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The Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership (APPEL) was established in 1998 as NASA’s internal resource for technical workforce development.

Overview
APPEL, also known as “the Academy,” is NASA’s internal resource for project management and systems engineering training and development. APPEL supports NASA’s mission by promoting career development for individuals as well as project and program teams at all levels of development. In addition to the courses it offers to the agency’s technical workforce, the Academy’s broader initiatives—which include events, publications, and research activities—are widely available to individuals and institutions around the world. APPEL, a global leader in the provision of project management training, has been named “best academy in the world” by the Project Management Institute.

History
Before assuming its present structure, APPEL evolved several times over the decades in response to changing needs at NASA.

It began in 1988 as the Program and Project Management Initiative (PPMI), which was established as part of NASA’s response to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. The PPMI offered courses on the fundamentals of project management knowledge.

In 1998, PPMI evolved into APPEL. Housed in NASA’s Office of Human Capital Management (OHCM), APPEL was introduced to meet the agency’s need for an internal resource that would drive technical workforce development. Six years later, as part of an initiative to infuse training, knowledge management, and sharing of lessons learned into the Office of the Chief Engineer (OCE), APPEL was moved from the OHCM to the OCE in order to expand the agency’s talent development capability, including individual and team training for project/program management and systems engineering. Today, APPEL promotes learning across the agency through its courses and hands-on training and development opportunities.

Leadership
APPEL is managed by Director Roger Forsgren and Deputy Director Stephen Angelillo. It was founded by its previous director, Dr. Edward Hoffman.

Training and Development
APPEL supports project management and systems engineering development through its courses, career development framework, and integrated competency model. The Academy links agency training opportunities to competencies that enable practitioners to augment NASA-specific expertise and capabilities.

The APPEL curriculum features both core and in-depth courses. The core curriculum provides fundamental knowledge that is critical to NASA missions. In-depth courses expand on that foundation by offering more detailed training that is specific to topics in project management and systems engineering. To develop course content, APPEL regularly engages with subject matter experts in relevant fields. The courses are highly interactive and designed to meet the development needs of practitioners at all stages of professional growth.

Accreditations and Credentialing
APPEL has Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.) status with the Project Management Institute (PMI). Many of its courses provide PMI Professional Development Units (PDU), which support PMI credentials or certification. As a result, NASA’s technical workforce can advance their project management expertise within the agency by taking APPEL courses. PMI has recognized APPEL as a top provider of project management training. The International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) has recognized APPEL’s training efforts as well.

Awards
In 2015, APPEL earned the prestigious honor of being named the “best academy in the world” by Human Systems International, a division of the Project Management Institute. The same year, the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) presented APPEL with its Exemplar Award for significant contributions to the field of continuing education and training. IACET recognized the quality of APPEL’s professional development activities in 2012 as well, when the Academy previously received the Exemplar Award.