OUR BEGINNING

NMSI’s roots trace back to the 1990s, when scientists and engineers from around the world were preparing to gather for an atom-crushing project deep under rural North Texas. The international project evaporated, but the idea to identify and scale high-quality STEM education programs took off. 

The doomed North Texas superconducting super-collider was codenamed Desertron. Local, state and federal officials knew the STEM professionals headed to the region would need broad access to outstanding STEM education for their children. An organization that later became NMSI was formed to make that happen.
NMSI has evolved from identifying and scaling high-quality STEM education programs to developing and delivering comprehensive preK-12+ solutions.


In 2018, we launched NMSI Next, our five-year strategic plan that explicitly elevates our focus on school system- and community-level change and our commitment as an anti-racist organization.

 


We continue to empower teachers with culturally responsive classroom resources and top-notch professional development to propel all students toward their highest potentials.

 
We've expanded to provide additional learning opportunities for students and families and work with government officials to create policies that support better outcomes for all students, particularly students furthest from opportunity.

Equity and Anti-Racism 

Since its formal launch in 2007, NMSI has worked with school systems to identify practices and policies that block students from accessing advanced education. NMSI helps schools increase diversity in advanced courses while maintaining and growing student achievement in those classes. More recently, NMSI has expanded its work to collaborate with community groups and local, state and federal officials to help breakdown racism and implicit bias in education.