Developing A National Stem Workforce Strategy

The future competitiveness of the United States in an increasingly interconnected global economy depends on the nation fostering a workforce with strong capabilities and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). STEM knowledge and skills enable both individual opportunity and national competitiveness, and the nation needs to develop ways of ensuring access to high-quality education and training experiences for all students at all levels and for all workers at all career stages. The National Science Foundation (NSF) holds a primary responsibility for overseeing the federal government's efforts to foster the creation of a STEM-capable workforce. As part of its efforts in this endeavor, NSF's Directorate on Education and Human Resources asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a workshop that would contribute to NSF's preparation of a theoretical and evidence-based STEM Workforce Development R&D Core Framework. Participants discussed research themes, identified gaps and emerging research opportunities, and recommended refinements in the goals of the framework. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

The future competitiveness of the United States in an increasingly interconnected global economy depends on the nation fostering a workforce with strong capabilities and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). STEM knowledge and skills enable both individual opportunity and national competitiveness, and the nation needs to develop ways of ensuring access to high-quality education and training experiences for all students at all levels and for all workers at all career stages. The National Science Foundation (NSF) holds a primary responsibility for overseeing the federal government's efforts to foster the creation of a STEM-capable workforce. As part of its efforts in this endeavor, NSF's Directorate on Education and Human Resources asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a workshop that would contribute to NSF's preparation of a theoretical and evidence-based STEM Workforce Development R&D Core Framework. Participants discussed research themes, identified gaps and emerging research opportunities, and recommended refinements in the goals of the framework. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Though creativity is considered an asset in the modern business world, it is currently not being promoted in educational programs. Developing, supporting, and sustaining creativity in individuals will shape the future of business and enrich the incoming workforce. Creativity in Workforce Development and Innovation: Emerging Research and Opportunities presents the latest scholarly research on the importance of creativity in this era of growing complexity and rapid change. Including relevant research on development and sustainability of creativity within businesses, this unique source provides coverage in areas such as teacher preparation, global workforce, and cognitive studies. This book is an important resource for educators, professionals, and students seeking current research on the best options for promoting creativity in education and the modern workforce.

The field of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) science underpins many technologies and continues to progress at an exciting pace for both scientific discoveries and technological innovations. AMO physics studies the fundamental building blocks of functioning matter to help advance the understanding of the universe. It is a foundational discipline within the physical sciences, relating to atoms and their constituents, to molecules, and to light at the quantum level. AMO physics combines fundamental research with practical application, coupling fundamental scientific discovery to rapidly evolving technological advances, innovation and commercialization. Due to the wide-reaching intellectual, societal, and economical impact of AMO, it is important to review recent advances and future opportunities in AMO physics. Manipulating Quantum Systems: An Assessment of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics in the United States assesses opportunities in AMO science and technology over the coming decade. Key topics in this report include tools made of light; emerging phenomena from few- to many-body systems; the foundations of quantum information science and technologies; quantum dynamics in the time and frequency domains; precision and the nature of the universe, and the broader impact of AMO science.

Managing Technology and Middle- and Low-Skilled Employees explores the rapidly changing use of digital and systems innovations in the management of specific sectors of the workforce in the modern workplace across different industrial contexts.

This definitive work mixes case law, public policy, economic strategy, and examines the wide range of issues facing efforts to improve the American economy, to illustrate how economic growth is driven through strong public-private partnerships, and how successful growth strategies from the state and local level operate to grow jobs.

We are currently experiencing an unprecedented era in the history of the planet. Our addiction to fossil fuels and powerful technologies is dangerously altering the Earth’s natural systems, giving rise to well-documented global crises of climate change, plastic pollution of the oceans, and tragic loss of biocultural diversity. These crises have created a unique challenge for STEM educators, given that STEM disciplinary knowledge and skills are often viewed as the panacea to the world’s economic and environmental problems. This popular view tends to focus narrowly, however, on students learning scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical concepts about the world out there, thereby ignoring the crucial role education must play in shaping students’ attitudes and values – their inner worlds – that drive moral agency to live and work in sustainable ways. It is moral agency that empowers socially and environmentally responsible citizens to tackle global crises. In this timely book you will read inspiring stories of how professional educators in STEM-related fields have embraced transformative learning and arts education to develop and implement integrated STEAM education programs and practices that are preparing young people with special capabilities and values to actively contribute to the sustainable development of a world in crisis.