The FMAC is strongly committed to the advancement of education in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).  It is our belief that most resources currently devoted to this area of interest usually fall into one of three (sometimes overlapping) areas: recruitment, motivation or preparation.

Recruitment - This is the process of helping young people find available information about the high quality New Mexico schools including: CNM, UNM, NMT and NMSU.

Motivation - This is energizing a young audience to be excited about the possibilities of choosing a STEM career path. We help in this area through our support of the AFRL Space Scholars (see below) and our summer digital academies. FPGA technology is important in this area as programming devices is often exciting for students. 

Preparation - Having students excited about a STEM track serves little purpose if they are not prepared for the rigors of a college program and drop out during the first semester. FMAC strongly feels that there is not enough time, money or effort devoted to this third (and possibly most critical) portion of the triangle.  To satisfy this need, the FMAC teaches a series of after school high school programs at the FMAC Facility  called the “Young Technologists for a New Century” that will cover the following topics:

• Algebra without mistakes
• Differential and Integral Calculus
• Linear Algebra (matrices)
• Relationship of e-i-pi
• Differential equations
• Dynamics

Where possible, FPGA technology is inserted into this and other high school programs.  FPGA introduction at this level is good for motivation but it is not probably critical in terms of “preparation.”

If you are interested in having discussions with the FMAC staff about what we can do at your school, please E-mail the Director or Deputy Director.