The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently provided RPI with a grant for the purpose of initiating what is being referred to as a “progressive dialogue” about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education in New York State. In June, Rensselaer will be hosting a summit among leaders from several fields to discuss issues relating to STEM education, with an emphasis on increasing the number of students from under-represented groups pursuing STEM fields of study. After the summit, RPI will continue to work toward forming and strengthening partnerships among “key stakeholders” in STEM education, eventually producing a set of recommendations for increasing the number of students studying STEM.
The foundation has already contributed to STEM education initiatives in Ohio and Texas. Each state represents a different model for increasing the number of students pursuing STEM education: in Ohio, the initiative was business-based; in Texas, it was a governmental initiative; in New York, it will be led by a university.
According to Vice President for Student Life Eddie Ade Knowles, the Gates foundation chose RPI in large part “because of the work [President Shirley Ann Jackson] has done on the national level on the Quiet Crisis” as well as RPI’s 30-year history of trying to increase the pipeline of women and minorities into STEM fields.
As chair of the Building Engineering and Science Talent’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Higher Education, Jackson produce a critical report, “The Quiet Crisis: Falling Short in Producing American Scientific and Technical Talent,” that addressed the lack of students, particularly women and students from under-represented minority groups, pursuing scientific and technical fields. In the paper, Jackson warns that “our colleges and universities are not graduating enough scientific and technical talent to step into research laboratories, software and other design centers, refineries, defense installations, science policy offices, manufacturing shop floors, and high-tech start-ups. This ‘gap’ represents a shortfall in our national scientific and technical capabilities … we ignore [it] at our peril.”
The purpose of the STEM initiative in New York is to produce recommendations to close that “gap.” “The domestic pipeline of young people into STEM is not robust,” explains Knowles, citing the number of jobs being created by the STEM workforce that will retire in the near future. There is an increasing number of foreign students and professionals in these fields, many of whom come to the United States to study but do not remain there.
China and India are making large investments in STEM, while the test scores of American students in science and math are falling below other countries’ scores. According to Knowles and Jackson’s report, this has implications for security and economic growth. To address this, the “progressive dialogue” will focus on finding ways to fill the pipeline of talent and increase the number of suitable candidates for new jobs being created by technology and retirement.
In addition, taken together, women and those from under-represented minority groups make up the bulk of the college population, but only a small percentage of those in STEM fields. In fact, according to “The Quiet Crisis,” “[w]hite males comprise nearly 70 percent of the science and engineering workforce, but just over 40 percent of the overall workforce.” In light of these facts, the initiative will seek methods to increase women and minorities in these fields.
To achieve these goals, the leaders from government, education, industry, and business participating in the dialogue will focus on ways to reform secondary education. One topic of discussion in the “progressive dialogue” will be ensuring that teachers in STEM subjects are well-trained. In addition to searching for ways to increase students pursuing STEM jobs, the initiative will try to develop ideas for increasing the number of students that go on to become teachers of science and mathematics and to “elevate and enhance” teaching these subjects as a career path, says Knowles. Other areas of focus will be pre-college and in-college initiatives to encourage students to pursue scientific and technical fields. Recommendations will take into consideration recruiting and enrollment of students in these areas, as well as ensuring they do well once in a STEM program.
