Will be a member of the JPL Education Office reporting to the Higher Education Group Supervisor.   Will:
• Serve as the education specialist, the lead, and the point of contact (POC) on all matters related to working and partnering with community colleges in California and across the country.
• Be the POC within the JPL Education Office for interface with NASA Office of Education managers and personnel on matters related to support and services for community colleges.
• Be responsible for identifying and developing approaches to enhance community colleges’ academic and R&D capacity in aerospace-related engineering, technology and sciences.
• Support NASA Office of Education competitive programs related to community colleges, faculty, and students.   
• Serve as the lead for Curriculum Improvement Partnership Award for the Integration of Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum (CIPAIR)   or Minority Serving Institution (MSI) community college (MSI-CC) activity, a post-secondary education activity managed by JPL for NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP), to complete project requirements and provide oversight support for the remaining investments and activities.   
• Participates in managing budget activities for CIPAIR or MSI-CC activity, planning and evaluating the overall activity, based on knowledge of activity, operations, and views of participants and other interested parties.
• Coordinate summer and year-round community college student and faculty programs at JPL, collaborating with JPL program and project offices and with the technical and administrative divisions.
• Help increase and enable the STEM pipeline allied to JPL and NASA. In particular, initiate and support efforts to increase the number of underserved and underrepresented undergraduates in STEM.
• Submit data on program activities and events to appropriate NASA and JPL reporting systems, and in response to the Executive Orders regarding minority-serving institutions.

Plan, develop, administer, and/or support educational programs and activities in areas of higher education, elementary and secondary education, informal education, educational technologies, and education for underserved and underrepresented populations, based on research, teaching and learning methodologies, tools, and environments. Develop materials, services, products, etc. that advance the Laboratory education mission and comply with NASA and industry standards.
• Develops guidelines for working with students, faculty, researchers, mentors, schools/academic institutions, and informal education community
• Maintains Laboratory’s participation in systemic education improvement initiatives and programs; may represent operation to Laboratory committees
• Serves as Principal Investigator on educational proposals; reviews proposals
• Creates highly complex evaluative reports and presentations
• Performs highly complex and critical job functions and activities.
• Works on major assignments and projects without appreciable direction, typically exercising considerable latitude in determining objectives.
• Completed work is evaluated for desired results and long-term contributions to organization.
• Actions and decisions have a highly significant positive impact on a multifunctional organization, due to creation of significant new business opportunities, critical mission successes, technology breakthroughs, and state-of-the-art improvements in processes or methods.
• Erroneous decisions or recommendations will result in failure to achieve major organizational objectives.
• Applies wide-ranging experience and advanced knowledge in one or more related fields of knowledge to provide leadership, oversight, and monitoring to an organization’s technical products, services, and/or capabilities; provides assessment of technical deliverables; resolves technical and resource issues.
• Regular use of creativity and innovation, often leading to significant breakthroughs in discipline.
• Exercises discretion and independent judgment in evaluating potential approaches and solutions to new and unusual problems with organization- wide impact and determining appropriate resolutions.
• Interactions normally involve advising management on extremely complex and significant issues.
• Advises and consults with management or equivalent within and outside own organization.
• Represents JPL through regular interface with representatives of organizations outside JPL.
• Continual involvement and participation with industry partners and other NASA centers.
• Serves as an essential team leader on teams inside and outside organization, project, activity or function, including outside JPL.
• Typically forms as well as leads teams.

Required Skills:
• Typically requires a Masters degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) education, physical or applied sciences, engineering, or related discipline with a minimum of 7 years of related experience; Bachelors degree in similar disciplines with a minimum of 9 years of related experience
• Extensive teaching and/or academic program administration experiences at a community college, or, wide-ranging experiences in initiating, developing, and overseeing collaborative academic, research and development programs with community colleges
• Familiarity with the mission and practices of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and other minority institutions (OMIs); and familiarity with legislative and congressional mandates regarding these institutions
• Responsiveness and service-oriented attitude, with demonstrated ability to tactfully handle difficult situations in a timely manner
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Requires a team-oriented, resourceful, highly-motivated candidate able to manage and prioritize multiple tasks

Desired skills:
• Familiarity with the objectives and programs and projects of the NASA Office of Education
• Knowledgeable about federal solicitation and procurement processes
• Knowledge of   both JPL and NASA proposal processes and prior success in acquiring new business