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Part II: The STEM Pathways Workshop: Describing the
Change
With this strategic concern in mind, the federal
government and industry have exhibited keen interest
in developing the scientific and engineering
workforce of the 21st century. The strategic focus
is to identify new and existing programs that will
create easily navigable pathways to STEM careers by
attracting more U.S. students and broadening
participation in STEM fields. The ultimate goal is
to prepare a STEM workforce capable of meeting the
challenges of the 21st century. To explore these
issues a workshop was convened in the fall of 2003
to provide an opportunity for experts from the
relevant communities to explore the extent to which
the existing knowledge base on STEM workforce issues
can inform the creation and expansion of such
pathways. The workshop was organized around the five
goals shown below.
1 Review and discuss existing research findings and
programs related to workforce issues
2 Discuss actions needed to broaden participation in
the STEM workforce
3 Identify strategic research areas and education
funding priorities that will result in a rich and
diverse STEM workforce strengthened by broader
participation of U.S. citizens
4 Identify evaluation methodologies, criteria and
metrics to measure the success of future programs
5 Identify and propose strategies and funding
mechanisms that will propel more underrepresented
group members in STEM leadership positions.
The overall goal of the workshop was to determine
the state of extant knowledge, to identify knowledge
gaps, and to propose key components of a program
agenda to address the problem. It began with a
series of plenary and panel presentations followed
by intense discussions in breakout sessions and with
the group as a whole. The critical themes emerging
from the discussions and breakout sessions are
summarized below.
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