Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, III, President, UMBC Talks of Focus In Nurturing A New Generation

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski speaking on the importance of children to succeed in math and science education.

Nurturing a new generation of engineers and scientists was the theme of a talk given by Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President, University of Maryland - Baltimore County (UMBC). This was the fourth in a series celebrating events in observance of Black History Month.

Members of the Goddard community gathered in the Goett auditorium on yesterday morning, to warmly greet Hrabowski after a heartfelt introduction by center director, Al Diaz.

"I believe the education challenge for the 21st century is how do we prepare children to succeed in math and science," said Hrabowski. The Birmingham, Alabama native spoke of a childhood in which his mother continuously challenged him in math and literature. Hrabowski said that he is convinced that it will be the dreams and values of our society that will shape who we will be in the future.

He spoke of a new focus of attention about what is important in our society. Hrabowski insist that we need to celebrate an 11-year-old child solving an algebra problem more than an 11-year-old child that can bounce a basketball. "Our society does not celebrate brain power," insisted Hrabowski. He said that we must find ways to help children see the connection between hard work, discipline, being smart and what it leads to in later life. "I content that we as Americans need to think about how to place much more of an emphasis on the mind," said Hrabowski.

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NASA 's Mission:
*To understand and protect our home planet
*To explore the Universe and search for life
*To inspire the next generation of explorers
…as only NASA can

For a further details of the NASA mission, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/bios/vision.html

Extension for Safety Performance Evaluation Profile (PEP) Survey

Black History Month Activities at Goddard

Health Risk Assessment Survey

Safety Alerts

In observance and in celebration of marking a century of flight in 2003, Goddard News will feature historical NASA flight tidbits throughout the year. This week: On February 17, 1996 the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft was launched and in 2001 touched down on asteroid Eros. NEAR Shoemaker became the first spacecraft ever to land, or even attempt to land on an asteroid. The spacecraft spent the pervious year in an close-orbit study of asteroid 433 Eros and collected 10 times more data than originally planned and completed all its science goals. After landing on Eros, the spacecraft continued to operate until the final contact was made on 28 February. The gamma-ray spectrometer collected data from the asteroid's surface over this time. For a mission profile of NEAR Shoemaker, visit: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/
planetary/mission/near/near_traj.html

For more information on the Centennial of Flight celebration events, go to: http://www.centennialofflight.gov/