HINES FAMILY FOUNDATION for Education, Innovation, and Service
A Georgia-chartered nonprofit private operating foundation — advancing STEM education and workforce development for underutilized learners — turning real space exploration missions into hands-on pathways to the future.
Featured event: kickoff to World Space WeekT–7 days
HFF joins Fernbank Science Center and Morehouse College as a co-sponsor and featured exhibitor, bringing five hands-on space and technology missions to Atlanta’s free, family-wide kickoff to World Space Week.
HFF Futures 2035
Futures 2035 is HFF’s decadal strategy for 2026–2035: five flagship campaigns, a portfolio of programs and projects, and regional hubs that carry learners from a first spark of interest to a skill, a credential, and a career.
The learner-journey spine: five stages from first exposure to expert practice.
People are the productGrades 8–12 space engineering, rebuilt from the Endeavour Institute heritage.
Space engineeringLunar mission STEM, from soccer drones and smart balls to VIPER-style rover prospecting.
Moon to MarsSustainable living and planetary stewardship, from satellite data to neighborhood health.
Earth and space systemsSpace biology instruments and biohealth workforce pathways; the reference campaign.
Life sciencesFrom STEM to ESTEEM
ESTEEM extends STEM with Education, Entrepreneurship, and Management, and carries learners through five stages of capability on pillars of mathematics, physics, computation, and digital skills.
Gold marks the domains ESTEEM adds to STEM. Mathematics moves beneath every domain as a pillar.
Regional hubs
Each STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network (STEIN) hub adapts the same model to its region, connecting institutional nodes and project clusters, and incubates its own Year-1 program.
Education and outreach hub for ORISHA STEM and Artemis STEM, including the Soccer STEM-Drones on the Moon season that launches at Space Day. Pilot focus: DeKalb, Atlanta Public Schools, and Cobb.
Year 1: ORISHA STEM and SS-DOTMTechnology development hub: the HFF-West Technology Incubator, WIBEL product development labs, space biology instrumentation, and student space missions.
Year 1: incubator product cyclePlanned anchor for the BioHealth Technologies-Tuskegee Enterprise (BHTTE), linked with HFF-West for engineering incubation and with GA-STEIN for education and outreach.
In developmentSTEM CASE Knowledge Portal
The portal is shared infrastructure, not a learning program: one front door where learners, educators, mentors, and partners find each other, the work, and the next step.
Partners
Schools, universities, community organizations, and technology partners share facilities, mentors, and real projects.
Partners and donors help keep programs like Space Day free, so cost is never the reason a child misses out.
Give online, sponsor a program or cohort, donate equipment, host a site, or mentor a team. Gifts to HFF are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
News/Events / Primary co-sponsor and featured exhibitor
T–7 days
At Fernbank Science Center, HFF brings five hands-on space and technology missions to Atlanta’s free, family-wide kickoff to World Space Week 2026.
Event co-sponsors
HFF at Space Day
Space Day Atlanta opens World Space Week, the UN-declared global celebration held October 4–10, and shares its 2026 theme, Rocket Revolution.
With Fernbank Science Center and Morehouse College, HFF helps keep Space Day free, so cost is never the reason a child misses out.
AttoLab, ORISHA STEM, the NASA-Artemis Moon Rover Challenge, Soccer STEM Drones, and the CubeSat Flight Platform.
FIDA USA drone-soccer unit demo and on-site support; an HFF-West intern and embedded-systems consultant for Artemis STEM; demo and display graphics; operations and logistics; technical and subject-matter-expert support.
FIDA USA, STEAMsport, Sperry Labs (Ball 2), and the AUC Data Science Initiative.
Space Day is the public anchor and rollout for HFF’s 2026–27 Soccer STEM-Drones on the Moon (SS-DOTM) drone-to-Artemis learning season.
Choose your mission
Each station pairs a real space-and-technology system with a quick, hands-on challenge for K–12 students, families, and educators.
HFF/JHTA Modular Cell and Molecular Biology Measurement System (MCMBMS)
ORISHA STEM-ATL Instrument and Learning Suite
VIPER STEM and Artemis lunar rovers
Artemis STEM: VIPER, Ball 2, and MoonFall Challenge Courses
Small satellites built from standard cube-shaped units
Exhibit posters
Exhibit boards from HFF’s Space Day stations. Select a board to view it full size.
Season launch
Soccer STEM-Drones on the Moon carries teams from the soccer pitch to a scaled lunar “Moon Pitch,” earning a badge at each stage of From Soccer Pitch to Moon Pitch (SP2MP).
Start with the Ball 2 smart ball, a STEAMsport cadet program, or a FIDA USA drone-soccer package. Badge: Flight Foundations.
Turn the pitch into a scaled Artemis III south-pole exploration range using NASA lunar maps. Badge: Range Cartographer.
Run a VIPER-style prospecting protocol with a drone fleet: survey, target, drill, analyze, and map. Badge: Fleet Prospector.
Close the loop with autonomous operations in a capstone mission. Badge: Autonomy Engineer.
Presented by the Space Day Atlanta co-sponsors: Fernbank Science Center, Morehouse College, and the Hines Family Foundation
Come to Fernbank Science Center on Saturday, October 3, from 10 AM to 2 PM. Admission is free.
About HFF
The Hines Family Foundation for Education, Innovation, and Service is an Atlanta-based, Georgia-chartered 501(c)(3) private operating foundation advancing STEM education and workforce development for underutilized learners.
Who we are
HFF’s primary product is STEM-educated people, equipped to design, build, and operate advanced space and technology systems. Space is the motivator for 21st-century experiential learning: learners work with real instruments, flight-heritage hardware, and mission-inspired challenges, not just textbooks.
HFF turns real space exploration missions into hands-on pathways, from a first spark of interest at an event like Space Day to internships, research, careers, and ventures.
Vision, mission, and goal
A society in which every learner, regardless of background, can participate fully in the 21st-century workforce and innovation economy.
To enable underutilized learners and communities, from PreK through early career (grades PreK–23), to engage in STEM education, workforce development, and applied technology. Programs meet learners where they are and carry them forward through school, college, and early professional practice.
Durable regional ecosystems that move learners along a continuum of Education, Training, Application, and Entrepreneurship, with schools, universities, industry, and community organizations providing the mentoring, facilities, and opportunities each stage requires.
Founder and leadership
John W. Hines founded HFF to open the door he walked through, from engineering school to a career building spacecraft, to learners who are too often underutilized in STEM.
At NASA Ames Research Center he served as Center Chief Technologist. His spaceflight mission portfolio runs from the COSMOS 1514 and 1667 and Bion-11 biosatellites and Neurolab biotelemetry to the nanosatellite biology missions GeneSat-1, PharmaSat, O/OREOS, and BioSentinel. He brings that mission experience into every HFF program: real instruments, real flight hardware, and real engineering discipline.
He leads HFF’s Futures 2035 enterprise and serves as hub lead for CA-STEIN, HFF’s STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network (STEIN) hub at HFF-West in Silicon Valley.
HFF Founder, Executive Director, and Chief Technology Officer; JHTA Managing Director/Chief Technical Officer
John W. Hines is Founder, Executive Director, and Chief Technology Officer of the Hines Family Foundation for Education, Innovation & Service, Inc. (HFF), a 501(c)(3) private operating foundation based in Atlanta, Georgia, that serves as a STEM, innovation, and technology workforce enabler. HFF is dedicated to providing resources, opportunities, and support for deserving, underutilized, and under-resourced individuals and groups. In leading HFF, John facilitates programs, collaborations, and learning packages that enable students and teachers to become viable contributors to, and beneficiaries of, the 21st-century global workforce. He now leads HFF Futures 2035, the foundation’s decadal strategy linking education, training, application, and entrepreneurship through regional STEM hubs in Georgia, California (HFF-West), and Alabama.
John is also Managing Director and CTO of JH Technology Associates LLC (JHTA), a California-based consulting and advisory firm specializing in space, small spacecraft, and medical/biological technologies and in technology program management.
John retired in December 2012 as NASA Ames Research Center Chief Technologist after nearly 37 years. His earlier roles included Manager of the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory, Project Engineer/Manager for the US/Russian Cosmos Biosatellite Program, Chief Technologist for the Fundamental Space Biology Program, and Deputy Chief and Chief Technologist for the Small Spacecraft Division. As originator of the Ames Nanosatellite Missions Office, he initiated, directed, or facilitated ten missions and projects, including GeneSat-1, NanoSail-D1/D2, PharmaSat, O/OREOS, and TechEdSat, with a nearly 100% delivery success rate.
From 2002 to 2009, John was Principal Investigator for Biosensors, In-Situ Bioanalytical Systems, and Wearable Physiological Measurement Systems, creating the Sensors 2000! and AstroBionics teams that developed wearable, implantable, and ingestible biomedical sensors. From 2002 to 2004, he also managed the NASA-NIH-NCI Biomolecular Physics and Chemistry Program, which targeted early detection of molecular anomalies related to disease and spaceflight-induced physiological degeneration.
John has chaired peer and program reviews for NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology and Advanced Exploration Systems programs and served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Space-Based Additive Manufacturing of Space Hardware (2014) and Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable.
John holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tuskegee University and an M.S. in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and is a Visiting Scholar at Santa Clara University.
John brings nearly 50 years of NASA, Air Force, and research institute experience in biomedical technology, spaceflight hardware, electronic systems, technology assessment, program management, and technology advocacy. He now channels that expertise into HFF’s mission of developing the next generation of STEM and technology talent.
Our heritage
HFF’s programs carry forward two lineages: the spaceflight missions and research programs of its founder’s NASA career, and the Endeavour Institute’s space-engineering education.
Bion 6 biosatellite
Bion 7 biosatellite
Bion biosatellite
Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-90
Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-93
Nanosatellite biology
Nanosatellite biology
Nanosatellite astrobiology
Deep-space biology, launched on Artemis I
That heritage continues in HFF’s AttoLab instruments: the AttoLab-8 has flown aboard the International Space Station as a technology demonstration.
From 1993 to 2013, Space Information Labs (SIL), a 501(c)(3), ran The Endeavour Institute on California’s Central Coast near Vandenberg, including an Endeavour Academy with a UC a-g approved grades 8–12 STEM course sequence.
Around 2013, SIL transferred the Institute’s materials to HFF and asked HFF to bring them up to date. Today it is the HFF-Endeavour Space Engineering Institute & Academies, with SIL as a founding partner.
Our team
Board members, executive staff, fellows and interns, and program leads who carry out HFF’s mission.
How we work
Futures 2035 runs on shared infrastructure, a hub–node–cluster network, and a three-gate discipline that every project clears before it launches.
Project title, why, what, how, who, when, cost, so what, and status, on one page.
The Heilmeier Catechism: objectives without jargon, today’s limits, what’s new, who cares, risks, cost, time, and mid-term and final “exams.”
Two signatures, and no one signs the gate for a pursuit they own.
The gates judge programs; ESTEEM stage criteria judge learner progress. The two are kept separate.
All funding flows through HFF as the 501(c)(3) lead: grants, philanthropy, sponsorship, and competition support. JH Technology Associates, LLC (JHTA), a separate for-profit led by John W. Hines, contributes in kind as a technical partner, with guidance, donated intellectual property, and services. JHTA sits outside HFF’s management chain, and funds are never commingled.
HFF Futures 2035 / 2026–2035
A coordinated capability-development ecosystem that turns curiosity into capability, capability into opportunity, and opportunity into lasting societal impact.
Overview
Futures 2035 is HFF’s ten-year enterprise strategy. Campaigns set direction, programs and projects do the work, and regional hubs deliver it where learners live.
Flagship campaigns
Every initiative, program, and project in Futures 2035 flows from one or more of these campaigns.
The learner-journey spine. It owns the five-stage ladder, its entry and exit criteria, and its milestones; the other campaigns supply stage content.
People are the productSpace-engineering education for grades 8–12, with Space Information Labs heritage and the GECKO STEMsat learning platform.
Space engineeringLunar and Artemis mission STEM: drones, robotics, and exploration, including the Soccer STEM-Drones on the Moon season.
Moon to MarsSustainable living and planetary stewardship: Earth observation, environmental sensing, and community-health data.
Earth and space systemsThe reference campaign every hub adapts: space biology instruments, biohealth workforce pathways, and quality of life.
Life sciencesFrom STEM to ESTEEM
ESTEEM adds Education, Entrepreneurship, and Management to science, technology, and engineering, carried by pillars of mathematics, physics, computation, and digital skills.
Programs and projects portfolio
Programs and projects are grouped by subject. Each one clears HFF’s three gates before it launches.
Family 1
A sport kids love as the on-ramp to flight, sensors, data, and teamwork, carried all the way to lunar operations. Launches its 2026–27 season at Space Day Atlanta.
Primary campaign: Artemis STEM
1.1From Soccer Pitch to Moon Pitch (SP2MP)1.2Ball 2 Motion Physics1.3FIDA USA–ATL Soccer Drone STEM Challenges1.4DS-Artemis VIPER/MoonFall STEM1.5S-D Artemis Space Operations Capstone TourneyPlanned after Year 1Family 2
Environmental sensing, food and water systems, and community science that connect Earth and space data to neighborhood health.
Primary campaign: ORISHA STEM2.1ORISHA STEMSTEM GEMMS, Map the Gap and Ground Truth, Healthy Neighborhoods, Mobile Ag STEM Wagon2.2GOPSI STEM2.3IoT-FARMS2.4STEM-ponics2.5CS-SEASCommunity Science: Space, Earth and Atmospheric SystemsFamily 3
Space biology instruments, biohealth workforce development, and wearable technology for quality of life.
Primary campaign: BioHealth3.1SB-STEPSIncluding the MCMBMS AttoLab and FemtoLab instruments3.2BioHealth SWFD3.3Wearable BioFamily 4
Small-satellite engineering, space systems, rovers, and payloads, from classroom platforms to flight experiments.
Primary campaign: Endeavour Institute4.1A-MASST / MUST-DO SPACE and SOSS-LASSO4.2Space Systems and Missions STEM4.3Artemis STEM Smart Rover4.4CubeSat Missions and Experiments4.5ISS and CubeSat PayloadsFamily 5
A home for other technology projects and products with applications, including AI tools developed across the campaigns.
Integrating across campaigns5.1Technology projects and products with applicationsSTEIN regional hubs
An HFF executive hub links the regional STEIN hubs to institutional nodes and project clusters, and each hub incubates its own Year-1 program.
Education and outreach for ORISHA STEM and Artemis STEM, running both lines in parallel, including the SS-DOTM season. Pilot focus: DeKalb, Atlanta Public Schools, and Cobb.
Year 1: ORISHA STEM and SS-DOTMTechnology development for the campaigns: the HFF-West Technology Incubator and WIBEL labs, SB-STEPS instrumentation and space missions, ASSETS, and the Endeavour Academy.
Year 1: incubator product cyclePlanned home of the BioHealth Technologies-Tuskegee Enterprise (BHTTE), linked with HFF-West for engineering incubation and with GA-STEIN for teacher training and outreach.
In developmentDecadal roadmap
Programs scale only after they clear their Heilmeier mid-term reviews, so each act builds on proven work.
Each hub incubates its Year-1 program: ORISHA STEM and SS-DOTM in Georgia, the HFF-West incubator in California, and the BHTTE partnership in Alabama.
Programs that clear their Heilmeier mid-terms scale up, from space biology workforce programs to ORISHA STEM GEMMS, the Endeavour Academy with GECKO, and SS-DOTM.
A CubeSat flight mission and multi-site operations across the Georgia, California, and Alabama hubs.
Workforce placement and student-to-startup ventures, with the network sustained for the long term.
Futures 2035 / Flagship campaign
The learner-journey spine of Futures 2035, where people are the product. ESTEEM Odyssey owns the ladder every learner climbs: its stages, entry and exit criteria, and milestones.
Six domains
Science, technology, and engineering, extended with the Education, Entrepreneurship, and Management that turn skills into careers and ventures.
Gold marks the domains ESTEEM adds to STEM.
Five stages
Each stage has entry and exit criteria and milestones. Stage criteria gate the learner; the Heilmeier Catechism gates the program. The two are kept separate.
A hub portfolio is complete only when every stage has an on-ramp.
Who it serves
Underutilized learners and communities, from grades PreK–23, met where they are and carried forward.
How the campaigns plug in
Every project declares the stages it serves, the ESTEEM domains it builds, and its primary and integrating campaigns.
A grades 8–12 space-engineering course sequence and hands-on GECKO STEMsat projects.
Endeavour InstituteSS-DOTM stages that run from a first drone flight to an autonomy capstone, with a badge at each stage.
Artemis STEMExplorer, Investigator, Innovator, and Professional levels in sustainable living and Earth and space systems.
ORISHA STEMSpace biology instruments and research experiences, from tabletop labs to flight payloads.
BioHealthFutures 2035 / Flagship campaign
Space-engineering education for grades 8–12, rebuilt for today’s technology from the Endeavour Institute heritage, with Space Information Labs as founding partner.
Academy relaunch in development
Heritage
Space Information Labs (SIL), a 501(c)(3), created and ran The Endeavour Institute, its Endeavour Center and Endeavour Academies, and related STEM programs from 1993 to 2013.
The Academy
A project-based, learn-by-doing course construct that addresses space engineering, in school and out of school.
The five courses outlined by SIL form a grades 8–12 space-engineering sequence built around hands-on projects on the GECKO STEMsat platform.
Each course has an informal companion program of 5–10 sessions for clubs, after-school, weekend, and summer delivery.
GECKO STEMsat
Generic Chameleon-based Educational CubeSat for Knowledge Mobilization and Operational Outreach: the hands-on platform for the Academy’s engineering courses.
GECKO is a stackable 3U system for learning and training. The 3U unit is the core, and it stacks and scales upward toward the Chameleon 6U–27U class.
It derives from SIL’s Chameleon 6U–27U CubeSat bus, an open, modular, scalable, and reconfigurable (OMSR) design, and it serves as a learning and training platform rather than a flight vehicle.
Where it leads
SOSS-LASSO is the Institute’s designated initial project. The Academy sits in the Smart Space Engineering STEM portfolio family at CA-STEIN, HFF’s STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network (STEIN) hub in California.
Futures 2035 plans a CubeSat flight mission in its Integrate act (2029–32).
Futures 2035 / Flagship campaign
Lunar mission STEM for the Artemis era: drones, robotics, and exploration, from a soccer pitch in Atlanta to the Moon’s south pole.
Soccer STEM-Drones on the Moon
A program of GA-STEIN, HFF’s STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network (STEIN) hub in Atlanta, that turns drone soccer into an on-ramp to flight, sensors, data, and teamwork, then carries teams into Artemis-style lunar operations.
SS-DOTM was the first project through HFF’s three-gate review. Its 2026–27 season launches at Space Day Atlanta.
From Soccer Pitch to Moon Pitch
Teams move from a first flight to closed-loop autonomy on a scaled lunar range.
Start with the Ball 2 smart ball, a STEAMsport cadet program, or a FIDA USA drone-soccer package. Badge: Flight Foundations.
Turn the pitch into a scaled Artemis III south-pole exploration range using NASA Moon Trek maps. Badge: Range Cartographer.
Run a VIPER-style prospecting protocol with a drone fleet: survey, target, drill, analyze, and map. Badge: Fleet Prospector.
Close the loop with autonomous operations in a capstone mission. Badge: Autonomy Engineer.
Challenges and testbeds
Classroom activities connect directly to public challenge events.
Hands-on AI and machine learning with NASA-inspired lunar applications. Teams assemble, program, and operate low-cost four-wheel rover kits, then plan traverses around hazards near south-pole craters such as Nobile, Haworth, and Shoemaker, modeled on NASA’s VIPER rover.
NARCSS at Space DayA floor-scale digital map of the lunar south pole with numbered challenge sites, hazards, and course paths, shared by three 2026 courses: the VIPER rover course, the Ball2 AI sensor-ball course, and the MoonFall drone course. Drone imagery builds the map that rovers and balls navigate.
The testbed at Space DayTeam and partners
Co-investigators and partners across Atlanta and beyond, with competition kit, arenas, and data pipelines contributed in kind.
Founder, Executive Director, and Chief Technology Officer
Co-investigator, AI and data science; GA-STEIN co-lead
Co-investigator, STEAMsport integration
Co-investigator, competition framework, arenas, and standards
Co-investigator, NASA science and mission relevance, AI integration
Co-investigator, program operations and administration
Capture and program management
Partners: FIDA USA, STEAMsport, Sperry Labs (Ball 2), the AUC Data Science Initiative, and Morehouse College.
Futures 2035 / Flagship campaign
Operational Research and Innovation Training for Sustainable Living through Hands-On Applications: the Futures 2035 campaign for planetary stewardship, Earth and space systems, and sustainable communities.
The name is the method
Learners use Earth observation, space situational awareness, AI and decision intelligence, GIS, IoT, and digital twins on the food, water, energy, and health challenges in their own communities.
Flagship initiative
The GaiaVerse–ORISHA Planetary Stewardship Initiative (GOPSI) is the flagship and technical spine of ORISHA STEM, co-led by John W. Hines and Dr. Moriba K. Jah of GaiaVerse.
OSAGE, the ORISHA STEM Application and GaiaVerse Ecosystem, is how it is delivered, through regional STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network (STEIN) hubs:
Education and outreach run at GA-STEIN in Atlanta; technology development and demonstration run at CA-STEIN, HFF-West.
Project families
From satellite data to backyard sensors, each family gives learners a real problem to measure and solve.
7.1GOPSI STEM7.2Map the Gap / Ground Truth7.3STEM GEMMS7.4Healthy Neighborhoods7.5IoT-FARMS7.6STEM-ponics7.7Mobile Agricultural STEM Wagon7.8CS-SEAS: Community Science, Space, Earth and Atmospheric SystemsLearners and curriculum
ORISHA STEM levels map onto the ESTEEM stages, so a middle schooler and an early-career professional can work on the same challenge at different depths.
Middle school
Secondary school
Pre-college and community college
College, interns, early career, and educators
A 10-module curriculum for grades 5–12, covering sustainable living, sensors and IoT, data fusion, AI and vision, embedded systems, communications, virtual reality, integrated design, and outreach.
The ORISHA STEM-ATL Instrument and Learning Suite: modular hand-held instruments with a microcontroller core and plug-in sensors, so learners collect real environmental data, analyze it, and act on it.
O-SAILS at Space DayFirst-year demonstrator
A 13-step challenge that runs from a community problem through remote-sensing data, GIS, field measurement, AI analysis, and a community presentation, to naming a technology for HFF-West to develop.
Phase dates and targets describe proposed implementation.
Futures 2035 / Flagship campaign
The reference campaign of Futures 2035: space biology instruments, biohealth workforce pathways, and community quality of life, mapped to the social determinants of health and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Instruments
The HFF/JHTA Modular Cell and Molecular Biology Measurement System is an ISS- and nanosatellite-compatible student space biology laboratory and payload platform.
Complete and demonstrated.
An eight-well tabletop student space biology payload, complete and demonstrated. It has flown aboard the ISS as a technology demonstration with the Valley Christian Schools Quest for Excellence program.
Complete and demonstrated.
Portfolio family 3
SB-STEPS brings yeast space biology into STEM learning and workforce development, with research partners at the University of Washington’s Dunham Lab and Morehouse College.
SB-STEPS technology development and its space mission campaign run at HFF-West.
Alabama hub
In development
BHTTE is the planned anchor of AL-STEIN, HFF’s STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network (STEIN) hub at Tuskegee University, and the reference architecture every hub adapts, mapped to the social determinants of health and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
It links with HFF-West for technology and engineering incubation, and with GA-STEIN for STEM education, teacher training, and outreach.
HFF-West
HFF’s Silicon Valley node and the technology development engine of Futures 2035: from ideas to impact, products for space, Earth, and humanity. It is home to CA-STEIN, HFF’s STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network (STEIN) hub in California.
What HFF-West does
The HFF-West Technology Incubator (HWTI) integrates technology development for BioHealth, Artemis STEM, ORISHA STEM, and the ESTEEM Odyssey.
HFF-West is a satellite node of HFF on the nonprofit side. In Year 1 it runs one full product development cycle through the WIBEL labs.
WIBEL: Widget Instruments and Boxes Engineering Lab
Every product moves through the same five labs, from first idea to a product people use.
CA-STEIN regional hub
Santa Clara University and Valley Christian Schools Quest Institute are the hub’s Year-1 active partners.
CA-STEIN hub lead
Hub co-lead
Lead for the proposed ASTRID Center
Student space missions
With Valley Christian Schools Quest Institute, students design, build, and fly space experiments.
The partnership has flight heritage: the AttoLab-8 flew aboard the International Space Station as a technology demonstration with the Valley Christian Schools Quest for Excellence ISS student spaceflight experiments program.
Quest for Excellence’s ISS Research Lab (Level 3) is a nine-month program for grades 9–12 in which student teams design an experiment, prepare it for NASA approval, and see it operate aboard the ISS for 30 days.
Space biology instruments
HFF-West carries the technology development for SB-STEPS and the MCMBMS instrument line: AttoLab-4, AttoLab-8, and FemtoLab-W16.
HFF Team
Engineers, educators, researchers, and program leaders across Atlanta, Silicon Valley, and partner institutions.
Founder and leadership
John W. Hines leads HFF and its Futures 2035 enterprise, and serves as hub lead for CA-STEIN, HFF’s STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network (STEIN) hub at HFF-West. He co-leads the GOPSI planetary stewardship initiative with Dr. Moriba K. Jah.
His NASA career spanned technology leadership and small-satellite biology missions, and that mission discipline shapes every HFF program: real instruments, real hardware, and real engineering reviews.
Board of Directors
HFF is governed by its Board of Directors, which oversees the Foundation’s mission, strategy, and stewardship. The Executive Director reports to the Board.
Chair, HFF Science and Technology Advisory, Review, and Translation (START) Team
Executive Staff
The executive team runs HFF’s day-to-day operations and the Futures 2035 enterprise, reporting to the Board of Directors.
Chief Technology Officer
Programs, Partnerships, and Collaborations
STEM Education, Outreach, and Teacher Training
Strategic Partners
Partners share facilities, mentors, equipment, and real projects, and help align programs with workforce demand.
STEM Fellows and Interns
Educators, emerging engineers, and student interns who carry HFF programs into classrooms and labs.
Brings HFF programs into the classroom.
Mechatronics intern.
Program leads and co-investigators
The co-investigator team for Soccer STEM-Drones on the Moon, with program management.
Co-investigator, AI and data science; GA-STEIN co-lead
Co-investigator, STEAMsport integration
Co-investigator, competition framework, arenas, and standards
Co-investigator, NASA science and mission relevance, AI integration; GOPSI co-lead
Co-investigator, program operations and administration
Capture and program management
Hub leadership
Each STEIN hub pairs HFF leadership with regional partners.
Dr. H. Justin Ballenger, Morehouse College, co-lead.
John W. Hines, hub lead; Dr. Greg Kovacs, hub co-lead; Dr. Chris Kitts, Santa Clara University, lead for the proposed ASTRID Center.
Hub leadership is being formed with Tuskegee University.
In developmentHFF Team / Members Only
A password-protected area for HFF board members, executive staff, fellows, and partners.
Need access? Contact HFF.
Knowledge Portal
One front door to Futures 2035: HFF’s shared infrastructure for Communication, Alignment, Social, and Engagement.
Portal content in development
What it is
The portal connects learners, educators, mentors, and partners to every campaign, program, and project, and to each other.
The STEM CASE Knowledge Portal is one of four elements of HFF’s enterprise infrastructure, alongside the CI Backbone, H-SETA, and the HFF-West Technology Incubator.
Every environment carries two layers of content: the HFF core set, shared across Futures 2035, and content organized by program and project.
Engagement environments
A flat set, not a sequence: start in any environment and move between them freely.
Core-set content for each environment is in development.
Access and membership
Open information for everyone, with working spaces for members and partners.
Program and event information, open resources, and ways to get involved.
Learners, educators, fellows, and mentors: workspaces, courses, and progress through the ESTEEM stages.
Partners, sponsors, and project teams: shared project spaces and collaboration.
News/Events
Where to find HFF programs in person, and what’s new across Futures 2035.
Saturday, October 3, 2026T–7 days
Five hands-on HFF missions at Atlanta’s free kickoff to World Space Week, 10 AM–2 PM, for all ages.
See the event pageSpace Day Atlanta opens the UN-declared global celebration of space science and technology.
Soccer STEM-Drones on the Moon rolls out at Space Day, taking teams from drone soccer to a scaled lunar range. About SS-DOTM
HFF joins Fernbank Science Center and Morehouse College as a co-sponsor and featured exhibitor, with five hands-on stations. See the stations
Each regional hub incubates its Year-1 program. See the roadmap
Contact
Questions about programs, partnerships, sponsorship, or Space Day? Reach the Foundation directly.
Get involved
Tell us how you would like to take part, and we will connect you with the right program lead.
Support / Donate
Your support keeps programs free and puts real instruments, flight hardware, and mission challenges in the hands of underutilized learners.
Ways to give
Gifts to HFF are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Donate securely through HFF’s online giving form. PayPal accepted.
Make checks payable to “The Hines Family Foundation for Education, Innovation, and Service Corp.” and mail to:
1870 The Exchange SE, Ste 220More ways to support
Gifts of time, equipment, and expertise matter as much as dollars.
Stewardship
All funding flows through HFF, the 501(c)(3) lead organization: grants, philanthropy, sponsorship, and competition support.
HFF holds a Candid (GuideStar) Silver Seal of Transparency.
HFF is a tax-exempt charitable organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS EIN# 82-1268652. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Site map
Every page and section of the HFF website. The Space Day banner at the top of every page links to the event page. STEIN stands for STEM Training, Education, and Innovation Network.