UAT academic to participate in NASA aerospace program

Orlando José Martínez Arvizu, a professor and researcher at the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas (UAT), was selected as one of the top three academics at the First State STEM Teachers’ Forum and received international accreditation to participate in the aerospace training program at NASA’s Space Center Houston in February 2027.

At the forum on cutting-edge pedagogy organized by the Government of Tamaulipas through the Tamaulipas Council for Science and Technology (COTACYT), in collaboration with Misión Educativa MX and Space Center Houston, the university professor presented best practices for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) teaching model.

Professor Martínez Arvizu stood out among more than 100 high school and college professors in the state with his proposal titled “From Closeness to Autonomy: The ‘I Connect, I Do, We Do, and They Do’ Methodology,” as part of his graduate-level practicum, in which he promotes the gradual transfer of responsibility for student-centered learning.

He also explained that his methodology begins with the “Conecto” phase, where it builds trust and connects the content to the student’s environment. “The methodology proposes a gradual transition: from greater to lesser teacher intervention and, at the same time, from less to greater student autonomy, while maintaining dialogue, contextualization, and feedback throughout the process,” he explained.

With this recognition, presented during the ceremony for the State Competition on Creativity and Technological Innovation and the 2026 State Award for Innovation, Science, and Technology, Professor Martínez Arvizu joins the select group of STEM Education Ambassadors, with the mission of incorporating tools from the aerospace program to promote scientific research among university students.

His selection to visit NASA’s facilities in Houston, Texas, is a recognition of his career, pedagogical vision, and excellence in teaching as a university professor. It also reflects the academic quality promoted by the UAT under the leadership of Rector Dámaso Anaya Alvarado and demonstrates that the university has world-class professors on its faculty who are driving the transformation of higher education.