Gloria L. Nelson
Executive Director

Gloria Nelson is the Executive Director for the Colorado Minority Engineering Association, Inc. (CMEA/MESA).  She has fourteen years experience as a secondary school science teacher (chemistry, geology, astronomy, physical and life science).  She developed and implemented high school curricula in geology and astronomy and has written and produced planetarium programs for secondary students and adults.  She participated in graduate level research projects demonstrating a positive correlation between hands-on, project-based science and attitudes of at-risk students toward school.

Ms. Nelson also has eight years of field engineering experience with state of the art digital telecom switching systems and hardware/software problem resolution.  She has 20 years experience within the Unix, DOS and Windows environment.

Since joining CMEA/MESA, she developed and implemented MESANet, an effort that provided early internet access to MESA affiliated schools; MESA Advisor Retreat & Kickoff (MARK), an annual two-day professional development seminar for MESA teachers; and the MESA Middle and High School Jamborees, annual project oriented competitions for MESA students.

Ms. Nelson has a B.S. in Social and Science Education from Appalachian State University, a M.Ed. in Curriculum Development (emphasis in science education) from Florida Atlantic University and approximately eighty hours of engineering and technical coursework.  She is currently a member of the Multicultural Engineering Program Advisory Committee at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado Association of Science Teachers and a past member of the Colorado Hispanic Youth Leadership Association.