Current STEM Education Issues

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Current STEM Education Issues

• Triangle Coalition Panel Discussion
• February 23, 2009
• John Veysey, PhD
• Senior Legislative Assistant
• Office of Congressman Dan Lipinski

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Outline
Introduction The view from the end of the STEM
pipeline Coordination of Federal STEM
programs Conclusions
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Introduction

• About Congressman Dan Lipinski
• One of 23 PhDs in the House
• Trained as an engineer (BS, MS)
• Chair of the House Science and Technology
  Committee Subcommittee on Research and Science
  Education
• Co-chair of the House STEM Ed Caucus
• Former Professor and educator

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Introduction

• About John Veysey
• Researcher at MIT / Lincoln Labs
• PhD in physics
• Numerous publications
• Experienced physics teacher
• Post-doc in Microbiology
• AAAS / AIP Congressional Fellow
• Senior Legislative Assistant with Congressman
  Lipinski

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Introduction

• About John Veysey
• Researcher at MIT / Lincoln Labs
• PhD in physics
• Numerous publications
• Experienced physics teacher
• Post-doc in Microbiology
• AAAS / AIP Congressional Fellow
• Senior Legislative Assistant with Congressman
  Lipinski

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Introduction

• About John Veysey
• Researcher at MIT / Lincoln Labs
• PhD in physics
• Numerous publications
• Experienced physics teacher
• Post-doc in Microbiology
• AAAS / AIP Congressional Fellow
• Senior Legislative Assistant with Congressman
  Lipinski

• The opinions in this talk are solely the
  authors

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The View From the End Of the STEM Pipeline

• In the pipeline
• NSF REU participant
• GAANN fellow
• Taught undergraduates, graduate students, and
  supervised REU students
• As one of declining numbers of U.S. citizens who
  obtained a PhD in the physical sciences
• DOD researcher at Lincoln Labs
• Post-doc (microbial bioinformatics)
• Papers published in Reviews of Modern Physics,
  Nature Physics, The Journal of Sedimentary
  Research
• Research covered by New York Times

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Who wants to be a post-doc?

• About 60 of the new PhD's in the classes of
  2005 and 2006 accepted post-docs after receiving
  their degree.

• Typical physics Post-doc salary 36,000 to
  43,000.
• 2006 starting annual base salary for new
  M.B.A. graduates 80,809

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Who wants to be a post-doc?

• About 60 of the new PhD's in the classes of
  2005 and 2006 accepted post-docs after receiving
  their degree.

• Think broadly about STEM careers
• Support early career scientists through programs
  like NSFs CAREER Grants

• Typical physics Post-doc salary 36,000 to
  43,000.
• 2006 starting annual base salary for new
  M.B.A. graduates 80,809

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Current Policy Issues
1. Reauthorization of NCLB / ESEA 2. Funding of
the COMPETES ACT - FY 10 Budget 4. American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 5. STEM
workforce diversity and gender equity 6.
Evaluating Federal STEM Ed programs -
Coordination?
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Current Policy Issues
1. Reauthorization of NCLB / ESEA 2. Funding of
the COMPETES ACT - FY 10 Budget 4. American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 5. STEM
workforce diversity and gender equity 6.
Evaluating Federal STEM Ed programs -
Coordination?
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Background Federal STEM Ed

• Two comprehensive surveys of Federal Stem Ed
  programs
• GAO, Federal Science, Technology, Engineering,
  and Mathematics Programs and Related Trends
  (2005)
• Academic Competitiveness Council, Report of
  the Academic Competitiveness Council, (2007)
• Similar conclusions
• Many programs, multiple goals, multiple targeted
  groups
• Federal STEM Ed programs are highly
  decentralized and could benefit from stronger
  coordination
• Drawing here on the ACC report.

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Overview Federal STEM Ed

• In FY 06, ACC found
• 105 different STEM Ed programs
• Over a dozen agencies
• Appropriated just over 3 billion

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Background ACC Report
Improved coordination "coordination among
agencies could be improved to avoid, for example,
grants to numerous projects that support the same
sorts of interventions there appears to be a
lack of communication among the agencies about
the work they are funding and the results that
are being generated agencies are often
uninformed by the results of earlier projects."

• Program Assessment
• " there is a general dearth of evidence of
  effective practices and activities in STEM
  education.
• Many programs lack scientifically rigorous
  assessments, and even the good ones need
  replication and validation in order to be useful
  in determining effective policies

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Last Congress Honda / Obama

• The Enhancing STEM Act of 2008 (S. 3047 / H. R.
  6104)
• Attempted to implement many of the ACC
  recommendations
• Create an OSTP Stem coordination committee
• Assessing programs effectiveness
• Improving coordination
• Create an Office of STEM Education and new Asst.
  Secretary for STEM Ed at Dept. of Education
• Create a State Consortium to bring stakeholders
  together and improve coordination
• Create a national repository of research and best
  practices in STEM Ed

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Current State of Coordination Efforts

• Honda / Obama was perhaps too ambitious
• Too many agencies
• Too many stakeholders, both Federal and State
• Significant new role for OSTP
• On the agenda of Congressman Lipinski and the
  Science and Technology Committee
• Focus on evaluating current programs and
  identifying best practices
• Look at coordination within the three dominant
  agencies NSF, ED, HHS (NIH)
• Build a consensus among stakeholders

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Contact Information
John.Veysey_at_mail.house.gov 202-225-5701