Created in 1989 and chaired by the vice president, the National Space Council took up a 2022 White House roadmap to inspire, prepare and employ a more diverse space workforce
Dr. Raven Baxter participated in White House National Space Council roundtables on space STEM education and the space workforce from February 2023 to January 2024. The last session met on Jan. 24, 2024, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington.
The sessions were by invitation only. They brought together people from the public, private and philanthropic sectors around the Administration's space STEM priorities.
The talks grew out of a plan the White House released in September 2022, at the Council's second meeting. There, Vice President Kamala Harris announced commitments to "inspire, prepare, and employ" the next generation of space workers. "The country needs a skilled and diverse space workforce," the White House fact sheet said. It came with an interagency roadmap for space-related STEM education and workforce.
The series opened on Feb. 27, 2023, with a two-hour virtual roundtable on space STEM education and career pathways. On April 6, the Council held its first Space STEM Forum in the Indian Treaty Room. Panels covered the lived experience of space workers, partnerships across sectors, and ways to grow and diversify the space workforce.
NASA astronaut Victor Glover speaks to students at the Artemis Generation Roundtable for Black Space Week, June 20, 2023. Photo: NASA/Joel Kowsky
On June 20, Baxter joined the Artemis Generation Roundtable for Black Space Week. The Council and NASA "collaborated with Black In Astro to host students for a discussion on the future of space exploration and equity," according to NASA's photo captions. The students heard from astronaut Victor Glover. In April, NASA had named him pilot of Artemis II, its first crewed mission around the Moon under Artemis. A panel included Dr. Ronald Gamble, a theoretical astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
The next day, Baxter was in the audience at Arena Stage for the Apollo to Artemis forum. Howard University's The Dig reported that speakers included Dr. Mae Jemison and Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The January 2024 meeting focused on space STEM communication. In March 2024, the Council announced Find Your Place in Space Week, April 6 to 13, 2024. Payload reported more than 90 events planned in 19 states and DC, including viewing parties for the April 8 solar eclipse. "We know that too many people are unaware of the importance of space to their everyday lives," the Council wrote in its invitation on NASA's site.
The National Space Council was created by a 1989 law that requires the vice president to chair it. It effectively ceased operation in 1993. An executive order revived it in 2017, and the Biden administration kept it in 2021, with Vice President Harris as chair.
Baxter is a molecular biologist and science communicator with a Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo. In January 2023 she attended the Congressional Space Medal of Honor ceremony.
NASA's photo album of the Artemis Generation Roundtable is on Flickr.
Dr. Raven Baxter founded the Science Communication Consortium on Ethics at the Association of Science Communicators, which held its first meeting on Jan. 26, 2026.
Dr. Raven Baxter joined the Advisory Group of the Aspen Institute's Our Future Is Science initiative in October 2025 and gave the keynote at its 2025-26 kickoff.
Dr. Raven Baxter joined the board of directors of the Association of Science Communicators, the volunteer-run hub for professional science communicators, on Sept. 12, 2025.
