Strong American Schools is a nonpartisan public awareness and advocacy effort aimed at elevating discussion among America's leaders about the need for education reform. Through the ED in '08 campaign, Strong American Schools is calling for a vigorous and thorough discussion of education issues by the candidates for president in 2008.

SystemsGo Aeroscience is IGNITE’s program developed to promote engineering studies through research, to develop work force skills, and encourage students to enter academic and career paths in STEM fields that lead to careers in the engineering industries.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the largest professional organization in the world promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning, announced in March 2008 the launch of a $43 million, five-year effort to create a national Center for Science Education (CSE). CSE initiatives will promote science literacy, produce the next generation of science education standards, and create a state-of-the-art facility that will allow science educators nationwide to engage in leadership and content-based learning opportunities.

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The Space Foundation’s mission: To advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable, and propel humanity.

In 1983, a small group of leaders in Colorado Springs saw a need to establish an organization that could, in a non-partisan, objective and fair manner, bring together the various sectors of America's developing space community and serve as a credible source of information for a broad audience - from space professionals to the general public. The Space Foundation was founded March 21, 1983, as an IRS 501 (c)(3) organization "to foster, develop and promote, among the citizens of the United States of America and among other people of the world ... a greater understanding and awareness ... of the practical and theoretical utilization of space ... for the benefit of civilization and the fostering of peaceful and prosperous world."

Sally Ride Science is an innovative science content company dedicated to supporting girls’ and boys’ interests in science, math and technology. The organization believes that when children are encouraged to pursue their interests, they are inspired to think about their futures, and are better prepared to pursue a wide range of exciting opportunities in high school, college and beyond.

Seeing science in action is often the best way to inspire young people to pursue a career in science. Dr. Michael Brown, who won the Nobel Prize in 1985 in medicine, often tells audiences that his interest in science began as a small boy when he visited natural history museums.

Today some of the most popular museums in the United States are devoted to science, nature and technology – such as the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Boston Science Museum, Chicago’s Field Museum of Science & Industry, COSI in Columbus, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Pacific Science Center, The Tech Museum of Innovation, and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, among many others.

Southern Methodist University has been providing a path to careers in math and science by sponsoring engineering camps in the summer where girls can have fun and learn how engineers make lives better.

The GEMS program – Gateway to Excellence in Math and Science – has been launched by the University of Texas at Dallas to help meet the challenges spotlighted in the “Rising Above The Gathering Storm” report in 2006. According to UTD President David Daniel, the university’s own look at the math and science challenge revealed an exodus of students from studies in science, engineering and mathematics to less mathematically intensive degree programs. In a single academic year, only 33 percent of UT Dallas freshmen successfully completed Calculus I and II. Chemistry posed a barrier as well: A third of the students failed on their first try. Those two courses are gateways to majors that place a heavy emphasis on math and scientific principles.

A new documentary called “Two Million Minutes” is helping raise awareness of the science and math challenge facing the United States. The title comes from the fact that as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that moment, the child has approximately two million minutes until high school graduation, which means two million minutes to build their intellectual foundation, to prepare for college and ultimately career, to go from a teenager to an adult.

“Dragonfly TV” is an award-winning multimedia science education program combining television, community outreach, the Web, and fun. Produced by Twin Cities public TV station KTCA, the creator of the long-running family science series Newton's Apple, “DragonflyTV” engages tens of millions of children, parents and teachers in hands-on science activities. “DragonflyTV” is designed to appeal to children from diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds. By modeling and celebrating children's science capabilities, “DragonflyTV” shows that if kids can dream it, they can do it.

Sparking an interest in math and science at an early age is essential for reinvigorating math and science study in the United States. Experience has shown that girls and boys must be engaged in science by the third grade to fourth grade to develop an interest that endures through their school career. “The Zula Patrol” is addressing the need for early science literacy education with a TV show geared toward pre-school and early elementary students. The “Zula Patrol” program is broadcast on 80 percent of the public television stations in the U.S. as well as the Discovery Channel in Canada and National Geographic channel throughout Latin America.

In today’s competitive economy, the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math fields is widely recognized in the U.S. and abroad. “Labs Are Vital” is a program aimed to address the shortage that clinical laboratories are facing. According to the organization, only two new clinical laboratory scientists enter the field for every seven facing retirement.