Post-Meeting Memo: BHEF Member Meeting (Summer 2012)

BHEF members convened June 11 and 12 for BHEF's 2012 summer member meeting at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C. This meeting advanced BHEF's national and regional agendas with key events on Capitol Hill and the at White House. BHEF’s strategic direction was demonstrated with the launch of regional workforce projects, the announcement of the National STEM Undergraduate Partnership, and the preview of the Next Generation U.S. STEM Education Model. Updates on these initiatives will be presented to members at the BHEF 2013 winter member meeting, which will take place once again in Washington, D.C. on February 21 and 22.

The first of two off-site events took place on Monday, June 11, in the Kennedy Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building. There, BHEF Chair Brit Kirwan, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, and Vice Chair Wes Bush, Chairman, CEO, and President of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC), announced the Advanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students Program (ACES), which is planned for launch in fall 2013 at The University of Maryland College Park (UMCP). Through a major gift from NGC, UMCP will launch the nation’s first interdisciplinary residential honors program in cybersecurity as part of BHEF’s regional higher education and workforce strategy.

At this event, the following speakers provided insights on the value of BHEF’s efforts to the future of America’s workforce:

Marion Blakey, President and CEO, Aerospace Industries Association;
Roger Ferguson, Jr., President and CEO, TIAA-CREF
Freeman Hrabowski, III, President, University of Maryland Baltimore County;
Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Policy, White House Office of Science and Technology;
Patrick O’Shea, Vice President for Research and Chief Research Officer, University of Maryland; and
Mark Wrighton, Chancellor, Washington University in St. Louis.

BHEF announced its first twelve regional workforce projects in California, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The event ended with the recognition of all BHEF regional workforce project partners and participants and a structured networking session where guests were able to meet BHEF members, and national industry and academic partners. Among the guests were members from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Capitol Hill staff, and officials from Federal agencies, foundations, and other organizations.

The following day, BHEF members and invited guests met with senior Administration officials in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House. From the first speaker, Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, to the last, Dr. John Holdren, the President’s Science Advisor, it was evident that the Administration was seeking innovative solutions to the nation’s challenges in developing a highly trained workforce for the 21st century. Through panels moderated by BHEF member Lew Hay III, Chairman and CEO, NextEra Energy, and Barbara Snyder, President, Case Western Reserve University, BHEF members developing regional projects demonstrated how these efforts were providing strong on-the-ground models for aligning higher education with workforce needs. BHEF CEO Brian Fitzgerald presented Dr. Holdren with a letter to President Obama on BHEF’s National STEM Undergraduate Partnership. In their concluding remarks, Kirwan and Bush commented on the high value BHEF placed on this meeting with Federal officials, and noted that opportunities were now open for continued dialogue and possible partnership between BHEF and the Administration around the national and regional strategies.

In the afternoon, BHEF members and guests previewed version 2.0 of the >BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model®. Moderator Bill Swanson, Chairman and CEO of the Raytheon Company, led participants through a session, which included the announcement of the NCCI Award for the first version of the U.S. STEM Education Model, presentations on Navy workforce challenges, and new research on STEM student attrition from the University System of Maryland, respectively. It also included a demonstration of version 2.0 of the Model, which is supported by the Office of Naval Research.

Lastly, the meeting marked the annual transition of BHEF's senior leadership. Brit Kirwan concluded his term as BHEF Chair and was succeeded by Wes Bush for 2012-2013. Additionally, members elected Barbara Snyder as the new Vice Chair. BHEF members also enthusiastically endorsed a proclamation adopted by the Executive Committee expressing appreciation to Kirwan for his service and many contributions to BHEF.

Key Meeting Takeaways

The clear alignment of BHEF’s regional and national strategies in STEM and CRI with both Congress’ and Administration’s agenda for building a workforce with the competencies and skills needed to maintain U.S. competiveness and national security presents an unparalleled opportunity for BHEF to partner on multiple levels with Federal mission agencies and leverage Federal resources.

The Capitol Hill and White House events, and the learning session on the BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model, demonstrate the increasing influence of BHEF in shaping the national vision of how higher education, industry, and government can collaborate in innovative ways to drive reform in undergraduate education and provide sustainable models for workforce and skills development.

As evidenced by the high level of interest and broad participation in the summer meeting events, BHEF is positioned to leverage its strategies and influence to attract new members, particularly from regions and sectors currently underrepresented in its current membership.

BHEF will expand its work with the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Domestic Policy Council to plan and hold an event which publicly recognizes the National STEM Undergraduate Partnership’s central role to the implementation of the PCAST report’s recommendations. Additionally, BHEF will collaborate with CoSTEM* and OSTP to redefine business, higher education, and government partnerships to connect the subject-relevant mission agencies to BHEF’s regional workforce projects around expertise, training opportunities, and facilities/equipment. The White House has asked BHEF to re-convene with a smaller group of academic, industry, and government leaders, in fall 2012 as the first in a series of joint activities in STEM undergraduate education.

*The NSTC Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM) was created on February 1, 2011 and includes representatives from 11 Federal agencies, as well as the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

BHEF Regional Projects Public Launch Event

On Monday, June 11, BHEF held an event on Capitol Hill titled Introduction of a New Industry-Higher Education Solution for the NextGen U.S. Workforce, where it publicly announced its regional and national strategies in STEM and CRI. The event, attended by approximately 200 members and guests, opened with remarks from Tom Kalil, Deputy Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who provided the Federal perspective on gaps in America’s STEM workforce, especially with regard to national security issues, and major Administration initiatives, such as the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. His remarks called attention to and addressed those gaps by mobilizing the higher education, industry, and government sectors.

Kalil was followed by BHEF Chair Brit Kirwan, who described the growing need for a highly trained STEM-based workforce in Maryland, particularly in the fields of information technology and cybersecurity. Kirwan was joined on the dais by Wes Bush, BHEF Vice Chair and Chairman, CEO, and President, NGC; Patrick O’Shea, Vice President for Research and Chief Research Officer, University of Maryland; and Brian Fitzgerald, CEO, BHEF, for an announcement a $1.1M gift by NGC as part of a collaboration with UMCP to create a new clinical undergraduate teaching model for cybersecurity.

Freeman Hrabowski, III, President of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, delivered the keynote address for the event, noting the great challenge of increasing success among women and underrepresented minorities in STEM, and initiatives at his institution, including the Meyerhoff Scholars Program that could be scaled at colleges and universities around the country to diversify and strengthen the STEM pipeline.

Roger Ferguson, Jr., CEO and President of TIAA-CREF, and former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, offered framing remarks about the critical need for Deeper Learning (21st century skills), in the nation’s workforce to complement the content knowledge students receive in their fields. Ferguson moderated a panel that included:
Mark Wrighton, Chancellor of Washington University at St. Louis; Marion Blakey, President and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association; and Patrick O’Shea, Vice President of Research, Univeristy of Maryland.

Wrighton discussed the role of universities in addressing regional workforce needs, and described a project underway at Washington University at St. Louis that links the engineering school with the University of Missouri–St. Louis and local community colleges to boost student persistence, deepen learning, and diversify the region’s information technology workforce. Blakey framed the challenges companies in the aerospace industry face as the pool of human capital continues to shrink, and spoke to concerns in the defense industry for possible sequestration of the Federal budget. O’Shea provided specifics of the ACES Program at UMCP, noting that it will be designed to develop a new kind of “cyber enabled” student and, ultimately, professionals with the skills and competencies to address as yet unimaginable cyber challenges that society will face in the future.

Following the panel, Brian Fitzgerald recognized each BHEF regional STEM and CRI workforce project and briefly introduced their respective project leader and team. Senators who met with BHEF member-led teams from their respective states included Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chuck Grassley (D-IA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Charles Schumer (D-NY).

Building Effective Business, University, & Government Partnerships in Undergraduate Education to Prepare the NextGen Workforce

BHEF members and special guests were invited to the White House on the morning of June 12 to engage in a substantive dialogue with senior Administration officials and representatives from Federal mission agencies, linking BHEF’s STEM agenda with that of the Administration, and providing on-the-ground regional and national solutions to STEM higher education and critical skills shortages around high-demand jobs. Through this conversation, BHEF was able to showcase the leadership role its members have already undertaken to address many of the recommendations laid out in recent reports by PCAST on undergraduate STEM education and the Jobs Council on engineering and workforce. In response, representatives from six Federal agencies, including: the U.S. Department of Agriculture, NASA, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Education, and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), as well as leaders from OSTP, the President’s Domestic Policy Council, the National Economic Council, and the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness shared an unprecedented willingness to form meaningful partnerships with member’s regional projects and BHEF nationally. This initial conversation signified a beginning to connect academic, industry, and Federal leaders to uniquely address the workforce needs of the nation through collaboration, scaling, and information sharing.

The White House session began with Todd Park, the President’s Chief Technology Officer, providing welcoming remarks and framing the context for the Federal conversation. Park discussed the Administration’s central themes of promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, especially on university campuses as a key economic driver and essential to many of the Administration’s initiatives.

Brit Kirwan and Wes Bush then introduced BHEF to the Federal participants and provided both the academic and industry perspectives on undergraduate STEM and workforce, providing an overview of the BHEF regional workforce projects and highlighting the $1.1M grant from Northrop Grumman to the University of Maryland College Park as a key example of the progress of BHEF industry/academic partnerships toward addressing regional workforce needs. Bush also provided the context for what BHEF hoped to gain from the conversation, specifically including Federal collaborations at both the regional and national levels.

The meeting was organized into two panel discussions with key Administration leaders. The first panel focused on regional engagement and finding direct connections between the Federal mission agencies and BHEF’s regional projects. This panel was co-facilitated by Jim Shelton, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, and Lew Hay, III, CEO, NextEra Energy and Member, President’s Jobs Council. In his opening remarks, Shelton framed the Federal need for regional engagement with projects like BHEF’s as the vehicle for scaling innovations in education. He called on the higher education, industry, and Federal participants in the room to use the panel as the first of many conversations, with the goal of developing models of innovation with which Federal agencies can connect and help bring to scale. Hay responded by detailing how BHEF members are developing innovative solutions around regional workforce needs that could be enhanced by Federal engagement. One example Hay described was the newly launched project between NextEra Energy and Miami Dade College around information technology, cybersecurity, and energy.

Federal agencies were asked to present on topics pertinent to BHEF’s projects including cybersecurity and aerospace, energy and water, agriculture and life sciences, and entrepreneurship. William "Bill" Newhouse, Cybersecurity Advisor, Computer Security Division, NIST, discussed how NIST has developed a STEM cybersecurity workforce council with strong industry engagement, and is seeking to encourage collaborations among industry and universities. Michelle Fox, Chief Strategist, Education and Workforce Development, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), explained that DOE is developing a career mapping tool around STEM fields and has developed a new freshman energy course based on active learning and closely tied to industry. Leland Melvin, Associate Administrator for Education, NASA, discussed the role NASA is playing in CoSTEM and the need for interagency alignment around STEM education activities. He also mentioned an opportunity for BHEF members to serve as potential advisors for CoSTEM. Sonny Ramaswamy, Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture, challenged the group to recognize the central role food and agriculture play in our society, and focus on the deeper learning skills needed in workforce development, such as leadership, professionalism, and critical thinking. Michael Kassner, Director of Research, ONR, discussed ONR’s decision to focus on the first two years of college, and to better understand high-impact intervention strategies, such as research internships, that will help increase student retention and success toward STEM degrees and expand the talent pool to increase for the Navy civilian STEM workforce.

Following these opening remarks, a conversation between BHEF members and the panelists commenced, in which members discussed regional projects underway and methods for engaging Federal agencies. Each of the panelists brought to light the focus areas of his or her agency, illustrating the range of Federal investment in STEM education. Panelists emphasized the need to partner with industry and higher education for their own workforce as well as for the needs of the nation.

The second panel provided a broader national perspective on the leadership role BHEF is playing in assisting with the President’s top priorities on jobs, the economy, and STEM higher education. The panel was co-facilitated by Roberto Rodriguez, Special Assistant to President Obama for Education, White House Domestic Policy Council, and Barbara Snyder, President, Case Western Reserve University. In his framing remarks, Rodriguez reiterated the need for innovation and detailed the President’s education agenda around moving the nation from sixteenth to first internationally in the percentage of college graduates attaining STEM degrees. He also focused on the need for the U.S. education system to focus on the goal of college readiness, and the need to infuse student learning with 21st century skills and STEM capabilities. Snyder responded by showcasing how BHEF’s work is aligned with recommendations made by PCAST and President’s Jobs Council. She explained how Case Western’s project, which focuses on introductory course redesign in materials science, in addition to community college articulation in information technology, is done in collaboration with local industry.

Greg Nelson, Chief of Staff, National Economic Council, opened the national panel by framing the need for robust partnerships around high-demand jobs as a matter of national competitiveness and job creation. Pam O’Neil, Deputy Assistant Director, Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), National Science Foundation, explained how NSF is seeking to incentivize change in STEM higher education through new grant opportunities. She detailed that EHR is re-structuring its funding priorities and will align with a number of efforts BHEF has underway. Don Graves, Executive Director, President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, discussed the Jobs Council’s focus on the connection between competitiveness and STEM education, and the need for better workforce data to understand which policies are proving effective. The Jobs Council report recommended the creation of additional internships, and views BHEF’s regional projects as a key mechanism for carrying out these recommendations. Henry Kelly, Senior Advisory to the Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, offered Director Holdren’s view that the group assembled for the panel had the potential to engage around concrete opportunities for collaboration in STEM higher education reform. Suzanne Immerman, Director of Strategic Partnerships, U.S. Department of Education, discussed the role her Department is playing in developing innovative education models.

New BHEF member, Mary Ann Davidson, Chief Security Officer, Oracle, urged the academic and Federal participants to consider private industry’s basic needs in training students, specifically around cybersecurity. She related that at Oracle, new college graduates in computer science frequently lack a basic understanding of “cyber hygiene” and often require extensive training.

Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), then provided remarks to the group about the importance of this meeting and the emerging alliance of industry, higher education, and government as holding great promise for implementing major national recommendations for strengthening STEM higher education and workforce.

Brian Fitzgerald, CEO, BHEF, presented to Dr. Holdren an open letter to the President announcing the formation of a National Undergraduate STEM Partnership of ten industry and higher education associations, professional societies, and government agencies. The letter was signed by the leaders of Aerospace Industries Association, American Chemical Society, American Council on Education, American Society for Engineering Education, Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the Business-Higher Education Forum, National Defense Industrial Association, Office of Naval Research, and TechNet. The letter outlines the following goals: (i) increase the number, rate, and diversity of undergraduates in STEM disciplines; (ii) better align undergraduate education (including community college education) with STEM industry workforce needs in key strategic areas; and (iii) identify roles and responsibilities for academic, industry, and government organizations in studying, advancing, and evaluating comprehensive and systemic reform in undergraduate STEM education and workforce development, recruitment, placement, and retention.

Fitzgerald called it a “down payment” for the one million STEM graduates needed by 2020, and noted that the letter demonstrates a greater alignment between industry and higher education around undergraduate education, particularly for the first two years of college, to increase the size and diversity of the nation's STEM workforce. Dr. Holdren expressed his gratitude for the work and commitment of BHEF’s members, and that he would be very pleased to present the letter to the President.

Brit Kirwan wrapped up the meeting with three key takeaways:

The strong sense of alignment emerging among higher education, the industry sector, and government around STEM and workforce, emphasizing that this period may represent the last best chance to address these key issues;
The importance of scalability of projects and reforms; and
The need to measure impact of our efforts and establish a culture of accountability in STEM reform.

The session concluded with a recommendation that BHEF members and representatives of Federal agencies should re-convene in the summer/fall 2012 to develop a national and regional patnership plan.

Learning Session: BHEF and ONR Launch the Next Generation U.S. STEM Education Model

This session highlighted a number of important milestones for BHEF and its members.

Mohammad Qayoumi, President of San José State University, and Maury Cotter, Director of the Office of Quality Improvement at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, announced that the BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model won the National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education (NCCI) 2012 Leveraging Excellence Award. NCCI administers the Leveraging Excellence Award Program, which recognizes excellence in leveraging the impact of effective higher education practices, and honored BHEF for the widespread use of the BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model to support improvements in STEM policy and practice. Bill Swanson, Chairman and CEO of the Raytheon Company, and donor of the original model, accepted the award and indicated his pleasure at the significant impact of Raytheon’s investment in such an important tool.

Brit Kirwan then asked his Associate Vice Chancellor, Nancy Shapiro, to present findings from new research on STEM student attrition within the University System of Maryland (USM). This study compared the major migration, retention, and graduation patterns of STEM students in three cohorts of first-time freshmen at four USM institutions in four STEM majors (Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and STEM Education), and offers important regional findings that will be used to drive the Maryland project.

Following Shapiro’s presentation, Dr. Michael Kassner, Director of Research for the Office of Naval Research (ONR), framed ONR’s interest and support in developing the Next Generation U.S. STEM Education Model (version 2.0). Kassner discussed ONR’s imperative to act on these STEM workforce issues, and his hopes for how the Model will influence ONR’s efforts. He then turned the session over to Brian Fitzgerald and Daniel Sturtevant, BHEF’s lead modeler, for a demonstration of version 2.0.

Fitzgerald highlighted that since its 2009 release, the BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model has influenced policy and practice to improve the flow of students through the STEM education pipeline and into the workforce. The Model, which was built by the Raytheon Company and donated to BHEF, is a first-of-its-kind tool that simulates the impact of interventions before they are implemented.

With the support from ONR, version 2.0 will continue to answer an updated question framed by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology: How can we develop the workforce we need by graduating an additional one million STEM college students by 2020? Version 2.0 will help the Navy to determine its own strategy around improving the Navy’s STEM civilian workforce.

This updated Model retains the original components of the original, and adds a new series of postsecondary policies and interventions that can be implemented to improve STEM college graduation outcomes. With this tool, decision-makers can simulate the impact of singular and combined strategies to improve STEM education before implementing campus-level changes or widespread policy reforms. Moreover, it will allow them to consider issues such as capacity limitations and timeline to full implementation.

Business Meeting and Closing Session

At the close of the final session, BHEF members held their annual business meeting. BHEF Chair Brit Kirwan opened by recognizing the BHEF staff for their hard work to increase BHEF’s visibility and stature.

Reporting on behalf of the Executive Committee, Kirwan provided an overview of BHEF’s progress towards its strategic and tactical goals, stating its work utilizes national partnerships as a platform to scale and increase the impact of both the STEM and CRI initiatives. In STEM, the STEM Higher Education and Workforce Project has made tremendous progress launching a series of regional projects that partners industry and higher education, and provides new opportunities to align undergraduate education to regional workforce needs. BHEF will focus on implementing the projects over the next year, as well as adding additional projects. Additionally, with support from the Office of Naval Research, BHEF will release version 2.0 of the U.S. STEM Education Model. In CRI, the working group approved a two-year strategy that aims to position BHEF as a preeminent organization addressing the alignment of education and workforce demands. BHEF will use this platform to continue efforts in Louisville, KY and Des Moines, IA.

BHEF CEO Brian Fitzgerald provided a brief finance and audit report, presenting to members the FY 2012 budget approved by the Executive Committee. Wes Bush, Chair of the Membership Committee, then updated members on the Membership Committee’s efforts to grow and diversify BHEF’s membership.

Following these reports, Kirwan opened the floor for discussion on two items for member approval. First, BHEF members elected the new slate of candidates for the Class of 2015 of BHEF's Executive Committee. Then, BHEF members elected Barbara Snyder, President of Case Western Reserve University, as BHEF’s Vice Chair for 2012-2013. Snyder expressed her appreciation for this honor and committed to help advance BHEF’s work.

Before adjourning, Wes Bush, rising BHEF chair, presented a proclamation to Brit Kirwan honoring his leadership as chair of BHEF over the past year.

BHEF’s winter 2013 member meeting will take place on February 21-22, and is scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C. This meeting is expected to include reports from members and their colleagues on progress in implementing their STEM and CRI regional projects; updates on the ongoing engagement between BHEF and Federal agencies; and reports on the national STEM undergraduate partnership and STEM–ONR modeling project. The summer 2013 member meeting will take place on June 10–11, 2013. Please place these important dates on your calendars.