Skip to main content

Rural STEM Initiative

Rural STEM News

Read news that is relevant to our Rural STEM Initiative Participating Schools and Collaborating Organizations.

Become a Participating School by joining the DHEDF Rural STEM Initiative to access STEM content. To learn more about DHEDF Rural STEM for your school, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., DHEDF Chair, with any questions.

Collaborating Organizations News

25 November 2025

Learning Undefeated and DHEDF Join Forces to Expand Hands-O…

Nonprofit Learning Undefeated is partnering with the Dee Howard International Education Foundation (DHEDF) to advance the Foundation’s Rural STEM Initiative and bring high-quality, hands-on STEM curriculum and resources…

16 October 2025

National Rural Education Association Releases 2025 Why Rura…

October 13, 2025 TUCSON, AZ –The National Rural Education Association (NREA) is proud to launch the 2025 Why Rural Matters report, a project with a more than 20-year history of shaping the conversation about rural educa…

SwRI-led Webb Telescope survey discovers new moon orbiting…

August 19, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute led a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) survey, discovering a previously unknown tiny moon orbiting Uranus. A team led by SwRI’s Dr. Maryame El Moutamid discovered the smal…

SwRI completes 8-year-long NEXTCAR energy efficiency project

July 22, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has successfully completed its ambitious eight-year-long connected and automated (CAV) vehicle technology project.

UTSA researcher hones spacecraft designs at national lab

JULY 28, 2025 — Testing the aerodynamics of rockets in a Mach 7 wind tunnel that emulates the extreme speed of a spacecraft’s descent back to Earth is a highly anticipated assignment among students working in the UTSA H…

NASA Papers Acquired By Texas A&M Give Insight To Aerospace…

Three Texas A&M University students have been combing through former Chief Scientist of NASA Dr. John Charles’ collection, containing glimpses into the history of aeronautic medical research.

To plan future habitats on the moon, San Antonio students g…

In late March, more than two dozen students from schools across the San Antonio region and the robot rovers they built earlier this year descended underground into a cave system to map out its terrain and study its sedi…

05 February 2025

UTSA announces new research center to advance space technol…

UTSA’s Office of Research today announced the launch of the Center for Space Technology and Operations Research (CSTOR), a new research center dedicated to advancing engineering, technology and operations that will supp…

16 January 2025

Dr. Guillermo Araya awarded Presidential Early Career Award…

Dr. Guillermo Araya, Wayne and Julie Fagan Endowed Professor, UTSA Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design, awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). It is the highes…

24 December 2024

A UTSA aerospace expert weighs in on recent drone sightings…

The FBI has received reports of more than 5,000 reported drone sightings, and the government has done little to shed light on what is happening in the skies. TPR's Jerry Clayton recently spoke with aerospace expert Chri…

23 November 2024

Spark! PK-12 Engineering Education Outreach

Designed to inspire STEM literacy, Spark! offers engineering education programming to PK-12 students and families and professional development opportunities to educators in the science, technology, engineering and math…

23 November 2024

Texas A & M University College of Medicine – Rural Medicine…

In 2019, Texas A&M College of Medicine embarked on an initiative to focus on rural medicine disparities given our history as a Land Grant University and our Medical School Charter for Rural Medicine. The College…

23 November 2024

Texas A&M’s Southwest Rural Health Research Center Secures…

The Southwest Rural Health Research Center at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health has been awarded a four-year, $2.8 million cooperative agreement by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s F…

22 November 2024

Students will get their hands dirty in real-world STEM rese…

UTSA students in microbiology courses will soon have the opportunity to sift through soil samples in pursuit of new antibiotics. Researchers developing this learning experience aim to boost motivation and engagement in…

05 October 2024

UTSA to lead multimillion-dollar project to advance interpl…

OCTOBER 2, 2024 — UTSA was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) to lead a multimillion-dollar project that will stimulate nuclear energy research at UTSA, leverage novel experi…

03 October 2024

Regents Approve Texas A&M Space Institute

The $200 million facility will be built at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to help ensure Texas remains a leader in space exploration.

27 September 2024

She was one of the only Black women in her engineering prog…

“It’s always been a source of community, perseverance, and learning how to be determined.” CNN Hero Yamilée Toussaint

DHEDF Announces Gift from the Dee Howard Memorabilia Collec…

Durrell U. “Dee” Howard (26 May 1920 – 12 February 2009) was a respected inventor and legendary in the aviation industry for his many creative accomplishments. Dee had over forty US and foreign patents issued in his nam…

The Aerospace Corporation assisted Smithsonian Science Educ…

The Aerospace Corporation sponsored the development and launch of a new digital book with the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) called Women in Space. This free resource has stories from women leaders from the…

Participating Schools News

30 October 2025

Trinidad & Tobago's Aviation Sector: Cleared for Takeoff

Since the early 2000s, Trinidad & Tobago's aviation sector has undergone a steady transformation driven by global developments, regional integration, and national development goals. From the modernization of Piarco…

Dedication ceremony at SETA Magnet School

Dee Howard’s daughter, Dee Ann Bridges and Chair of the Dee Howard International Education Foundation, Wayne Fagan, attended the official opening ceremony of Dee Howard Way to celebrate with the students.

21 February 2025

DHEDF Featured Educator of the Month, Feb 2025 - Tracy Thomas

Tracy is the Principles of Applied Engineering instructor for Space and Engineering Technologies Academy Middle School in North East ISD in San Antonio, Texas. This is her 21st year with Krueger and the KSAT/SETA progra…

Stapleton receives certification for their outdoor classroom

STAPLETON, Ala. (WALA) - Stapleton School in a rural part of Baldwin County received certification Wednesday for its outdoor classroom from the Alabama Wildlife Federation.

Stapleton School earns Alabama Outdoor Classroom, National Wildlife Federa…

Stapleton School received certification as an official Outdoor Classroom School through the Alabama Wildlife Federation (AWF) Alabama Outdoor Classroom Program on Wednesday, May 15, becoming the fifth school in the Bald…

24 January 2023

North Pole: Terri Mynatt

Says Terri Mynatt (BSEd ’89), "Being an educator to the Athabascan people of Alaska is the most rewarding experience she could have found. Now, she’s on a quest to find other graduates of the PSU College of Education to…

19 December 2022

Frankford Elementary fifth graders participate in virtual drone class

Students in Rachel Robb’s fifth grade class got to do a deep dive into the mechanics of flying and building drones through a virtual presentation through the Rural STEM Initiative from the Dee Howard International Educa…

27 September 2022

DHEDF Launches National Rural STEM Initiative

In May 2022 DHEDF announced the launch of a National STEM Initiative focused on Rural Schools. In September 2022, we launched the Initiative for the 2022/2023 academic year in twelve schools in nine states, over time ou…