Delivering California’s Future STEM Workforce

MESA is a college and career prep engine that propels student achievement in science, technology, engineering and math.

What’s New?

Winning students from the CSU East Bay MESA center celebrate their victory.

California MESA Headed East for Nationals!

MESA National Engineering Design Competition

Congrats to the Los Nietos Middle School and Mendota High School (pictured) teams for winning the state title in the National Engineering Design Competition! They head to Maryland to compete against teams from six other states. Good luck!

 

Winning students from the CSU East Bay MESA center celebrate their victory.

Find MESA Near You

Explore our interactive dashboard to find MESA centers across California, connect with local contacts, and learn more about the schools and districts we serve. Students, teachers, partners and friends can see where MESA makes an impact. 

Join Us!

Join MESASpace and keep your MESA journey going.

Grow your network, discover career opportunities, share your successes, attend events and reconnect in MESASpace is your hub for staying engaged.

Meet MESA students from across California, learn about upcoming events, match with a mentor, and connect with alumni who have turned their MESA experience into successful careers.

Open to current or former MESA students, alumni, board member, volunteer and staff.

Who are We?

 MESA serves students across the educational pathway through three complementary segments. 

College Prep Icon

College Prep

MESA’s college prep program sparks early interest in STEM by bridging classroom concepts to real-world practice, and inspires youth on their STEM journey to higher education and their future success.

Community College

Community College

MESA’s community college level program produces a population of transfer-ready students to advance their STEM educational journeys in 4-year university programs.

University Icon

University

MESA’s university-level program produces career-ready, candidates for corporate industry employment by providing the tools, resources and support they need to successfully earn STEM degrees.

MESA by the Numbers

Number of overall MESA students in California

MESA serves over 350 middle and high schools, 40 community colleges and 13 universities in California.

MESA students are more likely to be admitted to a UC (80% vs 67% for California students overall).

  • 80%80%
  • 67%67%

Top 5 Degrees of MESA Undergrad Students

Mechanical Engineering

Civil Engineering

Computer Science

Electrical Engineering

Computer Engineering

 

About Us

A grassroots effort that began with 25 students at Oakland Technical High School in 1970 has flourished into an award-winning program that serves almost 25,000 middle school, high school, community college and university level students throughout California each year. MESA’s long history with industry and its vast network of alumni are key components to success.

MESA advisor Robert Smith with a group of students in 1994

What People Are Saying

At that early stage, MESA helped solidify my interest in pursuing an engineering degree.

Jason Ibarra
Director, Digitization Services, Google

The program changed the way I studied, learned, and supported those around me. I never imagined I could ever reach as high as I have.

Katya Echazarreta
Engineering Assistant, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab

I learned a love for hands on math and science from MESA. I saw a diverse group that made me feel included and I had fun! I credit it as one of the main things that helped steer me towards a STEM degree and career.

Jennifer Scroggins
Senior Engineer, PG&E

MESA has truly supported me in many ways and is a program that goes above and beyond in helping me to succeed. Thank you MESA!

Daisy Manivong
Project Engineer, Kiewit

Our Partners

Industry leaders partner with us to strengthen their workforce pipeline with top-notch talent.

Each partnership is tailored to benefit individual companies.

Google
CISCO
Oracle
PG&E
VMWare
Keysight Technologies
AirBNB
APTIM
Applied Materials
Uber
Western Digital
Southern California Edison

Newsroom

MESA

MESA Has a New Look!

MESA’s looking fab at 50! We got a makeover for our next 50 years of STEM success! Guided by input from both internal and external partners, we developed a fresh, powerful and relatable new brand. Explore the new look and feel on our website, which features a new…

Thank you, Oracle

Thank you, Oracle

Once again, Oracle Academy is boosting computer science literacy where it’s most needed.  Oracle Academy equipped MESA teachers with tools and training that will lead to thousands of students at low-performing schools getting hands-on experience in coding. Eight…

Never Settle: An Alumni Profile

Never Settle: An Alumni Profile

MESA alumnus Jeffrey Aparicio shares his path and how he inspired his little brother to succeed. “My parents came to America and decided to settle in San Jose California because a relative lived there. We shared a two bedroom apartment with my uncle and my father’s…