the United States: Evidence for the impacts of university policy

With a dataset of testing and case counts from over 1,400 institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States, we analyze the number of infections and deaths from SARS-CoV-2 in the counties surrounding these IHEs during the Fall 2020 semester (August to December, 2020). We find that counties with IHEs that remained primarily online experienced fewer cases and deaths during the Fall 2020 semester; whereas before and after the semester, these two groups had almost identical COVID-19 incidence. Additionally, we see fewer cases and deaths in counties with IHEs that reported conducting any on-campus testing compared to those that reported none. To perform these two comparisons, we used a matching procedure designed to create well-balanced groups of counties that are aligned as much as possible along age, race, income, population, and urban/rural categories—demographic variables that have been shown to be correlated with COVID-19 outcomes. We conclude with a case study of IHEs in Massachusetts—a state with especially high detail in our dataset—which further highlights the importance of IHE-affiliated testing for the broader community. The results in this work suggest that campus testing can itself be thought of as a mitigation policy and that allocating additional resources to IHEs to support efforts to regularly test students and staff would be beneficial to mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in a pre-vaccine environment.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Higher Education Buildings Recognized for Integrated Controls for HVAC and Lighting Systems - Case Study: California State University Dominguez Hills and University of Minnesota

This case study describes connected lighting system projects on two college campuses; Cal State Dominguez Hills and the University of Minnesota both implemented lighting and controls upgrades at mixed-use buildings, including advanced sensors, HVAC integration, and plug load control. Both projects were recognized by DOE's Integrated Lighting Campaign.

integrated lighting, higher education, college, un↗
DOE OSTI2021

Expert Text Analysis in the Inclusion of History and Philosophy of Science in Higher Education

The history and philosophy of science (HPS) plays a special role in education. An elective HPS course onthe philosophy of scientific experimentation for young scientists and graduate students of natural scienceis presented. The course bears a pragmatic character, and its main aims include the development of criticalthinking (CT), familiarization with philosophical problems in the relevant areas of knowledge, and thecultivation of a taste for reflective, critical analysis, both individual and group-based, which contributes todeeper understanding of the features of scientific practice in the context of modern complex groupcooperation. Students are offered a classical HPS program that included debates on the relationship betweenempiricism and rationalism, the role of Kant’s transcendental philosophy, modern topics associated withthe practical success of rationalism in the emergence of modern natural science, and the theory-ladennessof experimentation. Particular attention during the course is paid to the problems of megascience, theinclusion of which is justified by the specifics of the students’ engagement with science, technology,engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Emphasis is placed on the structure and typology of the collectivesubject in the modern educational process as well as in experimental practice. Lessons on the methodologyof expert text analysis (META), which are aimed at the development of critical thinking skills and thecreation of an interdisciplinary discussion space, are included in the course and relied on the example ofthe history and philosophy of high energy physics to motivate professional reflection. META classesincluded in the course prepare graduate students for teamwork in big science, proto-megascience, andmegascience. The course offers practical recommendations that could be applied to students’ own researchand could be useful for practitioners.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Alignment among environmental programs in higher education: What Food-Energy-Water Nexus concepts are covered in introductory courses?

Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) programs are different from other fields because they focus on a complex integration of humanities, social, and natural sciences concepts centered on the interactions of coupled human and natural systems. The interdisciplinary nature of IES programs does not lend itself to traditional discipline-specific concept inventory frameworks for critically evaluating preconceptions and learning. We discuss the results of the first phase of a research project to develop a next generation concept inventory for evaluating interdisciplinary concepts important for introductory IES courses. Using the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus (the intersections/interdependencies of food, energy, and water sectors) as our focus, we conducted a content analysis of eight representative college-level introductory environmental course syllabi and course materials (e.g., textbooks, journal articles, print media) to identify common interdisciplinary FEW Nexus concepts taught in introductory IES courses. Results demonstrate that all IES introductory course materials reference the FEW Nexus. Food, energy, and/or water resources as individual elements of the FEW Nexus are frequently described, but connections between these resource systems are included less often. Biology, energy systems, waste and pollution in the natural environment, agriculture, earth sciences and geology, climate change, behavioral social sciences, and economics concepts are most associated with FEW concepts, hinting at commonalities across IES topics that anchor systems thinking. Despite differences in IES programs, there appears to be some alignment between core concepts being taught at the FEW Nexus in introductory courses.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Building Nuclear-Specific Cybersecurity Expertise in Higher Education

The rapid digitalization of nuclear power plants (NPPs) and the deployment of advanced and small modular reactors (A/SMRs) have expanded the cybersecurity attack surface within the nuclear sector. This evolution introduces unique challenges beyond those faced in general information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and industrial control system (ICS) security, due to nuclear power’s regulatory rigor, safety-critical nature, and operational needs. A pressing workforce gap persists; cybersecurity graduates typically lack nuclear-specific context and retraining them for industry readiness requires 12–18 months, creating a significant burden. This paper addresses this gap by defining the domains of knowledge that nuclear cybersecurity specialists must master, spanning cybersecurity, nuclear engineering, OT/ICS security, and regulatory governance. We propose a curricular framework integrating technical, regulatory, and applied learning components to accelerate workforce readiness. Our approach builds on existing findings that current curricula inadequately integrate nuclear engineering and cybersecurity, shifting the discourse from why specialization is needed to what knowledge must be taught. The recommendations have implications for workforce development and long-term resilience of the nuclear energy sector.

99 - GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Nevada Higher Education Benefits from US Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) Nevada Program's Transfer of Geologic Samples - 20442

The Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), formerly the Nevada Test Site, was the location of 100 historic atmospheric and 828 historic underground nuclear tests from 1951 to 1992. Related to this historic nuclear testing, geologic and hydrologic studies of the site were conducted utilizing the skills and the expertise of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and national laboratories (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), who were principal in leading the development of weapons and were responsible for specific underground testing programs. The subsurface samples and technical/scientific data associated with NNSS geologic studies (past and present) are preserved and stored at the USGS Mercury Core Library and Data Center located at the NNSS. Currently, the facility stores over 2,000,000 linear feet of cores and cuttings from more than 2,600 drill holes that can be accessed for study. Most of the samples and historic geologic work was focused directly on subsurface geologic settings that relate directly to historic underground nuclear testing. Since 1992, the United States has observed a unilateral moratorium on full-scale nuclear testing, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) Nevada Program is now responsible for hydrogeologic characterization of the potential impacts to the natural groundwater systems that may have resulted from historic underground nuclear tests. As part of this effort, the EM Nevada Program Underground Test Area (UGTA) Activity has drilled and completed over 58 deep (2,000 - 7,000 ft.) characterization wells, totaling in excess of 170,000 linear feet of cuttings and core samples. Cutting samples were collected as triplicate samples for each respective depth interval, to account for potential later nondestructive/destructive analysis and to preserve samples for regulatory purposes. Recently, it was recognized by the EM Nevada Program that opportunities may exist to reduce the cost and floor space required for the storage of geologic samples at the Mercury Core Library without impacting the integrity and representative nature of the samples necessary for project execution. An initiative was sponsored by EM Nevada Program to evaluate several options: 1) disposal of a portion of cuttings and cores in a land fill setting; 2) reduction in sample volume through skeletonizing core and cuttings from wells to a representative but much smaller number of samples; and 3) solicit potential interest in the academic community where other geoscientists could freely access the samples for studies. The Nevada state university system through the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology responded positively to the opportunity to receive these NNSS samples from the EM Nevada Program. In June 2019, approximately 17,000 geologic samples, representing greater than 170,000 linear feet of drilling and weighing over 20,000 pounds, were shipped from the NNSS to the Great Basin Science Sample and Records Library located in Reno, Nevada. The benefits resulting from this transfer were realized by the EM Nevada Program in terms of cost and space savings for geologic sample storage at the NNSS. The transfer did not impact the EM Nevada Program mission as access to representative geologic samples for regulatory and scientific purposes was preserved. Moreover, the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology acquired a significant resource of subsurface geologic samples and supporting technical data to support academic and scientific studies in a complex volcanic setting in southwest Nevada. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS2012

Collaborative Educational Experiences through Higher Education-Industry Partnerships

This paper examines the perceptions of mentors and student interns from NASA's Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) program in Hampton, Virginia. Data for the current study are from student interns and mentors participating in the 2010, 10-week summer internship. Students are chosen from around the country based upon their applications and mentoring opportunities to participate in a summer program focusing on a range of specialty areas including: aeronautics; earth science research; exploration and flight; systems and concepts; systems engineering; subsonic/transonic testing; supersonic/hypersonic testing; and structures testing. This study presents information on mentors perceptions of academic preparedness brought to the workplace by student interns; student interns perceptions of how the internship helped develop key skill areas; and self-reports from student interns and their mentors about their internship experience.

Pinelli, Thomas E.↗
NASA NTRS2010

NASA Education: Yesterday's Dream...Today's Vision...Tomorrow's Hope

For 50 years, NASA's journeys into air and space have developed humankind's understanding of the universe, advanced technology breakthroughs, enhanced air travel safety and security, and expanded the frontiers of scientific research. These accomplishments share a common genesis: education. Education is a fundamental element of NASA's activities, reflecting a balanced and diverse portfolio of: Elementary and Secondary Education, Higher Education, e-Education, Informal Education, and Minority University Research and Education Programs (MUREP). Previous experience has shown that implementing exciting and compelling NASA missions are critical to inspiring the next generation of explorers, innovators, and leaders. Through partnerships with the Agency's Mission Directorates, other federal agencies, private industries, scientific research, and education/academic organizations, NASA's unique mission and education initiatives (content, people, and facilities) are helping to spark student interest and to guide them toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). NASA continues to inspire the next generation of explorers, innovators, and future leaders through its educational investments, which are designed to: (1) Strengthen NASA and the Nation's future workforce -- NASA will identify and develop the critical skills and capabilities needed to ensure achievement of exploration, science, and aeronautics. (2) Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines through a progression of educational opportunities for students, teachers, and faculty -- To compete effectively for the minds, imaginations, and career ambitions of America's young people, NASA will focus on engaging and retaining students in STEM education programs to encourage their pursuit of educational disciplines critical to NASA's future engineering, scientific, and technical missions. 3. Engage Americans in NASA's mission -- NASA will build strategic partnerships and links between formal and informal STEM education providers. Through hands-on, interactive, educational activities, NASA will engage students, educators, families, the general public, and all agency stakeholders in increasing America's science and technology literacy. NASA Education uses multiple methods to assess and evaluate the success of its programs and projects. Methods include strategic planning, management and control, expert evaluations and assessments, competitive acquisition, and analysis of performance measurement data and metrics. Additional control measures are in development. These measures will further improve data collection, assist in assessing return on investments, and provide information for accountability in project and program management. In 2009, NASA directly reached over one million students and over 115,000 educators.

Winterton, Joyce L.↗
DOE OSTI2023

COVID-19-Related Experiences and Perspectives of Peruvian College Students: A Descriptive Study

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically affected higher education and higher education students around the world, but few studies of college students’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic have been conducted in Latin America. This study describes the COVID-19-related experiences and perspectives of Peruvian college students. We surveyed 3,427 full-time college students (average age: 23 years) attending a multi-campus Peruvian university in fall 2020. Participants were recruited through the digital platform of the learning management system at their university, email, and social media. We asked participants how they were managing risks related to COVID-19; the continuity of social, educational, and work activities; and the psychological and economic impacts of the pandemic on their lives. Since March 2020, 73.0% of participants reported COVID-19-related symptoms, but only 33.9% were tested for COVID-19. During the national quarantine imposed by the Peruvian government (March 15–June 30, 2020), 64.3% of participants remained in their house. Furthermore, while 44.0% of participants were working in February 2020 (95% CI: [41.7%, 46.4%]), only 23.6% (95% CI: [21.7%, 25.7%]) were working immediately after the pandemic began (i.e., at the end of April 2020). Participants were more stressed about the health and educational implications of COVID-19 for Peruvian society and their families than about themselves. The public health, economic, and educational implications of COVID-19 on college students are continuing to unfold. This study informed Peruvian higher education institutions’ continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the progressive return to postpandemic activities, as well as other future pandemics and other crises.

Bazo-Alvarez, Juan Carlos↗