Frank Morgan

Undergraduate STEM Education Report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)

On February 7, PCAST released Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  “This report provides a strategy for improving STEM education during the first two years of college that we believe is responsive to both the challenges and the opportunities that this crucial stage in the STEM education pathway presents. Economics projections point to a need for approximately 1 million more STEM professionals than the US will produce at the current rate over the next decade if the country is to retain its historical preeminence in science and technology. To meet this goal, the United States will need to increase the number of students who receive undergraduate STEM degrees by about 34% annually …”

Response by the Mathematical Association of America

Note added 19 June 2012. In his Launchings, David Bressoud concluded that, “In short, the problem is not with attracting students to STEM fields. The issue will be to retain them.”