First Nations STEM students head to NASA for eighth year running
Eight First Nations university students from Australia have been selected for a 10-week research placement at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The program, run by Monash University, aims to increase Indigenous participation in the space and STEM sectors.
Why it matters
It demonstrates the success of targeted educational pathways in fostering diversity within high-tech and aerospace industries.
Eight First Nations university students from across Australia will travel to the United States this year for a 10-week research placement at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.
The placements are part of Monash University 's National Indigenous Space Academy (NISA), founded in 2019 to build Indigenous participation in Australia's growing space sector.
Now in its eighth year, NISA has grown from a three-student pilot in 2019 to a program that has taken 29 First Nations students to world-class space research institutions in the US and UK.
In 2026, the program took out two Group Category awards at the Australian Space Awards: Indigenous Space Initiative of the Year and Diversity Initiative Program of the Year.
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