For Release: August 5, 1997

Dave Drachlis
Office of Media Services
(205) 544-6538
dave.drachlis@msfc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 97-170

LANGSTON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR COMBINES ROCKET SCIENCE WITH ACADEMICS

Pamela Heard, professor of mathematics at Langston University, is spending the summer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., conducting important research for the space program while at the same time enriching her teaching skills.

Heard, a participant in NASA's Summer Faculty Fellowship Program, is working with a NASA colleague on math education.

The program pairs a professor with a NASA colleague to stimulate an exchange of ideas. "Over the summer the visiting faculty member will contribute to Marshall's research objectives," said Dr. Jim Dowdy, director of Summer Faculty Fellows.

Program participants attend weekly seminars during the 10-week program to learn about various Marshall projects. At the end of the summer, the faculty members will present reports of their research findings to their NASA colleagues.

"We want the Summer Faculty Fellowship Program to further the professors' science and engineering knowledge as well as enrich and refresh their teaching activities. Hopefully, they will use what they have learned to better guide students in science and engineering," said Dowdy.

NASA established the fellowship program in cooperation with the American Society for Engineering Education in 1966. Since its inception, approximately 7,000 faculty members have taken part in the program NASA-wide.