Shelley Spears

Director

Center for Integrative Education
National Institute of Aerospace

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Ms. Spears is a member of the National Institute of Aerospace’s (NIA) senior management team, and has responsibility for leading its national educational outreach program.  NIA is a non-profit research and  graduate education institute created to conduct leading-edge aerospace and atmospheric research, develop new technologies for the nation and help inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. In her role at NIA, Shelley leads NIA’s Center for Integrative STEM Education which creates and executes award winning. research-based K-12 STEM initiatives for high tech companies, local and state education, and the federal government, including NASA, NOAA, and the Office of Naval Research.  Areas of specialty for Shelley, and her team of award winning educators, project managers and media specialists, include: undergraduate research internship programs, national engineering design competitions for middle school, high school, undergraduate and graduate students; STEM career awareness programs; pre-service teachers and in-service teacher training;  customized, web 2.0 multi-media learning solutions for classrooms; and virtual world learning solutions for classrooms.  NIA offers an educators-in-residence program, as well as adult learning and continuing education programs.

Ms. Spears has over 25 years of experience in business management, government and community relations, and marketing communications, and has focused her efforts on STEM education initiatives for the past twelve years. Shelley has held senior management roles with Nortel Networks, FEMA, and US Senator Charles S. Robb.  Ms. Spears holds B.A. with honors from James Madison University.

NIA, now in its 10 year, was formed by a consortium of leading research universities. Members include: Georgia Tech, Hampton University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, the College of William & Mary and the AIAA Foundation. NIA serves as a strategic partner with NASA Langley Research Center and the aerospace community to enable research creativity and expand technology development opportunities. The Institute integrates research and graduate education while creating new government/academia/industry partnerships to solve tomorrow’s problems today.