Founded in 1893, the American Society for Engineering Education is a nonprofit organization of individuals and institutions committed to furthering education in engineering and engineering technology.  NDEP supports ASEE’s eGFI program for grades K-12:

• Engineering: Go For It (eGFI) magazine, a colorful, inspiring magazine designed to attract middle and high-school students, particularly minorities and young women, and their parents, teachers and counselors to the exciting world of engineering and technology.
• www.egfi-k12.org
• a new teacher-oriented e-newsletter with lesson plans and class activities
• a classroom media kit complete with new eGFI magazine and poster
• a Student Blog where kids can connect and share their engineering aspirations and experiences

Link: http://www.asee.org/k12

The Center for Excellence in Education nurtures careers of excellence and leadership in science and technology for academically talented high school and college students. CEE is dedicated to encouraging international understanding among future leaders of the world. CEE's programs challenge students and assist them on a long-term basis to become creators, inventors, scientists and leaders of the 21st century.

Today, the Center sponsors two programs for high school students: the Research Science Institute (RSI) and the USA Biology Olympiad (USABO). RSI participants represent five continents, and CEE program alumni travel as guests of foreign nations and educational organizations to promote mutual understanding among the world's future leaders. In 2007 and 2009, RSI alumni won first prize at the Intel Science Talent Search. The potential value of accessing the RSI talent pool prompted PEP to sponsor 10 DoD scholars per summer in 2008 and 2009.

Link: http://www.cee.org

MATHCOUNTS is nationally recognized a non-profit foundation whose mission is to increase enthusiasm and achievement in U.S. middle school mathematics through enrichment, coaching and competition. Every President of the United States has recognized the winners of the MATHCOUNTS competition at White House ceremonies since the establishment of the foundation in 1982. Recognizing the pivotal importance of middle school math, PEP supports a new program component, Math Clubs, whose goal is  to expand interest and participation in math-based activities rather than focusing on MATHCOUNT’s signature competitions. In 2008-2009, MATHCOUNTS registered 7,338 club schools nationwide with over 127,000 students participating in the Club Program.  In 2009-2010, PEP will establish Math Clubs as an enterprise-wide activity engaging DoD STEM professionals to help form and coach clubs at schools near DoD laboratories.

Link: https://mathcounts.org

On the drawing board: NDEP is partnering with the National Center for Technological Literacy at the Museum of Science, Boston to develop a searchable database to cross reference each webisode by subject area and against national science and math standards.  This feature should launch in Spring 2010.

The National Center for Technological Literacy (NCTL), at the Museum of Science (MOS), Boston, develops K-12 engineering curricula and regularly partners with educators on professional development and classroom programs in science, technology and engineering. The NCTL is teaming with NDEP to distribute LabTV through their educator network to ensure as many teachers as possible have access to the free resources.

Link: http://www.mos.org/

About the Team America Rocketry Challenge
Team America Rocketry Challenge 2009 is sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry, with co-sponsorship by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Defense Department, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and 34 AIA member companies. The event was originally created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight, but AIA decided to hold it again after receiving hundreds of requests from students, teachers and parents. 2009 marks the seventh year of the Team America Rocketry Challenge. A pool of over $60,000 in scholarships and prizes is shared by the top 10 placing teams. Two AIA companies provide additional prize premiums. Lockheed Martin gives $5,000 in scholarship funds to each of the top three teams, and Raytheon pays for the winning team to attend the International Paris Air Show in June.

TARC is about inspiring the next generation of young people to choose a career in aerospace. The generation that won the Space Race is retiring from America's aerospace industry, creating lots of great jobs on exciting programs. TARC is a steppingstone to the stars. Read more about AIA's efforts to revitalize the aerospace workforce.

Link: http://www.rocketcontest.org/

FIRST is a nationally recognized robotics competition whose vision is to spark the imagination and creativity of students by making hands-on problem solving cool. Teams are formed as an after school activity with guidance and sponsorship from and technology-based organizations STEM professionals.  Founded in 1992 by Dean Kamen, an inventor and recipient of the National Medal of Technology, FIRST has grown from a 28-team competition at a single site into a nationwide activity that reaches 150,000 students in all 50 states. The finals are held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, where the organizers seek to create the excitement usually associated with bowl games. Some 85,000 volunteers and 3,000 sponsoring organizations are involved. PEP sponsorship, with the support of DoD STEM professionals in San Diego and Carderock, has established FIRST as an enterprise-wide activity in 2009-2010. Sixteen laboratories representing all three services stepped forward to form 34 middle school FIRST Lego League teams and 13 high school FIRST Robotics Competition teams.  Each will be coached by one of more DoD volunteers, reinforcing local partnerships while also providing DoD with corporate visibility at the national level. 

Link: http://www.usfirst.org/