NASA LAUNCHES MINORITY PARTNERSHIP WITH FLORIDA COLLEGES

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will award a grant and announce the participation of Edward Waters College in a partnership of Florida minority universities as part of a program initiated by the Kennedy Space Center Equal Opportunity Program Office. The partnership will promote high-tech entrepreneurship and to better acquaint NASA professionals with researchers at Florida minority institutions. The consortium is led by Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, and includes Florida Memorial College and Florida International University in Miami. NASA officials will officially announce the program at Edward Waters College on July 9, 1997 at 10:00 AM in the Milne Auditorium.

The partnership program seeks to provide exposure for students and faculty at minority institutions to the challenges and rewards of starting and operating high-tech small businesses. The concept is to involve the schools in existing, proven technology transfer programs established by NASA and the State of Florida through the Technological Research and Development Authority. The programs include commercialization of NASA technologies, assistance for companies seeking NASA Small Business Innovative Research Grants, the NASA Small Business Incubation Center, and the Technology Outreach Program.

Edward Waters College students and faculty will work with NASA commercialization representatives, engineers, and small-business owners to solve technical problems through the Technology Outreach Program. In addition, they will work with the NASA Commercialization Office and assist in finding and training companies who have great potential to participate in NASA’s Small Business Innovative Research Grant program. A two-week summer program for university faculties will kick-off the first of its kind partnership with training and briefings on the programs of the commercialization office at Kennedy Space Center. Representatives from the institutions will learn about the programs at KSC, and prepare to share the opportunities and how to access them with other faculty at their respective colleges.

According to Jim Jennings, Deputy Director of NASA Kennedy Space Center, "The resources of Edward Waters College will have a tremendous impact on our commercialization programs, while faculty and students will be getting hands-on technical and business experience." Jennings will tour the college after the award ceremony on July 9.

Edward Waters College was accredited in 1955 as a junior college and on December 11, 1979 received accreditation as a four-year college by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). On January 1, 1985, Edward Waters became the 43rd institutional member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The college is licensed by the State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities, National University of Continuing Education Association (NUCEA), and Florida Association of Colleges and Universities of Florida.

For More Information Contact:
Jay Diggs, NASA Kennedy Space Center, 407-867-2307
Yvonne Wagner, Edward Waters College, 904-355-3030
Gwendolyn De Cort or Mary Baker, Technological Research & Development Authority, 407-269-6330

• Participating Institutions are led by Bethune-Cookman College of Daytona Beach and include Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida Memorial College and Florida International University in Miami.

• The partnership is made possible by an $800,000.00 grant through the NASA-Kennedy Space Center Equal Opportunity Program Office.

• The partnership project was developed to take advantage of the existing technology transfer programs that are in place at NASA and gain support from the universities as well as exposing students and faculty to entrepreneurial activities.

• This is the first consortium of Florida predominately minority institutions to propose a combined effort for a NASA program.

• Bethune-Cookman College will act as the overall administrator for the partnership. In addition, faculty and students from the college will work to assist the NASA-KSC Commercialization Office with business assistance, will assist the Technology Outreach Program through the local Economic Development Commission, and will provide a faculty member for the summer to work at the NASA-KSC Commercialization Office.

• Edward Waters College will provide faculty from the school of business with experience in computer information systems, and student interns from marketing/business communications discipline to provide assistance to companies responding to Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) solicitations. They will also assist the Jacksonville area Technology Outreach Program, and participate in the Summer Faculty program in the NASA-KSC Commercialization Office.

• Florida Memorial College will provide a team comprised of a professor from the College of Business Administration and business and computer science students who will work with the NASA/Florida Small Business Incubation Center. They will also assist the Beacon Council and the Broward Economic Development Council with the Technology Outreach Program in Dade and Broward Counties, and participate in the Summer Faculty Program at KSC.

• Florida International University will provide support for the Commercialization Office in the areas of Technology Commercialization and Licensing, Technology Assessment and the Technology Development program. They will work with the Beacon Council and the Broward Economic Development Council to assist with the Technology Outreach Program, and participate in a Summer Faculty Program at KSC.

• The Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA), as KSC’s state partner in NASA’s technology transfer, will assist B-CC with program administration to ensure that the defined objectives are maximized. TRDA will act in a support role to B-CC and all schools and assist faculty and project coordinators with all program coordination.

• The Technological Outreach Program establishes a NASA network throughout Florida to provide free technical assistance to Florida businesses with the goal of creating or saving jobs and creating new economic activity by accelerating the transfer of NASA technology to Florida industry.

The Florida/NASA Incubation Center is located in Titusville, Florida and serves 7 companies in a variety of fields including updating/initializing business plans, marketing plans, financial planning, accounting systems and funding searches.