Great Lakes Commits $9M to Fight STEM Attrition

Non-profit & leading guarantors/student loan suppliers target STEM.

You don’t have to go far to hear about the STEM skills gap.
According to the non-profit Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates
(Great Lakes), the STEM job market will increase 1.7 times faster than other
industries. Unfortunately, only 40% of students that enter into a STEM major
will complete a STEM degree.

“STEM drives our nation’s innovation and competiveness,
and we’re concerned that the United States is falling behind in producing
college graduates with degrees in these essential disciplines,” said Richard D.
George, CEO of Great Lakes. “That’s why Great Lakes is committing $9 million to
three initiatives that will help more two- and four-year college students
persevere in their pursuit of STEM degrees, preparing them for in-demand,
well-paying jobs.”

Another disturbing finding by Great Lakes is that attrition
is specifically high for minorities and often marginalised groups. Female
students, students of color, students from low-income families, or the students
that are among the first of their family to attend a higher education
institution appear to be hit the hardest. As such, Great Lakes is committing $1.875
million of the funds to low-income students. This comes to $2500 each for 750
students.

George said, “Now in the third year of our scholarship
program, we have provided more than $5.6 million to STEM majors across the
country … We’re fortunate to see the positive difference that higher education
makes in lives every day, and we’re pleased to continue our scholarship
commitment to help these ambitious students advance their careers.”

Of the remaining donation, $3.2 million will go towards
faculty training and cross-network sharing with the Center for the Integration
of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL). This will help to educate STEM
faculty in new proven techniques to educate their students.

It is no secret that many faculty members have devoted their
life to research, but find themselves forced to fill teaching positions in
order to do so. The result can be a mind numbing
experience for students
. The CIRTL’s goal is to teach post-docs and grad
students how to become excellent researchers and instructors. The network of 22 Universities spans 16 states.
Their education training is comprised of mentoring and evidence-based teaching
techniques such as active learning, real-world situation topics, inclusive learning
environments, teamwork and continual improvement.

“CIRTL Network universities currently graduate about 20
percent of the nation’s new STEM faculty each year … Our intention through
investments like this is to take ideas that work to scale. We hope the 80
remaining research universities will adopt the successful CIRTL model and truly
shape the future of STEM education for thousands of future faculty, and an
entire generation of undergraduate students,” said George.

The final $4 million from Great Lakes will go towards further
research and to inform policymakers of the financial burdens associated with a
STEM degree. The labour intensive degrees often translate to more time in the
lab and library with less time for part-time jobs. This can be a major
contributing factor to the attrition of students from low-income families.

The $4 million will be broken up into grants for hundreds of
students in 10 Wisconsin schools. Each student receives $1000/year for up to
five years for taking part in this experimental study.

“Our grants will allow students at both two- and
four-year colleges to focus on their studies instead of a salary, and we hope
that will make it easier for them to complete their STEM majors,” said
George.

The actual research portion of the study will be funded by
the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Wisconsin HOPE Lab will then
determine if the funding has helped the students to complete their STEM
degrees.

Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, founding director of the Wisconsin
HOPE Lab said, “Policymakers and practitioners need to know how and why
grant aid contributes to critical workforce needs, such as those in STEM fields
… Thanks to the support from Great Lakes, the HOPE Lab has the opportunity to
generate rigorous empirical evidence to provide that information while also
supporting students across the state.”

Source Great
Lakes
.

Written by

Shawn Wasserman

For over 10 years, Shawn Wasserman has informed, inspired and engaged the engineering community through online content. As a senior writer at WTWH media, he produces branded content to help engineers streamline their operations via new tools, technologies and software. While a senior editor at Engineering.com, Shawn wrote stories about CAE, simulation, PLM, CAD, IoT, AI and more. During his time as the blog manager at Ansys, Shawn produced content featuring stories, tips, tricks and interesting use cases for CAE technologies. Shawn holds a master’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Guelph and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.