Dr. Samuel García Jr. serves as a NASA Educator Professional Development Specialist, Assistant Professor of Practice for the LBJ Institute for Education and Research. Dr. García helps facilitate professional development to both formal and informal STEM educators utilizing NASA resources with a specific focus on Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. He also works with faculty serving in Minority Serving Institutions in developing STEM educational tools and resources for teachers to implement in their classrooms. Dr. García’s research agenda is geared towards community and educational change by creating healthy, equitable, and culturally responsive learning environments for traditionally underserved populations. Dr. García. earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas Río Grande Valley, formerly University of Texas Pan American and holds a doctorate degree in School Improvement from Texas State University. | |
Lauren Chu is a spacecraft mechanical engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She supported the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission in several roles: a testbed lead for the development of the rock coring drill; a cognizant engineer for the coring drill bits, responsible for getting the flight hardware through all steps of design, manufacturing, assembly, and testing until delivery to the rover; and a testbed lead for the qualification of the Sampling and Caching Subsystem. Lauren is currently a mechanical engineer floor lead supporting Psyche ATLO (assembly, test, and launch operations) on a temporary deployment to Kennedy Space Center to prepare the spacecraft for its launch this fall. | |
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