This year's Spring Meeting of the National Council of NASA Space Grant Directors took place in Washington, DC from February 28th through March 1, 2008, hosted by the DC Space Grant Consortium. This annual meeting brings space grant consortium directors from all 52 consortia to Washington, DC for planning meetings, presentations of program updates, and deliberations with NASA program managers. On Saturday, March 1, 2008, the National Space Grant Foundation (NSGF) presentation included discussions of the status of the NSGF-Pathevo® Program. The presenter, Mark Fischer, NSGF Executive Director, informed all directors present about the current subscription status in the three states (Maryland, West Virginia, and Texas) that currently had affiliates subscribed to Pathevo®-Engineering. He went further to encourage directors who had yet to arrange for Pathevo® Workshops in their states to arrange with Owen Software to do so.

To conclude the NSGF-Pathevo portion of the NSGF presentation, a short testimonial on the Pathevo® use experience was given by Dr. Majid Jaraiedi, the West Virginia space Grant director. His testimonial summarized the positive reception that Pathevo®-Engineering was getting at his affiliate campuses. In attendance from Owen Software at many of the open meetings over the three-day period were Mr. Streett Broadbent and Dr. Adeboyejo Oni.

Dr. Oni joined the Maryland Space Grant Consortium director, Dr. Richard Henry, his deputy director Dr. Terry Teays and associate director Dr. Mary Bowden of the University of Maryland-College Park, on visits with each of the members of the Maryland House and Senate delegations on Capitol Hill. The team met with each representative and senator. The meetings served as an effective way for the Maryland Space Grant director to brief the lawmakers about the activities of the Maryland Space Grant consortium in Maryland during the past year, highlighting the value of the congressionally funded activities, and their effectiveness in achieving their intended goals.

In addition to bringing the lawmakers up to speed on what the allocated funds had enabled over the past year, the team also made a strong case to the lawmakers to increase the current funding levels on the next federal budget, or at least maintain the current funding levels. The team was well-received by each lawmaker, each of who promised to continue their vigorous support of the ongoing efforts of Space Grant.