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Decades later, National Science Foundation’s past still guides grants today

Nov 30, 2017

No matter where you are in the STEM education world, it always seems like the National Science Foundation is just around the corner. Everyone knows that they support cutting edge scientific research, but since when have they been involved in STEM education?  

The first National Science Board in 1951

The short answer? About 70 years.  

NSF’s first Chairman James Conant highlighted education early

The National Science Foundation was established by Congress through the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 under Harry S. Truman. The foundation’s central function was “ to develop and encourage the pursuit of a national policy for the promotion of basic research and education in the sciences.” Since that day in May, research and education were two sides of the same coin.  

In the NSF’s first annual report , Chairman James Conant wrote that there must be “an intensive effort to discover latent scientific talent and provide for its adequate development.” He wrote about assisting promising young college graduates in need of require postgraduate training. From there, the foundation could help foster the nation’s next leaders in science and engineering.  

Today, we know that we have to start much earlier than college graduates, but they were on the right track.  

In the 1971 Director’s Statement , William McElroy stressed that the NSF must emphasize curriculum development, teacher improvement, and student support. He wanted to focus more directly on multidisciplinary problems, including social and environmental ones, and training science educators as specialists within their own institutions. “By concentrating more of our resources for science education on these types of activities,” McElroy wrote, “we expect to sustain a high-quality science education program which will affect a wide range of students and teachers.”  

Director William McElroy devoted space in his formal statement to educators

At around the same time, the NSF took specific initiative to begin providing specific opportunities to historically black colleges and universities and broadening participation in underrepresented communities. Today,  over 50 programs make up their broadening participation portfolio , with focus areas ranging from Kindergarten to Career.  

National Science Foundation funds more than 2,000 colleges, universities, K-12 school systems, businesses, informal science organizations, and other research organizations throughout the United States. About a quarter of federal support for academic research comes from the NSF.  

So how can the STEM education community find NSF support?   

Several initiatives are aligned with STEMx goals and aims within the  Directorate for Education and Human Resources. Programs like  ADVANCE  focus on reaching women in STEM, while programs like  Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST)  and  NSF INCLUDES  focus on a wider range of students and teachers. The  Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program  encourages STEM professionals to become K-12 teachers to inspire students in the classroom. Follow the links above for more information.  

Do you have any experience with NSF? Tell us about it in the comments below.   

By Rob Evans 01 Nov, 2023
by Heather Sherman, Director of STEMx The 2023 STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce was a success! Through our collaboration with STEMconnector and Million Women Mentors, we convened 160 leaders from industry, government, non-profit organizations, and education institutions from all over the United States to discuss strategies and best practices to support the STEM workforce. We were honored to host a variety of dynamic speakers including: Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado Brynt Parmeter, Chief Talent Management Officer, U.S. Department of Defense Dr. Athina Kanioura, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, PepsiCo and Dr. Lisa Hinkelman, Founder and CEO of Ruling Our eXperiences (RoX). We extend our gratitude to our panelists, Learning Session speakers, and participants who joined us in Denver. Broadening participation We set out share information on trends in STEM education and workforce development, with an emphasis on broadening participation in STEM careers. Resources from sessions highlighting strategies for broadening participation are linked below: DoD STEM: Developing a STEM Workforce to Support the National Security Mission Priming the Pump for High Demand STEM Careers STEM Workforce Readiness for Teen Girls: “If She Can See It, She Can Be It” Driving change Another goal of the forum was to feature high impact strategies, programs and solutions that are driving change, and STEMx members from LASTEM , the PAST Foundation and MBRT showed how they are engaging youth and building career awareness through their workforce programs. Emerging technologies We looked towards the future to better understand how emerging technologies will change the world and the ways we must prepare STEM talent for jobs in logistics, artificial intelligence, research safety , bioenergy , and renewable technologies. Chevron‘s sponsored panel, “Cultivating the Talent to Drive the Innovation and Technologies for Ever-Cleaner Energy” was a rich discussion featuring experts from Chevron, Project Lead the Way and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Jamie Vernon, Executive Director, and CEO, Sigma Xi Society was a fantastic moderator for this discussion. Next steps We have linked event resources including videos, slide decks and collateral on the event landing page . The event photo gallery is located there as well. If you attended, please complete our 30 second event survey . Five lucky winners will be selected at random to receive a Forum water bottle! More importantly, your feedback matters to us. If you did not attend, mark your calendar for next fall - we’re looking to make next year even bigger! If you are interested in hosting in your state, or have thoughts about compelling content that we should include, please reach out to Heather Sherman .
By Rob Evans 03 Oct, 2023
Join us for The STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce
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