function onPlayerReadyVidible(e){'undefined'!=typeof HPTrack&&HPTrack.Vid.Vidible_track(e)}!function(e,i){if(e.vdb_Player){if('object'==typeof commercial_video){var a='',o='m.fwsitesection='+commercial_video.site_and_category;if(a+=o,commercial_video['package']){var c='&m.fwkeyvalues=sponsorship%3D'+commercial_video['package'];a+=c}e.setAttribute('vdb_params',a)}i(e.vdb_Player)}else{var t=arguments.callee;setTimeout(function(){t(e,i)},0)}}(document.getElementById('vidible_1'),onPlayerReadyVidible); WASHINGTON 'Ivanka Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos held an event at the National Air and Space Museum Tuesday, promoting the administrations support for young women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They even appeared with astronaut Kay Hire and showed the movie Hidden Figures, a story about the achievements of African-American women at NASA.Trump paid homage to the women featured in the movie for paving the way for greater representation of women and African-Americans in these fields.My fathers administration has expanded NASAs space exploration mission and added Mars as a key objective, she added.President Donald Trumps 2018 budget, however severely undercuts this women-friendly image put forward by DeVos and his daughter Tuesday.If Trump gets his way, his budget will eliminate the $115 million NASA Office of Education. The popular NASA initiative provides internships, enrichment programs, camps and scholarships for young scientists, and tries to get more underrepresented communities into STEM.Advocates say its a critical way for more women and minorities to enter these fields, and that axing it would be devastating.Its how I started my career in the space industry. Its how so many people I know got started in the space industry, Laura Seward Forczyk, a planetary scientist, told The Washington Post.Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Ivanka Trump are feigning an interest in STEM careers with a photo op at the National Air and Space Museum while eliminating all funding for NASAs education programs. This takes chutzpah to a new level, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers labor union.Growing up in Virginia, Leland Melvin thought he was going to go to college and eventually play professional football. But thenhe learned about a NASA programthat would pay for him to take classes towards his masters degree in materials science engineering. After a football injury sidelined his original plans, he continued his science education with additional NASA funding ' all funneled through the NASA Office of Education.If it hadnt been for NASA Education I wouldnt have been funded to go to school, to work at NASA Langley, to become an astronaut,Melvin told The Washington Post. He eventually went on to run the education office as well.NASA has said that if the education office is eliminated, it will absorb those programs into the Science Mission Directorate, another office at the agency.The directorates budget for education and outreach, however, is much smaller, meaning some of the education offices programs would still be cut or eliminated.The president recently signed legislationthat requires NASA to encourage more women and girls to go into STEM, even though his budget takes away critical funds for such efforts. His budget also proposes taking away billions from the federal Pell Grant program, which helps low-income students attend college.Ivanka Trump didnt mention these cuts at the event Tuesday, although she did reveal that she and her 5-year-old daughter will be attending a coding class this summer.Want more updates from Amanda Terkel' Sign up for her newsletter, Piping Hot Truth, here. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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