Laura A. Shawnee is the Manager of Informal Education Programs, Education Division, Strategic Communications and Development. Laura designs, coordinates and implements NASA-Ames' informal education outreach programs and products for elementary and secondary grades, teachers, families and informal professional development. She serves the nine Western states in the U.S., defining and implementing the agency's policies and procedures. She is responsible for establishing and working with the Informal Education Centers, museums, planetariums, science centers and community-based organizations and groups. She is responsible for the overall program direction, planning, implementation and safe execution of all activities in the Ames Exploration Encounter (AEE).

Image to right: Manager, Informal Education Programs, Education Division, Strategic Communications and Development

Laura conducts major on-site events for more than 1,000 students and teachers per event. These events include hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for upper elementary students. She served as point of contact for the Center’s Centennial of Flight activities, by leading the development and implementation of the Aero Expo program. The overwhelming success of the first program led to six years' funding for follow-on programs. The programs consist of keynote speakers, web-casts of the speeches, hands-on activities, and tours of vintage aircraft flown into Moffett Field, Calif., which attracted over 9,000 participants. In a joint project with the Technology Museum of Innovation for Space Day, she conducted the first ever airplane parade in downtown San Jose. She was instrumental in the educational component of the Center’s new Exploration Visitor Center. After the opening of the Center she held three family nights that attracted over 5,000 participants.

Laura has served on the Agency’s committee to define and develop criteria for exemplary education programs. All NASA education programs are measured using these criteria. She has served as manager of the Center's speaker’s bureau, tour program, visitor center, and Ames Exploration Encounter. She has managed a 100-member volunteer group that ‘adopted’ a grades 5-8 school in East Palo Alto, Calif., providing mentoring, field trips to the Center, clubs and activities for students and workshops for teachers. She managed the educational multimedia team that developed the Mars Virtual Exploration CD-ROM for use in the classroom. This product received a NASA Space Act award and numerous other citations and recognition for quality and creativity. Laura managed and provided stewardship for the Office’s multi-million dollar budget for several years. She has served as the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative for the support services contract providing support to various institutional divisions throughout the Center and on the Source Evaluation Committee for combining multiple smaller support services contracts into one major contract. The committee with her participation was able to award a multi-million dollar contract in 80 days, instead of the allowed 120 days and without a protest.

Prior to assuming her present position, Laura held responsible positions in the Equal Opportunity Programs Office where she developed procedures to ensure equal job opportunities for women, racial minorities, handicapped persons, and disabled veterans, and the Human Resources Division, where she developed a College Recruitment Program.