About NESSP

Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways (NESSP) is funded through the NASA Science Mission Directorate.

NASA centers have traditionally acted as hubs for professional development for teachers, access points for NASA educational materials, and on-site experiences for teachers and students. However, only eight states are fortunate enough to house NASA centers — and none are within our region.

NESSP serves as a “virtual NASA center” for residents of the Pacific Northwest, giving students and teachers in our region access to innovative and informative educational materials that engage student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). We also support community-based science and engineering events in partnership with underserved and underrepresented communities.

Our goals are to strengthen the STEM education region-wide and infuse a strong, standards-based mathematics component into NASA educational materials for middle and high school levels. We also serve as a bridge into other NASA experiences for teachers and students, and eventually into careers in STEM fields.