BHEF Receives Renewed Commitment, Funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research and USA Funds

Washington, DC (June 28, 2012) — The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) has been awarded over $150,000 from the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) and USA Funds to support its two initiatives, the College Readiness, Access, and Success Initiative (CRI); and the Securing America’s Leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Initiative, in the coming year.

ONR has provided substantial support to BHEF in 2012, and its renewed commitment of an additional $101,639 will sustain the development of the Next Generation U.S. STEM Education Model (version 2.0). USA Funds is also a long-time supporter of BHEF, and its newest $50,000 grant will be used to promote college readiness, access, and degree completion for underserved populations, particularly in math and science.

With support from ONR, version 2.0 of the Model will help the Navy identify the most effective strategies for increasing the number of STEM-proficient graduates for its workforce. The grant will also support piloting those strategies in cross-sector collaborations involving higher education institutions, business, and the Navy. Additionally, it will build on BHEF's innovative use of system dynamics modeling in analyzing the factors influencing the STEM pipeline.

This updated Model retains components of the original model, and adds a new series of postsecondary policies and interventions that can be implemented to improve STEM college graduation outcomes. Utilizing 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.

The grant from USA Funds will support BHEF’s CRI, and specifically will be used to: promote communities that have successfully mobilized the business community around education access and success; work with communities to adapt education improvement/workforce alignment strategies to their needs and generate lessons for others; and increase the sustainability and visibility of BHEF’s resource center StrategicEdSolutions.org®.