NASA Summer of Innovation

Louisiana Tech University’s Science and Technology Education Center (SciTEC) has been awarded a grant by NASA’s Summer of Innovation program, which will allow Louisiana students in grades four through nine to attend non-residential academic summer camps on the Louisiana Tech campus, free of cost.

The camps expand access to exciting STEM education programming to all students in the service area. NASA-focused content are incorporated into these camp curriculums, providing new opportunities and experiences in science and technology education. This ability to offer these camps at no cost provide the opportunity to reach students who may not have the opportunity to participate in summer camp activities otherwise.

The Summer of Innovation program also seeks to expand both the breadth and depth of school-and-community-based partners’ ability to provide meaningful educational and exciting STEM experiences to students in the fourth through ninth grades that traditionally have been underrepresented in the STEM fields.

Mainardi participates in the teaching of modeling concepts through the use of ball and stick models for building buckyballs and carbon nanotubes. Mainardi also teaches an activity on smart metals, such as nitinol; a Ni/Ti alloy that has shape memory.

NASA Summer of Innovation at the Idea Place