BHEF Receives Multi-year Grant from U.S. Office of Naval Research to Use System Dynamics Modeling to Strengthen the STEM Pipeline; Convenes Modeling Workshop at Carderock Naval Surface Warfare Center

Grant will support identifying and piloting strategies to increase the number of STEM-capable workers

Washington, DC (January 5, 2012) — The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) has been awarded a $401,639 grant by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) to support the use of innovative modeling tools and data to identify the most effective strategies for increasing the number of STEM-proficient graduates for the Navy's workforce. The grant will also support piloting those strategies in cross-sector collaborations involving higher education institutions, business, and the Navy.

The grant will build on BHEF's innovative use of system dynamics modeling in analyzing the factors influencing the STEM pipeline. As a kickoff to this grant, BHEF today convened a workshop of ONR, Department of Defense, government, higher education, and corporate leaders to identify key strategies and practices that, if scaled, could address U.S. STEM education and workforce needs. The outcome of this modeling workshop, which was held at NAVSEA's Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division in Bethesda, Maryland, will be the creation of a STEM education model focused on Navy STEM education and workforce priorities that builds on a previous BHEF model developed in 2009.

BHEF's U.S. STEM Education Model, a system dynamics model of the U.S. STEM education system that was developed by Raytheon Company and donated to BHEF in 2009, simulates the impact of various policies and programs on the number of graduates produced in the elementary through graduate school education system in the STEM disciplines and who go on to pursue STEM industry careers. It is the first such model to be used to analyze education issues.

BHEF will adapt its U.S. STEM Education Model to simulate evidence-based STEM education strategies that might be scaled to better address the U.S. Navy's workforce needs. This work is part of BHEF's STEM Higher Education and Workforce Project, which aims to identify new forms of collaboration among business and industry, higher education, and government to increase the persistence of students, particularly women and underrepresented minorities, who graduate in STEM fields; deepen STEM knowledge and skills; and strengthen the alignment of undergraduate STEM education to workforce needs.

Though the ONR STEM Education Model will explicitly address needs of the U.S. Navy, its focus on evidence-based strategies will ensure broad national relevance on how cross-sector collaboration can improve STEM education. BHEF aims to develop the ONR STEM Education Model over the coming year.

"BHEF is delighted to partner with the Office of Naval Research, and BHEF's network of university and business members to undertake this important project. This grant will enable us to support the Navy's efforts to identify the highest impact strategies to develop its civilian workforce, and advance the use of our system dynamics modeling tool to identify approaches at the campus level that can have a real impact on retaining students in the STEM disciplines and building a diverse and capable STEM workforce,” says BHEF Chief Executive Officer Brian K. Fitzgerald.