STEM Higher Education and Workforce Project
The nation needs new forms of collaboration among business and industry, higher education, and government to transform STEM higher education and to boost the number of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers graduating from our colleges and universities. BHEF has launched the BHEF STEM Higher Education and Workforce Project to address these challenges and align higher education with national and regional workforce needs.
The project’s goals include:
- Increasing the number of undergraduates, particularly women and underrepresented minorities, who persist and graduate in high-need STEM disciplines.
- Deepening the relevance and content of undergraduate STEM education, particularly in the freshman and sophomore years, to augment the workforce preparation and skills of STEM students.
- Increasing the alignment of undergraduate STEM education and degree production with workforce needs, particularly at the regional level, with a focus on high-demand STEM fields.
- Demonstrating effective approaches to collaboration between business and higher education, incorporating data analysis and modeling to simulate the impact at scale of piloted STEM interventions.
BHEF STEM Higher Education and Workforce Project Strategy
BHEF’s STEM Higher Education and Workforce Project utilizes four mutually reinforcing strategies to achieve the project’s goals. BHEF is:
- Supporting BHEF members' corporations and universities in regional projects to identify and implement innovative approaches to meeting joint education and workforce needs. BHEF's regional work began in Maryland, where BHEF chair, Wes Bush, Chairman, CEO, and President of Northrop Grumman Corporation, and University System of Maryland (USM) Chancellor and BHEF immediate past chair and member William "Brit" Kirwan, are spearheading the Advanced Cybersecruity Experience for Students, or ACES, to address the state's cyber workforce deficit. This effort is just one of over a dozen BHEF-member led projects underway across the country, which are addressing substantial gaps between jobs openings in STEM fields and the number of STEM graduates.
- Conducting data analysis and identifying new metrics to build the research base underpinning and monitoring this effort. BHEF’s STEM Research and Policy Brief Series uses unique longitudinal data sets that capture student career interest and student proficiency in four core areas.
- Modeling effective strategies and practice in STEM education, using BHEF’s U.S. STEM Education Model as well as new models under development. The results of the modeling, as well as regional projects, will be disseminated through BHEF’s evidence-based resource center, StrategicEdSolutions.org®.
- Driving a national strategy to link government, university, and industry associations, including the Association of American Universities, the Aerospace Industries Association, and others to develop and advance a national STEM workforce development strategy and influence national policy.
Resources:
Overview of BHEF STEM Initiative
BHEF Regional Workforce Projects
National STEM Undergraduate Partnership Open Letter to the President
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