NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (CESSRST), a Cooperative Science Center (CSC), was established in 2016 through a national competition and is funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“ NOAA-EPP/MSI Grant # NA16SEC4810008"). The participating institutions are geographically distributed across the nation and enjoy a high enrollment of under-represented minority students. It is a consortium of six institutions, led by The City College of The City University of New York (CCNY)in partnership with Hampton University (HU) San Diego State University (SDSU) University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (UPRM) University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) CESSRST builds on the successes of 15 years (2001-2016) of NOAA-EPP/MSI funding for the Center for Remote Sensing Science and Technologies (NOAA-CREST) as a national leader in STEM workforce development and supporting NOAA mission related to Earth Systems observations, monitoring through application of environmental satellites and ground-based remote sensing technologies. The mission of the Center is to educate, train and graduate a new generation of diverse and competent cadre of students, and to create a diverse and skilled workforce in NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) mission-aligned STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and social science disciplines through participation in state-of-the-art research. CESSRST supports NOAA’s mission “to understand and predict changes in Earth's environment and to conserve and manage coastaland marine resources to meet nation's economic, social, and environmental needs"
