1998-99 The NETWORK RESOURCES AND TRAINING SITE(NRTS) housed at Elizabeth City State University is designed to serve the states of North Carolina and Virginia. The NRTS provides technology training and faciliates HBCU/MI network opportunities in research and education for science/mathematics faculty and students, as well as for the teachers of predominately minority attended elementary and secondary schools in ECSU's region. Research focus for this NRTS include High Performance Networks and Earth System Science. Attached you will find the annual report for the Network Resources and Training Site located on the campus of Elizabeth City State University. The report documents the activities and initiatives conducted by the NRTS during the 1998-99 FYI. Initiatives have involved K-12 partners, HBCU/MI partners, ECSU faculty and students. Over sixty workshops were conducted including two major training events. More than 12,000 educators and students participated in the on-site and off-site workshops. Many of the workshops used the computer laboratories located on the campuses of our HBCU/MI and K-12 partners. Funds directly paid to partners and paid in training stipends amounted to over $168,000. Funds paid to our industrial partners, ADNET Systems, Inc. for network engineering and for staff, indirect cost and fringe benefits totalled over $190,000. Scholarship awards and fellowships paid to students amounted to over $15,000. There was an additional $50,000 allocated for videoconferencing equipment and ISDN service fees. The NRTS operated three very successful summer programs last year which included an Earth System Science Academy, K-12 Educators extended training, and a two week workshop for high school students. Efforts were made to lift the science and research capability of partners and highlight their affiliation with the NASA centers. To highlight the existing capabilities and affiliations with NASA centers, the NRTS published a partnership report detailing programs at the various centers in which partners participate. The report was distributed at the Jan. 1999 MU-SPIN meeting held at NASA Headquarters building. Workshops were organized to strenghten research at partners schools and associate those efforts with NASA Opportunities. Physics, mathematics and chemistry faculty were strongly encouraged to actively participate and contribute to these workshops. Highlights from many of the workshops and other activities can be found in the Appendix. University partners held two strategy meetings and training workshops during 1998-99. The first at Norfolk State University Feb. 7-8th and the second at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke April 9th. As a result of these meetings a critical area of need was identified in the departments of chemistry, physics and mathematics. All partners have now established a webpage which focuses on NRTS activities. The webpages are housed on the ECSU Umfort server and are available for viewing at http://nia.ecsu.edu/nrts/nrtspartners.html Both curriculum and research initiatives have been implemented in the NRTS Education Plan which focuses on Earth System Science and Technology. Initiatives have targeted both university and K-12 partners in an effort to strengthen the matematics and science curriculum and research activities. The 1998-99 initiatives have shifted the focus away from infrastructure and instead have been designed to enhance the science and research capability of partners and their affiliation with the centers. All activites have a NASA related component designed to introduce or better acquaint partners with the resources and research opportunities available through Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters, and Langley Research Center. Representatives from the centers and other NRTS have been involved with each university activity. NRTS curriculum initiatives have focused on providing opportunities for both university and K-12 partners to enhance courses through participation in NASA Educational Programs including NOVA, The Satellites in Education Conference, SkyMath, The Coalition for Earth System Science and the NASA Pre-service Teacher Institute. In addition, the NRTS organized educational activites which better prepared partners to take advantage of these opportunities. Preparation activites included Summer Programs, High School Internships and Mini-Grants for Educators. The Earth System Science Academy is now included in the NASA Headquarters, Earth System Science Directory. In support of the expert site concept in Earth System Science the NRTS at ECSU has supported eight(8) research initiatives. The eight initiatives have focused on the quality of local waterways, The Great Dismal Swamp, remote sensing techniques, and the visualization of NASA datasets. Also identified as a critical area in this NRTS consortium has been the need to increase the number and enhance the preparation of minorities pursuing degrees in physical science. Norfolk State University, Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Virginia State University are participating in this initiative. To address the need, the NRTS submitted a proposal, entitled ATOM, to the Department of Education. This proposal was recently funded for over $480,000. NSU serves as lead institution with Dr. Raj Chaudhury as Principal Investigator. The proposal grew out of the partners meeting Feb. 7-8, 1999. Pre-service and In-service teachers participated in a research project during Summer 1999 which focused on the use of NASA educational resources in implementing the North Carolina Standards for Middle School Mathematics. During the 1999-2000 the work targeting North Carolina Standards for Middle School Math will be complimented by the work of Virginia Educators who will align Virginia Standards of Learning(SOLs) with NASA educational resources. |