BHEF Leads National Response to the President’s Goal for One Million STEM Graduates, Convening National Leaders in Government, Business, and Academe

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus Keynotes and Raytheon Chairman & CEO William H. Swanson Debuts the U.S. STEM Undergraduate Model

Washington, D.C. (June 12) — On Monday, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) hosted the first Summit on Meeting the President’s STEM Call to Action – A Joint Implementation Response to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology’s (PCAST)’s Engage to Excel report in Washington, D.C., convening top experts around a national agenda designed to meet President Obama’s goal of one million STEM graduates within the next decade.

BHEF member CEOs and university presidents, together with senior leaders from federal agencies including the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the White House, internationally renowned scientists (including two of the PCAST co-chairs), distinguished practitioners, and leaders of associations and foundations celebrated the leadership, progress, and coordination underway to meet this urgent need.

BHEF Chair, Wes Bush, chairman, CEO, and president of Northrop Grumman Corporation, opened the event, noting that, “This effort does not belong to a single group; rather, it is the responsibility of leaders across industry, government, and higher education. The collaboration between ONR and BHEF has produced a new system dynamics model that can shape strategies for building pathways to successful STEM higher education-workforce solutions. The solutions we deploy as partners will determine the success of our future generations, and the health of America’s economy. The stakes are high, but I am confident tools such as the U.S. STEM Education Model and sound partnerships such as the ones we spotlight today, equip us well to meet the president’s challenge.”

Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Ray Mabus, spoke to the unique partnership between BHEF and the military branch. “In the 21st century, our nation’s security is going to depend on our technical capability as well as our strength. Sailors and Marines operate and maintain the world’s most advanced ballistic missile defense systems, cutting edge aircraft, and nuclear reactors on our subs and carriers,” he said. “These are technically demanding jobs that require a strong foundation in STEM subjects.”

In 2011, ONR asked BHEF to apply the U.S. STEM Education Model to show how its investments in cutting-edge STEM student retention strategies can have the strongest impact on the Navy’s future workforce needs. Insights from the model inform the Navy’s strategy to grow a robust civilian workforce that is strongly invested with Navy-relevant STEM knowledge and skills, and ready to contribute to the next generation of Naval innovation.

This work positions the Navy to not only strengthen its civilian STEM workforce, but also to serve in a strong national leadership role in advancing President Obama’s goals. That powerful synergy has the potential to advance important improvements in the shaping and execution of the STEM education pathway.

As a cornerstone of the event, William H. Swanson, Chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company, and Brian K. Fitzgerald, BHEF CEO, formally unveiled the U.S. STEM Undergraduate Model®, a system dynamics simulation model that provides insights about the nature and scale of change required in STEM undergraduate education.  The model is available to run on Forio.com.

In 2009, under the leadership of then-BHEF Chair Swanson, Raytheon debuted and donated to BHEF the original U.S. STEM Education Model® that has served as the foundation for the new Undergraduate Model. Originally designed to assess what it would take for BHEF to reach its goal of doubling the number of STEM grads in the U.S., it provides key insights into how higher education represents the greatest leverage point in the STEM education pipeline, and how investments in higher education will create the highest ROI.

“The original U.S. STEM Education Model is a ground-breaking tool, but its lasting value was ensured by making it open source, allowing policy makers and anyone else the opportunity to use its findings to better inform STEM policy and practice,” said Swanson. “The new U.S. STEM Undergraduate Model is a great step forward for the tool, and we applaud the work of BHEF and ONR to better define effective STEM education investments that can help secure the future STEM workforce so vital to the success of the U.S. Navy and our nation.”

Prior to the summit, BHEF led a workshop for by BHEF’s National STEM Undergraduate Partnership. There, they learned first-hand from national STEM workforce experts how they dissected the president’s challenge and forged a shared vision that could more closely align efforts between industry, federal agencies, and higher education. They noted by focusing on the core competencies that each provides the Partnership was able to develop highly efficacious programs that scale across the nation.

BHEF CEO Brian K. Fitzgerald summarized the day’s events: “Addressing President Obama’s challenge requires collaboration among business, federal agencies, and higher education and non-profits. By deploying the U.S. STEM Undergraduate Model in tandem with BHEF’s model of strategic business engagement, key stakeholders can provide the critical leverage needed to scale solutions for meeting the President’s goals—solutions that ultimately will strengthen America’s capacity and competitiveness in STEM and other emerging fields.”

View and run the U.S. STEM Undergraduate Model here: https://forio.com/simulate/bhef/u-s-stem-undergraduate-model/overview/.