🚀 NASA STEM Opportunities Are Open: Students Can Learn, Build, Compete and Prepare for Future Careers

Dream With Us Design Challenge

Students in grades 6–12 develop ideas addressing real-world aviation challenges connected to NASA Aeronautics.

Student Launch

Students participate in a research-based engineering competition involving rockets and aerospace concepts.

NASA ORBIT

College and university students can develop solutions involving research, business, innovation and technology while competing for prizes and receiving mentorship.

🔬 You Can Even Help With Real Research

NASA opportunities aren't limited to traditional classes and competitions.

Citizen-science projects allow members of the public to contribute to scientific research.

Depending on the project, participants might analyze NASA images, make observations or help researchers classify information.

It's an incredible concept:

You don't necessarily have to work at NASA to contribute to NASA science.

👩‍🏫 Opportunities for Teachers, Too

NASA STEM isn't only for students.

Educators can find classroom resources, professional-development opportunities and programs that connect students with NASA scientists and engineers.

NASA's NASA Engages program, for example, can connect NASA professionals with educational groups ranging from preschool through college.

NASA also operates the NASA EXPRESS newsletter, which sends STEM opportunities and resources to subscribers each Thursday.

🌟 Why Programs Like This Matter

A student doesn't need to know exactly what career they want at 13, 16 or even 20 years old.

Programs like these allow young people to experiment.

Someone might enter because they like computers and discover an interest in aerospace engineering.

Another student might love photography and become fascinated with Earth observation.

Someone who enjoys building things could discover robotics.

A student interested in data might eventually pursue data science.

And someone who has always looked at the night sky wondering "How does that work?" may discover that there's an entire career waiting for them.

🚀 NASA Isn't Just for Astronauts

Perhaps that's the biggest misconception worth changing.

When children say they want to work for NASA, adults sometimes treat it like an impossible childhood dream.

But NASA needs far more than astronauts.

The aerospace workforce depends on people with many different specialties and educational backgrounds.

The first step doesn't have to be applying for a NASA job.

It can simply be:

Take a class.

Enter a challenge.

Learn to code.

Build something.

Ask questions.

Apply for an internship.

Every expert started somewhere.

For today's students, that somewhere could be a NASA STEM opportunity.