FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2014
Danielle McNamara
(510) 987-0230
Press Release
As a top science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program in the country, MESA will participate in the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C.
More than 350,000 attendees are expected to visit the festival and expo at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center April 26 & 27. There will be more than 3,000 hands-on activities booths including MESA.
California MESA will have two festival booths where attendees get the chance to race mousetrap cars, learn how to make a prosthetic arm on a $40 budget and get more information about MESA. Students from Butte College’s award winning MESA team will attend to display a new building material they designed made from agricultural (rice hulls) and industrial (Styrofoam) wastes. Maryland MESA will also be represented at the festival.
“We are excited to be involved in the USA Science and Engineering Festival, and sharing best practices from both pre-college and university-level endeavors. This is a wonderful opportunity to bring together a diverse group committed to advancing STEM students and future professionals, and aligns with MESA’s mission of providing STEM support for educationally disadvantaged students,” said Dr. Oscar Porter, MESA Executive Director.
The festival sponsors include longtime MESA supporters Chevron, NASA and Lockheed Martin.
The USA Science & Engineering Festival is the country’s only national science festival, a grassroots collaboration of over 1,000 of the leading science and engineering corporations in the United States. It was developed to increase public awareness about the importance of science and to encourage youth to pursue careers in science and engineering by celebrating science in much the same way as we celebrate Hollywood celebrities, professional athletes and pop stars. Lockheed Martin is the presenting host sponsor of the Festival. For more information, visit www.USAScienceFestival.org, connect with the Festival on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter @USAScienceFest.
MESA promotes STEM success for more than 28,000 educationally disadvantaged secondary, community college and four-year college students in California through project-based learning, academic counseling and exposure to STEM careers, so they can graduate from college with math-based degrees. Seventy percent of MESA high school graduates statewide go directly to college after graduation compared to 48 percent of all California graduates. Sixty percent of MESA students go on to math, science or engineering majors.
For more information about MESA visit mesa.ucop.edu or follow us on Twitter @MESASTEM.