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Business-Higher Education Forum to Expand Use of STEM Education Model

Receives supplemental grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to assess factors influencing STEM education and to test applicability of unique modeling tool

Washington, DC (December 7, 2009) —The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) has received a $417,517 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help BHEF expand a unique simulation modeling tool for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education policy making, as well as for enhancing college access, readiness, and success efforts.

BHEF is a national organization of Fortune 500 CEOs, prominent college and university presidents, and foundation leaders who work to advance innovative solutions to U.S. education challenges that affect competitiveness and the economy. One of the organization’s main goals is to double the number of STEM graduates by 2015.

The grant will allow BHEF to adapt its U.S. STEM Education Model to examine STEM education policies at the state level and also to explore ways to expand the model’s use by federal and state education policymakers in STEM and other areas. The current model enables policy makers to simulate the effect of factors, such as changes in teacher quality and participation in undergraduate cohort programs, on increasing the number of STEM graduates. As such, it offers a powerful new tool for education policy makers that can help them understand the effect of various policies on the education system over time and simulate outcomes. The new grant will enable BHEF to explore the model’s applicability to other issues, as well, including the role of two-year colleges on college degree attainment. 
 
“This grant provides crucial support for increasing the model’s applicability and will allow BHEF to advance its use as a tangible policymaking tool,” says BHEF Chair David J. Skorton, president of Cornell University. “At the state level, we expect to test the adaptability of the model initially in Ohio and to use it to simulate the impact of various policies on key education issues of importance to that state. We hope that effort will provide a roadmap for policymakers in other states.”

The model, developed by the Raytheon Company and donated to BHEF, is a key component of BHEF’s STEM Initiative, which was launched in June 2005 to help ensure that America remains a global leader in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. BHEF’s work under this Initiative and under its initiative on college readiness, access, and success was supported by an initial $910,000 grant from the foundation in 2008. 

In addition to releasing the model into open source in July, BHEF—with partners Raytheon and The Ohio State University—has advanced the STEM Research and Modeling Network (SRMN) to support the modeling effort. The SRMN brings together researchers, policymakers, practitioners, corporations and funders, all of whom share the goal of using simulation modeling and similar tools to identify ways that student interest, participation and achievement in the STEM fields can be strengthened.  

Current forecasts of student degree attainment in the United States suggest that the U.S. will not produce enough STEM graduates at the two- or four-year college level to meet employer demand. The development of this model and the accompanying SRMN represent the mobilization of a community committed to aggressively addressing this challenge through innovative tools.

“We are pleased with this generous support from the foundation, which will enable BHEF to advance the model and use it as a tool to address the nation’s challenges in STEM degree production,” says BHEF Vice Chair William H. Swanson, Raytheon Chairman and CEO. “It is crucial, if we are to remain competitive as a nation, that we have enough STEM graduates to fuel the workforce pipeline.”

About the Business-Higher Education Forum

BHEF brings together an extraordinary coalition of corporate, academic, and foundation members to influence public policy and inspire other leaders to act. BHEF’s membership includes numerous nationally recognized corporate and higher education executives who provide leadership in education, nationally and locally. To learn more, visit BHEF’s Web site at www.bhef.com. For BHEF publications, see www.bhef.com/publications/pubs.asp.

For more information about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, go to www.gatesfoundation.org.