Assuring the U.S. Department of Defense a Strong Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Workforce (2012) / Chapter Skim
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5 Institutional Capacity in Education and the DOD Investments Needed to Ensure an Adequate STEM Workforce
5 Institutional Capacity in Education and the DOD Investments Needed to Ensure an Adequate STEM Workforce
Pages 101-114
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From page 101... ...
It has a variety of postsecondary educational institutions, 1 including the military service academies, in addition to many training institutions and research facilities, all of which contribute to educating and training the DOD STEM workforce. Beyond the infrastructure that it owns, DOD maintains many relationships at all levels of civilian educational and research institutions, public and private, in the United States and beyond, that are also part of DOD's network of institutional capacity.
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From page 102... ...
Among students entering 4-year colleges in 2004 and subsequently declaring STEM majors, the longitudinal study found roughly 80 percent still enrolled or having attained degrees (bachelor's, associate's, or certificates) in STEM fields as of 2009 (Figure 51)
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From page 103... ...
44.6%: bachelor's degree 11.4%: associate's or certificates 17.9%: S&E major 14.4%: 100% students still enrolled in all 49.4%: postsecondary non-S&E major 29.5%: institutions no longer 32.7%: enrolled missing/ undeclared FIGURE 52 Persistence in science and engineering STEM fields and attainment of STEM degrees among postsecondary 5-2.eps students entering 2- and 4-year postsecondary institutions. NOTE: Data were as of the end of the 2008-2009 academic year for the cohort that began postsecondary education in the 2003-2004 academic year.
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From page 104... ...
5-4.eps NOTE: Asia-8 includes India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan; data on Indonesia and Thailand are not available. SOURCE: Adapted from Appendix Table 2-32 in National Science Board (2012)
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From page 105... ...
Government Accountability Office found that average annual costs for private colleges and universities doubled between 1990 and 2004, from $13,237 to $26,489. However, the costs at 4-year public institutions increased by approximately 118 percent over the same time period (whereas for 4-year private colleges it was a 100 percent increase and at 2-year institutions an 83 percent increase)
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From page 106... ...
appropriately stated, "Our analysis indicates that the critical issue related to federal investments on STEM education is not whether the total number of investments is too large or whether today's programs are overly redundant with one another. Rather, the primary issue is how to strategically focus the limited federal dollars available so they will have a more significant impact in areas of national priority." In developing a strategic plan to meet DOD STEM workforce needs, it must minimize duplication of other federal or private programs, while emphasizing programs that have the greatest leverage in meeting DOD requirements.
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From page 107... ...
DOD school-age dependents include more than 1.1 million children (Government Accountability Office, 2011) , 88,000 of whom are enrolled at the DOD Education Activity (DODEA)
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From page 108... ...
Yet, those students who transfer to 4-year institutions from community colleges perform quite creditably, graduating at rates comparable to, if slightly below, those of 4-year students and with the same or higher GPA.5 Another approach to the pipeline issue would be to link community colleges, high schools, and neighboring universities into alliances that would identify students with demonstrated math and science aptitude as early as tenth grade and create pipelines from that point on through the community college and into the 4-year college or university to complete the baccalaureate degree. There are a number of pieces that would need to be put in place, some through the auspices of DOD.
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From page 109... ...
Participants in SMART have the opportunity to pursue summer internships at DOD laboratories, giving them exposure to a research environment and encouragement to pursue a career in STEM. The program seeks students pursuing degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, biosciences, chemical engineering, chemistry, civil engineering, cognitive, neural, and behavioral sciences, computer and computational sciences, electrical engineering, geosciences, industrial and systems engineering, information sciences, materials science and engineering, mathematics, mechanical engineering, naval architecture, ocean engineering, nuclear engineering, oceanography, operations research, and physics.
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From page 110... ...
However, if DOD agencies could describe PSM programs that would meet their projected needs, possibly in concert with large procurement programs, and commit to offer summer internships to students and to hire recent graduates with such capabilities, PSM degrees would likely be configured to meet DOD's needs by a number of universities that are actively expanding their PSM offerings. As noted, these degrees could also be designed to articulate with community colleges.
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From page 111... ...
One particularly successful example is the Naval Postgraduate School's program for rapidly reeducating personnel with no STEM educational background to a master's degree standard in technical fields. The DOD could also benefit from certificate and master's degree programs, created jointly with universities and targeted specifically to DOD workforce needs for advanced education.
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From page 112... ...
Integration of postdoctoral fellows into the DOD STEM mission is the fastest, most cost efficient way to recruit and screen PhDs for future career employment while making them aware of exciting DOD opportunities. Postdoctoral fellowships have been largely ignored in favor of higher-cost support of graduate students whose expertise (selected 6 years in advance)
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From page 113... ...
undated. DoD National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program.
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