Contributed by Jason Miller
Broadening Participation in STEM degree programs
A couple weeks ago, the House Science and Technology Committee’s Research and Science Education Subcommittee met to discuss STEM education at the undergraduate and graduate level. The press release for this event is here. Take a read. It's pretty short. By reading it you'll find the following:
And you'll also read this in the article. (And here's where the shameless plug comes in.)
Some of the recommendations witnesses provided for improving STEM education at the undergraduate and graduate levels are:
- Providing new and current professors training in current pedagogy;
- Updating STEM curricula to incorporate current knowledge about how students really learn STEM; and
- Finding ways to combine disciplinary depth with interdisciplinary training and research opportunities.
“Just last week in the State of the Union address, the president spoke about the need to encourage American innovation,” added Lipinski. “I couldn’t agree more, and one of the most effective ways to support innovation is to invest in STEM education. This investment will allow the scientists, engineers and innovators of the future to be well equipped to help keep the U.S. economy growing and our population employed in high wage jobs.”
Readers who are at Truman, be they students, faculty or staff will see this: We at Truman are at this cutting-edge, through the STEP Office, the Mathematical Biology program, the MERCK/AAAS projects, the Biodiesel project, the work of the "Pattagan" Lab, Dr. Herrera's recent NSF-RIG project, and so forth. We are preparing young people for 21st century science. For a 21st century economy.
There is more we can and will do, like training students to work as part of teams (and teams of teams), preparing them to be leaders in science and technology, and providing pathways to industry as well as to graduate and professional schools. But right now, we're doing great. Truman's is a national leader in STEM undergraduate education.
Contributed by Jason Miller
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