National & Regional Workforce Solutions New Industry-Higher Education Projects for the NexGen U.S. Workforce
About BHEF The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) is the nation s oldest organization of senior business and higher education executives dedicated to advancing innovative solutions to U.S. education and workforce challenges. Composed of Fortune 500 CEOs, prominent college and university presidents, and other leaders, BHEF addresses issues fundamental to our global competitiveness. It does so through two initiatives: the College Readiness, Access, and Success Initiative (CRI), addressing college and work readiness, access, and success; and the Securing America s Leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Initiative, promoting America s leadership in STEM. BHEF and its members drive change locally, work to influence public policy at the national and state levels, and inspire other leaders to act. Learn more at www.bhef.com
Introduction of a New Industry-Higher Education Solution for the NextGen U.S. Workforce BHEF is the nation s oldest organization of senior business and higher education executives dedicated to advancing innovative solutions to U.S. education and workforce challenges. Composed of Fortune 500 CEOs, prominent college and university presidents, and other leaders, BHEF addresses the fundamental issues to our global competitiveness by innovating strategic, evidence-based solutions for application at the national, regional, and local levels. On June 11 th, 2012, BHEF is poised to hold a public launch of the Business-Higher Education Forum s National Undergraduate Partnership Strategy and Regional Workforce Projects sharing the power of revolutionary industry-higher education partnerships to meet unique regional workforce needs. Representing some of the most accomplished and important industry and academic leaders in the nation, this event announces that our members are no longer satisfied to be among those who admire the problem, and are prepared meet America s workforce and education challenges head-on. Twelve projects are being announced in California, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. These initiatives build learning incubators designed to resolve America s toughest workforce issues in today s high-demand fields: cybersecurity, big-data, life sciences, water, energy, engineering, and entrepreneurship. Each of BHEF s regional workforce projects showcases the commitment and urgency by businesses and higher education institutions to confront critical workforce challenges in their regions by strategically connecting companies core competencies with undergraduate education to increase persistence of students, particularly women and underrepresented minorities, toward degrees and careers in high-demand areas. The projects will contribute to recommendations recently made by the President s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, calling for greater attention on the first two years of college and on the need for one million additional STEM graduates over the next ten years. They also respond to the recommendations of the President s Council on Jobs and Competiveness, which include increasing the number of industry-driven undergraduate research internships and production of engineering degrees nationally. BHEF has established an alliance of national academic and industry associations, professional societies, and government agencies around a set of joint operating principles, priorities, and activities, following more than a year of convenings and partnership development. The National STEM Undergraduate Partnership is poised to present an open letter of commitment to President Obama signed by the leaders of the Aerospace Industries Association, American Chemical Society, American Council on Education, Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, American Society for Engineering Education, National Defense Industry Association, Office of Naval Research, and TechNet as a response to the Administration s call to action on STEM higher education and workforce development reform. For more information go to www.bhef.com @BHEF #NextGenWorkforce 3
BHEF Regional Workforce Project Summaries The Business Leaders for Education (BLE), a coalition of Louisville, KY s business leaders, including Chrysalis Ventures and LG&E Energy, will address the significant skills misalignment present between education production and business needs, mobilizing business support and driving the alignment of the region s 55,000 degree education attainment goal to core competencies needed for the 21st century workforce. California Polytechnic State University, in partnership with Northrop Grumman, Parsons, and Raytheon, will leverage its Learn by Doing approach and large undergraduate engineering base to establish a cybersecurity undergraduate program consisting of a new undergraduate-focused lab supporting a new curriculum and student-driven applied research projects, and a graduate-level certificate program to attract a more diverse group of students to the high-demand field of cybersecurity. Case Western Reserve University, in partnership with The Sherwin Williams Company, will develop a project focusing on first-year students in materials and polymer science to provide industry internships, co-op experiences, and other hands-on learning opportunities; and with the Eaton Company, to increase the persistence of community college students in the region to persist and succeed in STEM fields, focusing initially on information technology. The City University of New York, in partnership with IBM, will draw on the expertise and resources of seven campuses in the CUNY system to offer students new academic and career pathways in analytics, urban energy, and water sustainability in the built environment. Students will be provided a broadbased curriculum and externship opportunities to work on interdisciplinary teams to develop informed, practical, and technically sound solutions to challenging sustainable energy and natural resource management problems. Drake University, in partnership with the Principal Financial Group, are spearheading a partnership in Des Moines, IA to chart a new direction for Iowa s capital region through the Capital Crossroads regional effort, a committee of regional education, business, and foundation leaders working to make Greater Des Moines one of the nation s top mid-sized metro areas. This project will use deep cross-sector collaborations focused on strengthening the education-through-workforce pipeline to ensure the region acquires the trained human capital it needs to meet the demands of the 21st century workforce. Miami Dade College, in partnership with NextEra Energy, will develop a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Technology (BSIST), creating pathways for students from high school to associate to bachelor s degrees in information technology fields, including cybersecurity, and provide students with critical skills and knowledge required to direct and control computerized information resources in a range of sectors. The Ohio State University, in partnership with Battelle Memorial Institute and Case Western Reserve University, will team up to address the workforce needs of the state s regional medical corridor, and increase students interest in health sciences and access to jobs in the health industry. This project will also support university efforts in implementing course redesign in STEM to support incoming students and increase the persistence of STEM students, particularly those from groups underrepresented in STEM fields. 4
BHEF Regional Workforce Projects Summaries (cont.) San José State University, with a wide range of stakeholders from industry, government, community colleges, and community organizations, will establish a Silicon Valley Center for Cybersecurity that will respond to the regional and national workforce need for cyber professionals by creating stackable degree components (certificates) and providing undergraduates with enhanced learning experiences outside the classroom, including internships. The University System of Maryland (USM) is leading a multi-campus effort to bring the unique resources of institutions in the system to address Maryland s STEM workforce needs. The University of Maryland College Park, in partnership with Northrop Grumman, will create the nation s first undergraduate multidisciplinary residential cybersecurity honors program. The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) is developing a project that connects STEM undergraduates to new career pathways by applying their knowledge to innovation and entrepreneurship, which will begin with a focus on chemistry and link STEM undergraduate education to business, R&D, and innovation. The University of Massachusetts System, in partnership with the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (which includes BHEF members Raytheon and Suffolk Construction), will create a multi-campus strategy focusing on community college articulation, persistence, and increasing STEM degree attainment by underrepresented minority students and increase student access and success to significantly increase number of the number of STEM degrees awarded to URM students at both the A.S. and B.S. levels. The University of Wisconsin System, in partnership with the Milwaukee Water Council and other regional stakeholders, will seek to address regional workforce needs for highly trained professionals in the water industry by tapping the distinct strengths of four universities in the system to integrate engineering, science, and technology education to create new approaches to the sustainable use of water systems, and provide students with new learning opportunities with business and industry in this field. Washington University in St. Louis will partner with local two- and four-year colleges and regionallybased companies to address growing local workforce needs in information technology. Through a joint public-private undergraduate engineering program with Washington University, the University of Missouri St. Louis, and community colleges, the project will increase the diversity, quality of training, and graduation rates of students prepared to fill high-demand IT occupations in the St. Louis region. 5
Driving the Alignment of 55,000 Degrees to 21st Century Workforce Demands Business Leaders for Education Greater Louisville Sectors: Business Partners: Advanced Manufacturing; Food and Beverage Manufacturing and Innovation; Value- Added Logistics and Distribution; Lifelong Wellness and Aging Care Chrysalis Ventures; LG&E Energy; regional Louisville businesses In 2009, members of the Business Leaders for Education (BLE), a coalition of Louisville s business leaders, joined forces with the mayor, representatives from P-12 and higher education, and community leaders to from the Mayor s Education Roundtable, and with one voice committed to improve education outcomes in the Louisville region. Participating leaders signed the Greater Louisville Education Commitment, dedicated to improving education attainment in the region by 55,000 degrees over the next decade. This led to the establishment of a new public/ private partnership, 55,000 Degrees, to facilitate the new regional education goal. As Louisville looks to increase college degree attainment, business leaders are cognizant of national trends in career readiness. The U.S. economy is driven increasingly by higher-value, higher-skilled jobs, and these new realities place a premium on the higher order skills, such as critical thinking and analytical reasoning, which can translate across cultures. Analyses of college degree production and employer demands for a 21st century workforce illuminate a misalignment in the types of degrees conferred and the higher order skills needed to be successful in a rapidly changing global market place. Louisville business leaders are looking to improve signaling between business needs and education production. These leaders realize that raising the education level by 55,000 degrees is not enough the region must strive for 55,000 degrees that lead to 21st century careers. For the next phase of work, the BLE seeks to directly link regional education learning outcomes to workforce demand, ensuring that students graduate with both the technical and higher order skills that will provide employment upon graduation. Over the next two years, the BLE will mobilize the senior business leadership in Louisville to drive the alignment of the 55,000 degrees goal with the skills needed for the 21st century workforce by: Key activities of the project include: Validating and contextualizing the core competencies businesses need in four key Louisville industries: advanced manufacturing, food and beverage, manufacturing and innovation, value-added logistics and distribution, lifelong wellness and aging care. Analyzing the tools employers currently use to evaluate employees with competencies needed by employers and share tools with local postsecondary institutions with a view to informing the use of new assessments in education reform efforts. Fostering a deep collaboration between the BLE and local postsecondary institutions to identify and implement innovative approaches to meet rapidly changing joint education and workforce needs. If left uncorrected, the misalignment between education and the workforce poses a real threat to the economy nationwide. The BLE aims to make Louisville both a national leader and replicable model for how corporations can mobilize their core capacities to address these pressing education-workforce skills misalignment challenges. 6
Cybersecurity Education in a Learn by Doing Environment California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA Sectors: Business Partners: Cybersecurity; Technology; Defense Northrop Grumman Corporation; Raytheon; Parsons California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) Engineering is the largest undergraduate engineering program in the state of California, providing nearly a thousand new baccalaureate engineers every year to support the state s industrial base. A major element of the program is Learn by Doing, which offers undergraduates hands-on opportunities and immersion in engineering when they arrive on campus; more than 80 labs supporting undergraduate engineering education; participation in cooperative work and summer intern experiences; and access to industry representatives, including alumni, who provide students with real world engineering projects. Leveraging its Learn by Doing approach and large undergraduate engineering base, Cal Poly will establish a program on cybersecurity education to attract a more diverse group of students to the field of engineering, and provide them with the support they need to complete their degree, and develop a talent pool for the high-demand field of cybersecurity. Essential components of the program will include an undergraduate-focused cybersecurity lab supporting student-driven applied research projects, a robust undergraduate curriculum and graduate certificate program, and dedicated, full-time cybersecurity faculty. At the undergraduate level, the development of new courses will focus initially on Secure Programming, Applied Cryptography, Secure Testing Methods, Security and Public Policy, and a senior design research experience. In the second phase, multi-disciplinary courses in the areas of Cybersecurity Ethics, Economics of Cybersecurity, Security Risk Management Assessment, Information Assurance, Digital Forensics, and Intro to Biometrics will also be developed. Cal Poly will also create multidisciplinary applied research opportunities involving faculty and students from various disciplines such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Political Science, Ethics, Psychology and Business. Furthermore, concepts directly related to security will be infused into existing courses such Programming, Computer Networks, Operating Systems, Computer Organization, Programming Languages, Systems Programming, Human Computer Interaction and Mobile Computing. At the graduate and professional level, Cal Poly will develop a certificate program for post-baccalaureate students and working professionals, using online-only and blended online and face-to-face instructional approaches. Ultimately, the University will seek to establish a Professional Science Master s degree in cybersecurity focused on cybersecurity fundamentals, defense, and adversarial techniques. Industry partners, including Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and Parsons, will be deeply involved in the design and implementation of the program, helping to ensure that the curriculum is applicable to current and future industry needs, and adopting best practices for outreach, recruitment, and retention of students, especially those underrepresented in engineering. On a national level, Cal Poly will seek to engage with companies and other future employers of its engineering graduates in cybersecurity, and with other universities committed to transforming STEM education. 7
Using Early Interventions to Impact STEM Post-Secondary Students Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH Sectors: Business Partners: Materials Science; Information Technology The Sherwin Williams Company; Eaton Corporation Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) has identified an opportunity to engage with local business in a project to increase student persistence and deepen the relevance of learning in the high-demand fields of materials and polymer science. CWRU will create a new, interactive foundation course for first-year students designed to provide an enhanced early experience in the chemistry of materials, in partnership with industry. This course aims to give a general introduction to the scientific principles that underlie the properties and synthesis of all types of materials. The course will have three distinctive characteristics: (1) enrollment will be small, focused on students seeking a degree and career in a materials-intensive field (such as materials science and engineering, polymer science and engineering or chemical engineering), thus affording students a more personalized, highly-interactive learning environment; (2) it will be premised on the philosophy that the application of knowledge and fundamentals is key to building students ability to generalize from first principles to more advanced learning, and include projectbased learning on open-ended problems and information from the trade and scientific literature; and (3) co-op and internship experiences in industry will be provided, as well as access to industry laboratory instrumentation for hands-on experiences in synthesizing and characterizing the properties of advanced materials. In a second project, CWRU will seek to establish articulation agreements with local community college partners that build access pipelines to bachelor s degrees in STEM disciplines at CWRU. Collaborating initially with Cuyahoga Community College (CCC), a cohort of CCC students interested in careers in information technology would be able to take up to eight courses at CWRU, free of tuition charges, prior to their formal transfer to CWRU. These eight courses would count toward their degree requirements at CCC, and enable a smooth entry into the computer science bachelors program at CWRU. It is anticipated that having the opportunity to take courses at CWRU will ease the CCC students transfer to a four-year program in computer science at CWRU. Local IT companies will engage in providing internships and other work-learn opportunities, and provide students with a deep understanding of careers in the field. CWRU will use this project as a proof point for developing such articulation arrangements in other disciplines and with other local community colleges. For example, the fields of manufacturing and engineering are the potential foci for new pathways for students from other community colleges local to CWRU. 8
Urban Energy and Water Sustainability in the Built Environment The City University of New York New York Metropolitan Area Sectors: Lead Campuses: Business Partner: Regional Partners: Clean Energy Production; Water Resources Management, & Analytics Baruch College; Brooklyn College; City College of New York; College of Staten Island; Hunter College; New York City College of Technology; Queens College IBM New York City Economic Development Corporation Working with prominent scholars at the CUNY Energy Institute, the CUNY Sustainable Building Initiative, the CUNY Environmental CrossRoads Initiative, and the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, the program will create a pipeline for students interested in sustainability science. Drawing on expertise and resources from across the University, the project will offer students an intensive and applied learning experience that engages with major stakeholders in both the public and private sectors. CUNY will reach out to current students to expand the initiative and attract more undergraduates into these fields. The main goals of the CUNY Program in Urban Energy and Water Sustainability include: Educate the next generation of leaders capable of solving the pressing problems confronting urban environments all over the globe by offering a broad-based curriculum rooted in STEM disciplines. Prepare students to work in diverse professional settings involving collaboration, interaction, and communication with teams of scientists and engineers. Through coordination with industry and government partners, offer students professional experience working on interdisciplinary teams to develop informed, practical, and technically sound solutions to challenging sustainable energy and natural resource management problems. Build student research skills by offering hands-on research experiences with faculty members and their specialized research teams on emerging areas of clean energy production, water resources management, and green and high-performance building practices. Prepare graduates for successful careers through integrated coursework, research, and internships that provide essential knowledge and skills for the workforce. As the lead business partner, IBM will partner with CUNY in developing the urban sustainability program. CUNY has collaborated in the past with IBM on its Smarter Cities initiative to design projects that address many of the critical environmental and infrastructural challenges facing cities. CUNY formed teams with IBM researchers to develop projects around issues of energy, water, security, and transportation. For example, the CUNY Environmental CrossRoads Initiative worked with IBM s Smarter Cities effort to design more resilient and optimized water delivery systems in the New York Metropolitan Area. The role of IBM and other businesses and stakeholders may involve: Providing expert advice on industry employment needs, which will inform curriculum development. Offering summer and/or academic year internships to students. Providing advisors and mentors for capstone projects. Inviting student teams to develop business plans for new or existing technologies. Participating in job fairs with program graduates. 9
Aligning the P-16 Education Pipeline to 21st Century Workforce Demands Drake University Des Moines, IA Sectors: Business Partners: Regional Partners: Regional high-demand career fields (e.g., financial services, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology) The Principal Financial Group Des Moines Business Leaders; Capital Crossroads Human Capital Committee Greater Des Moines is engaged in a visioning exercise titled Capital Crossroads. Through this effort, regional education, business, and foundation leaders aim to make Greater Des Moines one of the nation s top mid-sized metro areas. Key to the success of this strategy is the development of human capital a trained workforce prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century economy. In a recent report, the Human Capital Committee, a subgroup of Capital Crossroads, acknowledged that graduation from high school does not guarantee that students will have successful careers. Global economic integration has placed a premium on innovation, fundamentally altering the workplace and the skills needed to thrive. The result: the 21st century workplace requires a combination of exceptional technical skills and deeper learning capacities, such as cognitive strategies and learning behaviors, many of which employers indicate are in high demand, but are lacking among today s high school and college graduates. Alignment among P-12 education, postsecondary education, and the workforce is an important strategy to ensure that students graduating from high school are college-ready and can progress more easily through the education system and into jobs and careers. The Human Capital Committee thus designated the implementation of a community-wide college/career readiness plan as one of the four key thematic areas necessary to improve human capital. This will require employers to actively collaborate with K-12 and postsecondary institutions to strengthen the education pipeline to ensure it results in the talented workforce the region needs. Led by BHEF members Larry Zimpleman, chairman, president and CEO of Principal Financial Group, and David Maxwell, president of Drake University, Des Moines leaders will work within the Capital Crossroads movement to create a platform for business, education, and foundation leaders to collaborate in an effort aligning education production and business needs. Key activities of the project include: Diagnosing the key leakage points in the education through workforce pipeline in Des Moines. Identifying strategies for corporations to mobilize their core capacities to align education outcomes to workforce needs. Linking Des Moines to the national network of BHEF communities across the country tackling the misalignment of education production and the demands of 21st century workforce. These activities will focus on regional high-demand industries, such as financial services, advanced manufacturing, and biotechnology, and frame the development of a strategy to better drive education and workforce alignment in the Des Moines region. 10
A New Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Technology Miami Dade College South Florida Sector: Business Partner: Information Technology NextEra Energy, Inc. Miami Dade College will develop a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Technology (BSIST) that would provide students with critical skills and knowledge required to direct and control computerized information resources within any organization. Students completing associate degrees in different IT areas would be able to transfer to the upper division of this baccalaureate degree. The program would have different tracks or specialization in areas such as information systems management, networking, cyber security, etc. Goals of the project are to: Develop a highly skilled workforce in the field of information technology. Create a career pipeline for highly committed individuals conducive to high skill/ high pay jobs: from high school diploma to associate degree, to baccalaureate degree, to entry level job, and to job progression at the company. As the business lead, NextEra Energy will identify areas of demand in information technology in the energy sector; provide information about knowledge and skills for the identified jobs that will support curriculum development; provide internships to students; and offer entry level jobs to qualified completers. NextEra may also support the development and initiation of the program with seed funding. South Florida in particular and the State of Florida in general would benefit from an increase in supply of a qualified labor force in the field of information technology. NextEra Energy and other corporations would be able to fill vacancies in IT with personnel trained in the specialties needed. Given the evidence of lower personnel turnover when individuals are hired from the local community, it is anticipated that the graduates from this program will provide a strong, stable employee base for the companies involved. 11
Ohio Regional Workforce Project The Ohio State University/Case Western Reserve University The State of Ohio Sectors: Business Partner: Medical; Agricultural; Earth sciences Battelle Memorial Institute By pursuing a regional strategy to increase the number of professionals needed across the STEM fields in Ohio, Battelle Memorial Institute, Case Western Reserve University, and The Ohio State University recognize that the needs of businesses, governments, school districts and higher education institutions differ, and that the most effective solutions are those tailored to meet locally identified needs. These three premier research institutions in Ohio will work together to strengthen the retention of STEM graduates, particularly those from underrepresented groups, while also working with other regional partners to match STEM graduates with STEM jobs. They will do so together, in a cooperative manner, meeting regularly to share ideas and develop and implement their initiatives. The goals of the project are to: Strengthen articulation agreements, and develop program pathways, with community college partners to increase the number of transfer students in STEM fields. Identify and redefine gateway courses that might be preventing students from completing STEM degrees Develop strong assessment tools to ensure that application of university course redesigns and articulation agreements can occur in other areas of the country. Increase the number of students involved in niche science areas, such as earth sciences, agriculture sciences when a localized or regional focus will help ensure that students have a job when they complete their degree. With Battelle as the corporate lead on the project, the partners will co-host a summit to highlight current efforts and pull in additional partners. This will initiate a process in which they will assist state economic development efforts to develop a regional medical corridor and use it as a platform to increase students interest and access to jobs in the medical industry. This effort will also support university efforts in implementing a course redesign to support incoming students; continue focus on strengthening the number of students that graduate from high school with classes and STEM qualified instruction that have honed their critical thinking and problem solving skills. The partnership will continue to work across the state as well as on a multi-state, multi-pronged approach at local school district levels to improve STEM instruction. The three lead institutions will work with a variety of partners to identify shortages in STEM teachers, review undergraduate/graduate preparation, and work with Colleges of Education to prepare more STEM teachers. 12
Silicon Valley Center for Cybersecurity San José State University San José Peninsula/Northern California Sectors: Business Partners: Cybersecurity; Computer Science Information Technology Companies in Silicon Valley San José State University will establish a Silicon Valley Center for Cybersecurity that will respond to the regional and national workforce need for cyber professionals by creating stackable degree components (certificates); and enhanced learning experiences (extracurricular activities). It is anticipated that the Silicon Valley Center for Cybersecurity will provide significant contribution towards meeting both regional and national workforce needs for cybersecurity professionals. The Center will utilize an interdisciplinary approach that can be replicated in other regions. Among the goals of the project: Workforce Development - Develop a Silicon Valley pipeline for new cybersecurity professionals. Education Create stackable degree components (certificates) in cybersecurity. a) Risk evaluation and management. b) Human factors and secure systems. c) Mobile/embedded devices and cloud computing (platform integrity). d) Big data. e) Analytics. Extracurricular Enhance learning experiences for students and faculty. a) Expand US Cyber Challenge Northern California Cybersecurity Boot Camp by strengthening ties to high schools as well as (two and four year) colleges. b) Expand research and internship opportunities. c) Increase capacity (faculty development). d) Enhance student awareness and interest in cybersecurity. Business will play a central role in the project by providing a range of potential opportunities such as student internships; mentoring; co-development of curricula; student scholarships; sponsorship of extracurricular activities, e.g., visits to corporate sites, participation in job fairs, etc.; and enhancement of the knowledge base by sharing latest technologies. The project will also partner with local community colleges, West Valley, Mission, Foothill, and De Anza, Silicon Valley-based IT companies, Harvard Graduate School of Education, local community organizations, and government agencies. 13
The Advanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students (ACES) Program The University of Maryland Maryland/ Washington D.C. Region Sector: Lead Campus: Business Partner: Cybersecurity The University of Maryland College Park Northrop Grumman Corporation In response to the Governor s STEM Taskforce in 2011 and recommendations surrounding the development and retention of a cybersecurity workforce in Maryland, the University of Maryland, in partnership with Northrop Grumman Corporation, is poised to create the nation s first undergraduate cybersecurity honors program at the College Park campus. BHEF members Brit Kirwan, Chancellor of The University System of Maryland and Wes Bush, CEO of Northrop Grumman Corporation played a crucial leadership role in the formulation of this new program, known as the University of Maryland Advanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students (ACES). ACES will serve as a national model for innovative cybersecurity education, addressing the national workforce development challenge, as well as articulating a new intensive role for industry leaders, such as Northrop Grumman Corporation, connecting leadership, philanthropy, and human capital to this project. The University of Maryland ACES program, which will ultimately be expanded and implemented at other University System of Maryland campuses, will serve to inform other project sites on this new relationship with industry, and demonstrate how such a partnership can create an energized, systematic response to help meet workforce development needs. The University of Maryland (UMD) ACES program is the nation s first undergraduate interdisciplinary residential cybersecurity honors program. The ACES program will consist of an 18-credit intensive curriculum that prepares students for the cybersecurity jobs of the future. It will enable undergraduates from academic departments across the university to study cybersecurity problems and issues, and address a major emerging workforce need in the Maryland economy. Students will have opportunities to interact and learn from faculty members, graduate students, and industry and government professionals developing cybersecurity technologies, policies, and strategies in a live-and-learn themed residence hall. The program will draw on experts from computer science, engineering, and such wide-ranging fields as business, public policy, and the social sciences to develop a new cadre of cyberenabled graduates. Industry s early and consistent role in the ACES program is vital to connecting students to real world experiences and training, thus allowing them to see the application of their education from the beginning of their undergraduate experience. With an emphasis on deepening learning, increasing student persistence in STEM, and aligning undergraduate learning with workforce needs, industry-based activities in the program will include: co-developing courses to help ensure that the competencies needed by industry are addressed; providing real-world problems that student teams are tasked to address; developing multi-year internship programs directly tied to students course work; and, serving as guest lecturers in specific classes and courses throughout the ACES curriculum; serving on a highly engaged industry advisory board specific to the program; contributing advisors and mentors for the capstone projects. The ACES program is developing a mutually reinforcing collaboration, where University of Maryland develops new and innovative methods for affecting the retention and attainment of talented STEM students. With support for the new program, Northrop Grumman Corporation is investing in students success, ensuring that ACES graduates possess the mission-critical skills the nation needs. 14
Undergraduate Chemistry and Entrepreneurship Program The University System of Maryland Maryland/ Washington D.C. Region Sectors: Lead Campus: Chemistry; Entrepreneurship The University of Maryland Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is developing a project that connects STEM undergraduates to new career pathways by applying their knowledge to innovation and entrepreneurship. As a response to the American Chemical Society s 2011 report, Innovation, Chemistry, and Jobs: Unlike any previous time in the history of chemistry innovation, entrepreneurs may now hold the key to limiting the losses in jobs, in generating new job opportunities for chemists in the U.S., and in helping chemistry solve the problems faced by society this project will begin with a focus on chemistry and uniquely link STEM undergraduate education to business, R&D, and innovation. Envisioned as an alternative academic track for undergraduates to begin in the freshman year, the chemistry entrepreneurship program will provide students with dynamic, flexible opportunities to learn chemistry while applying it to real-world problems. One such course would be a sophomore capstone class that challenges the chemistry students to form consulting teams and address real world problems in the community, as well as to design viable business solutions that they could market or potentially patent. Offering the capstone course early allows students to feel connected to the field and better understand alternative career options earlier in their undergraduate experience. Students would be encouraged to take a second capstone course during their senior year as well. During this time, student teams would be exposed to writing, submitting, and reviewing patent applications, as it is relevant to their projects. Companies and other organizations could partner on this project to provide a range of opportunities, such as external consulting projects, exposing students to research in the field, mentorships, research experiences, internships, and financial support. The program could also be a way to focus on deeper learning competencies and skills, such as problem solving, teamwork, and written and oral communication. Rather than have students re-solve problems that have been in textbooks for decades, the program would empower them to create new knowledge around unsolved problems and provide the tools and opportunity to drive this knowledge into the marketplace. By focusing on learning and career outcomes, and creating new knowledge and products that have potential for addressing societal problems, this program could help to attract and retain students in science majors, especially those students traditionally underrepresented in chemistry majors and careers, particularly women and minorities. In addition, it could provide an attractive new pathway for students in community colleges to transfer to four-year institutions. By providing summer experiences in the chemistry entrepreneurship program for community college students, or engaging community college students in face-to-face and virtual learning during the academic year, UMBC could build communities of students in other institutions who work together from different locations toward the development of marketable projects, much as companies do. The chemistry entrepreneurship program provides a model for students understanding the connectivity and applicability of their STEM degree. Further, the program provides an example of how to connect university research and VC projects to include STEM undergraduate students. 15
ABLE 4 STEM: Associate s and Bachelor s Linked Education in STEM majors The University of Massachusetts System The State of Massachusetts Sector: Lead Campuses: Business Partner: Regional Partner: Underrepresented Students in STEM Boston; Lowell; Dartmouth; Amherst Massachusetts Competitive Partnership Massachusetts Governors STEM Council The University of Massachusetts (UMass) campuses that award bachelor s degrees in STEM fields are actively engaged in increasing degree attainment by underrepresented minority students (URMs), most notably through the National Science Foundation s Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation. The Urban Alliance includes UMass Boston, Lowell and Dartmouth campuses while the Amherst campus is a member of the Northeast LSAMP. Each LSAMP emphasizes persistence in STEM majors and STEM B.S. degree attainment. Massachusetts Community Colleges (CCs), likewise, educate URMs for Associate s (A.S.) degrees in STEM fields and provide an increasingly important entry for URMs capable of earning a B.S. in a STEM field. This project will formalize and strengthen partnerships between the UMass campuses, CCs, and Massachusetts companies, aimed at ensuring greater success in both STEM associate and bachelor degree completion and degree attainment for underrepresented minority students. This project will have two core components to (1) develop a preferred pathway, establishing course-specific 2+2 articulation agreements for the entry of associate of science graduates of community colleges into STEM majors at UMass campuses and (2) to create an alternative pathway for reverse transfer of credits to community colleges for associate of science degree completion by community college students who enter UMass. All LSAMP-eligible CC students will be identified early-on and included in intentional PreLSAMP programming at the CCs to increase A.S. degree completion rates and better prepare them for B.S. success at UMass. Goals of the project include: The overall goal is to double the number of STEM degrees awarded to URM students at both the A.S. and B.S. levels within four years. Establish additional 2+2 articulation agreements for all STEM majors, adding to the several Massachusetts community colleges, including Bunker Hill, Holyoke, Middlesex, and Roxbury, who all have 2+2 articulation plans in place for three or more STEM majors at any UMass campus. Establish articulations for Reverse Transfer A.S. degree completion. The Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, with lead BHEF business members, Suffolk Construction and Raytheon, will provide the support to ensure successful transition of students from community colleges to UMass STEM degree attainment. Potential opportunities for businesses include: PreLSAMP programming at community colleges, supervised hands-on experiences for second and third year LSAMP students, summer internships for rising senior LSAMP students in areas of green science/engineering (such as LEED building design principles, green chemistry, etc.); life sciences laboratory or field placements; and sustainable solutions (alternative energy systems, etc.). 16
Building a Sustainable Pipeline for Wisconsin s Water-Based Economy The University of Wisconsin System The State of Wisconsin Sector: Lead Campuses: Business Partners: Water - to include the fields of limnology, hydrology, hydrogeology, biology, ecology, atmospheric and oceanic sciences UW-Madison; UW-Milwaukee; UW-Stevens Point; UW-Superior Milwaukee Water Council and the aquaculture industry Water research and technology has been identified as a key strategic priority for economic development in Wisconsin. Work in this area will help to fulfill the three, intertwined goals of the UW System s Growth Agenda, which includes growing the number of highly prepared students, the building of vibrant communities, and moving research to jobs, and increasing the recruitment and retention of more diverse students across multiple sites to meet Wisconsin s water research and technology workforce needs. The UW System will utilize its Wisconsin Idea, the concept that education should influence people s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom to meet the following project goals: Integrate engineering, science, and technology education across UW System institutions in order to explore and discover novel approaches to the sustainable and equitable use and management of water systems worldwide; and to create a multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and diverse atmosphere for educating the next generation of professionals armed with the knowledge, skills, and experience to anticipate, understand, and resolve the freshwater issues of the future. Provide a strong student pipeline for water sciences and technology that will include minority or under-represented students and thus help to meet the accelerating demand for water scientists and engineers, and to create a worldclass workforce in water-related technologies such as soils and waste, watershed management, land use planning, hydrology, and conservation. Become an international center for applying new ideas and pedagogies, developing novel strategies, and inventing new products, processes, and technologies around water. Each of the four university partners will contribute a distinct strength to the creation of new student pipelines for the water sciences. UW-Milwaukee s School of Freshwater Sciences is planning to establish an Aquatic Research Experience for Undergraduates (AREU) to include STEM students from other UW System institutions. UW-Madison s Sea Grant Institute and its Center for Limnology, as two examples among many units focusing on water, will promote STEM activities through promotion of Great Lakes and ocean sciences at the K-12 and undergraduate levels. UW-Stevens Point is committed to expanding enrollment of STEM students who will have enhanced access, among other facilities, to the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station, a Water and Environmental Analysis Laboratory, the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology Laboratory, and a state-of-the-art Paper Laboratory. UW-Superior s PEP program will involve a comprehensive freshman-to senior-year experience centered in the Lake Superior Research Institute and the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and offer a water-focused STEM curriculum sequence that includes discovery-based skills-development and hands-on research activities in freshwater conservation and water quality. Industry will play a vital role in this project for the system and on each campus. Local and regional water technology businesses (water treatment, distribution technology, chemical processing, biological reactors, and aquaculture) and agencies (water utilities, sewerage districts, departments of natural resources, and environmental protection agencies) are being asked to collaborate. Partners include the water-based industry sector around Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Water Council and the aquaculture industry, as well as paper science and water resources engineering companies in northcentral Wisconsin, and companies active in intermodal transportation and logistics in northern Wisconsin. 17
Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) Regional Pilot Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO Sector: Business Partner: Information Technology Missouri IT Companies According to a recent report by the Missouri P-20 Council entitled Missouri Workforce 2025, five of the ten fastest growing occupations in Missouri are projected to be related to Information Technology (IT). WUSTL is the largest producer of IT graduates in the greater St. Louis region, but most of its graduates typically seek advanced degrees or careers in other regions of the country. The School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) at WUSTL will partner with local two- and four-year colleges, whose students are far more likely to remain in the St. Louis area, to address growing workforce needs in this sector in the region. For almost 20 years, SEAS has provided ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) certified instruction in civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering in partnership with the University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL). Freshman and sophomore students at UMSL who are enrolled in WUSTL s joint engineering program take prerequisite and introductory courses in the physical and biological sciences at UMSL. In their final two years they take engineering courses at WUSTL in ABET certified programs in mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering. These courses are taught by SEAS faculty and adjuncts resulting in students graduating with an engineering degree from UMSL but administered and taught by WUSTL. This unique public-private joint undergraduate engineering program attracts local students from a very diverse population, some through two-year community colleges, to complete engineering degrees and to meet the demands of the regional work force. WUSTL will expand its partnership with UMSL and local community colleges to increase the recruitment and retention of undergraduates in IT fields. This program will be targeted to students, particularly women and underrepresented minority students, from the St. Louis area who show strong aptitude for pursuing a career in IT but lack the financial resources to do so at a university such as WUSTL. Local IT companies will be deeply involved in the planning and implementation of the program to help ensure that students develop the competencies and skills they need to succeed in college and beyond. The engagement of companies in the program will also provide students with a range of opportunities to see the relevance of their studies to the rich range of IT career paths available to them. WUSTL plans to provide financial and other incentives to students who graduate with bachelor s degrees in IT and continue their studies toward M.S. degrees at WUSTL. With M.S. degrees, students will have more potential to become employed in the regional workforce and meet local demands for well-qualified engineers. Moreover, by financing these extra years of training, local corporations will be able to increase the value of these potential employees by helping to fit their skill sets to specific company needs. 18
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