ESE Partnerships
ESE accomplishes its mission and goals through an extensive network of academic, commercial, interagency and international partnerships. ESE is the largest contributor to the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). Agreements with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Transportation (DoT), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), United States Geological Survey (USGS), National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and other federal, state, local and tribal agencies assure that ESE’s research is broadly used in society. In the past three years over 60 international agreements have been concluded, and more than 40 more are pending. In some capacity, Earth science programs involve international partners from over 35 nations. NASA is an active participant in the World Meteorological Organization’s World Climate Research Program and the United Nations Environment Program’s International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Several boards and committees of the National Research Council are engaged in review of ESE programs.

ESE Education Programs
Training the next generation of scientists and engineers and increasing the scientific literacy of all Americans is a high priority at NASA. ESE has established programs that span the formal education process, and a variety that support informal education through science museums and other means. In formal education, ESE is engaged in teacher training (sponsoring nearly 500 workshops in fiscal year 2001) and development of curriculum support materials that are reviewed by educators to assure their utility in helping them meet national education standards. The Earth System Science Education project designs curricula at the college and university level, and helps those institutions design new undergraduate majors in this interdisciplinary field.

ESE is engaged in teacher training and development of curriculum and support materials to expose students of all ages to the Earth sciences. The GRACE Master Teachers Program is one example. The Texas Space Grant Consortium, funded by NASA, has worked closely with the GRACE mission team to develop interdisciplinary materials appropriate for teaching students from grades K-12 about the upcoming GRACE mission and related science.

NASA also has a vested interest in training the next generation of scientists. The Graduate Student Fellowship Program sponsors 50 new graduate students each year to conduct new research. The New Investigator Program does the same for those who recently received their doctoral degrees. ESE is working on professional education projects to help meet the growing demand in the workforce for people capable of using remote sensing data and geographic information systems.

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Earth Science Enterprise
Introduction
Missions
Data and Information System
Partnerships