1 Million STEM Grads in 1 Decade

In honor of inauguration day, it only seems appropriate to talk about the bright future President Obama has promised when it comes to STEM. Just one month ago, the Obama Administration announced that increasing the number of students who earn undergrad degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by 1 million over the next decade was formally designated as a Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) goal. 

Before the announcement, President Obama had said time and again that science and innovation are key components of a strong American economy and that increasing opportunities for young Americans to gain STEM skills can create jobs and enhance our national competitiveness simultaneously. The Department of Commerce estimates that STEM occupations will grow 1.7 times faster than non-STEM occupations between 2008 and 2018. This means that the U.S. will need just about 1 million more STEM professionals that are projected to graduate over the next 10 years.

Making this happen is going to require a lot of work. Not only on behalf of the Federal Government and other involved entities, but huge efforts on retention of STEM majors during their initial years of college will need to take place. Currently, less than 40 percent of students who enter college intending to major in a STEM field actually walk away with a STEM degree. Increasing STEM retention rates to just 50 percent would generate around three-quarters of the 1 million!

While work has already been conducted to figure out ways to keep STEM students on course to earning a STEM degree, the CAP goal announced in December proposes to focus efforts in five promising areas of opportunity:

• Identifying and implementing evidence-based practices to improve STEM teaching and to attract students to STEM courses
• Providing more opportunities for students to engage in meaningful STEM activities through research experiences, especially in their first two years of college
• Addressing the mathematics preparation gap that students face when they arrive at college, using evidence-based practices that generate improved results
• Providing educational opportunities and supports for women and historically underrepresented minorities
• Identifying and supporting innovation in higher education

Industry, academia, foundations and other partners are coming together with the Federal Government on this issue. It should be exciting to see the ups and downs of this journey towards better STEM education unfold. Read more about the CAP goal and Michael Feder's initial report here.

Building a STEM Nation with "MissionSTEM"

While we all know that STEM fields need to be the focus of education reform these days, the statistics never get easier to take in. In 2009, more than 1.5 million U.S.citizens earned bachelor's degrees, but only a mere 4.4 percent were in engineering and just a small 1.1 percent were in the physical sciences.  Further, only 2.4 percent of the undergraduate degrees earned were in computer science and mathematics represented just 1.0 percent of degrees.

Not surprisingly, the National Science Foundation 's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics reported that a very small 0.8 percent of all bachelor's degrees earned in 2009 were by women in engineering and 0.2 percent of those earned were by African Americans.

For a country that wants to maintain status as a world leader in STEM, these numbers aren't just startling, they're unacceptable. Just recently, NASA took these statistics to heart and set out to change them. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that NASA wants "the nation's STEM degree programs to be more welcoming, supportive and accessible to all students."

With that in mind, NASA launched MissionSTEM.nasa.gov, a Web site created by NASA'a Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, to assist colleges and universities in strengthening their STEM programs.  The site connects NASA with its grantees, professional STEM organizations and other interested stakeholders in order to creatively address issues like recruitment and retention of diverse students.

Way to go, NASA! Emerging programs like this one and Change the Equation's iONFuture are steps in the right direction for the nation's STEM future. Combined with NGSS efforts and political legislation, the United States should be starting to move up the competitive STEM ladder.

So, where will we find the future of STEM? As Bolden says, "We will find it in every community, in every university and college and in students of every socio-economic background. The talent is out there. It always has been."

Creating programs like MissionSTEM is just the start. The rest of the battle involves making the commitment to encourage and support American students to pursue their STEM dreams. 

STEM Education Could Be at Risk!

Something that no one in the fight for better STEM education efforts in America wants to hear is that we may be forced to take steps backwards. Unfortunately, that's exactly what may happen. In late October, students at an Arkansas high school got to meet Dr. James Gates, a noted African-American theoretical physicist.

As he spoke about his career and the importance of a STEM education, he told the students that, "There are half of million jobs that can't find Americans to hire because they don't have the skills level. These are the jobs you most want to have in the future."

Despite the fact that STEM education is crucial to the future of this country, the programs in place now are threatened. Last summer, the Congressional debt limit was reached and if Congress doesn't take further action - which seems very unlikely - mandatory reductions in federal discretionary spending levels will take effect in January. Education and STEM-related programs are falling subject to about a nine percent reduction across the board. 

If you're worried about the United States, which has been severely declining in STEM over the last few years, you're not alone. Gates sees the reality of the situation and didn't hold back in relaying it to the Arkansas students. 

"I worry about what will happen to my country. Investment in education is when we as a country always got richer."

Gates is a professor of physics at the University of Maryland in College Park, but also serves on reelected President Barak Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Serving in that role, Gates advises Obama on topics including the increasing need for STEM education in the United States.

Read more about what Gates' visit to Arkansas.

STEM Vital Signs: Texas

As a leading high-tech state, Texas businesses need more STEM talent to stay competitive than ever before. Despite economic downturn, STEM skills are still in high demand in Texas. In fact, there are 2.5 STEM jobs for every one unemployed person compared to 3.3 unemployed persons for every one non-STEM job. Hello, people! Improving student performance in STEM in K-12 is crucial to help not only the Texas economy grow, but the entire nation's.

There are some highlights here, though. Since 2004, the State of Texas, with private sector support, has invested more than $100 million to create 65 STEM Academies serving more than 25,000 students. Texas also recently adopted new math standards and more rigorous assessment and it's paying off. Texas students are spending more time on elementary science, are participating more in hands-on learning and are making progress in math. 

Change the Equation's 2012 Vital Signs measure the health of the K-12 STEM enterprise state by state. Vital Signs was created in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research and was made possible by generous support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

To look at Change the Equation's full report on the STEM Vital Signs in Texas, click here.

To find out what the STEM Vital Signs are like in your state, click here.