Business-Higher Education Forum Presents Actionable Solutions to Participants at STEM Solutions 2012

Washington, DC (July 9, 2012) — More than three million unfilled jobs in the U.S. today require individuals with training and skills in science, technology, engineering, and math. In partnership with the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF), U.S. News and World Report brought together over 1,500 people in Dallas June 27-29 for U.S. News STEM Solutions 2012: A Leadership Summit to share, educate, and lay the foundation for tangible resolution to the nation’s looming one million STEM graduate deficit, as defined by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).    

As one of the event’s co-chairs, BHEF members came together to advance the action-agenda set during last month’s summer meeting. Industry and higher education leaders, including Northrop Grumman Corporation, Case Western Reserve University, The Boeing Corporation, Battelle Memorial Institute, The City University of New York, Miami Dade College, NextEra Energy, Inc., and the University System of Maryland, along with national industry partners Aerospace Industry Association, American Society for Engineering Education, and the National Defense Industrial Association, participated or led key plenary sessions, laying the foundation for actionable, scalable solutions to our nation’s most significant workforce challenge.

BHEF Chair, Wes Bush, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC), presented a STEM “State of the Union." Bush reflected on the standard approach to corporate philanthropy and partnership and stated, “The old model of simply writing checks doesn’t fly anymore. To be sure, the new partnership model still requires investment and corporate philanthropy. But it also depends on corporate leadership and human engagement. These partnerships…turn solutions into results that keep the pipeline of innovation flowing.” Highlighting the dozen workforce projects that BHEF launched in June, Bush noted that they are “collaborative, innovative, proactive and strategic…partnerships that can break the logjam.”

Brian Fitzgerald, BHEF CEO, moderated the keynote luncheon, Finding Common Ground: CEOs and College Presidents Propose Solutions. Panelists included BHEF Vice Chair Barbara Snyder, President, Case Western Reserve University; Eric Spiegel, President and CEO, Siemens Corporation; Eduardo Padrón, President, Miami Dade College; and Lew Hay, Chairman, NextEra Energy, Inc. The conversation focused on innovation. For companies to be successful, they must innovate across the full corporate bandwidth: R&D, product design and engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, and marketing and finance. Across the board, participants agreed that corporations without a highly educated and skilled workforce would find their ability to innovate severely stinted. The conversation's message was clear: We cannot wait for the future workforce solutions, we must create the future with innovative, effective relationships among corporations and colleges and universities.

BHEF Senior Director of STEM Policy and Programs, Steve Barkanic, moderated the session New Undergraduate Education Models for New Workforce Needs where BHEF Associate Director of STEM Policy and Programs, Debbie Hughes, along with Chris Valentino, Director, Contract Research & Development, NGC, and Eric Chapman, Deputy Director, University of Maryland Cybersecurity Center provided expert insight. Speaking directly to the partnerships Wes Bush highlighted in his remarks, the group elaborated how the BHEF model of industry-higher education partnerships are resolving the regional workforce needs plaguing not only NGC, but also NSA, NIST, NASA, and other federal agencies based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

The next convening of the U.S. News STEM Summit series will be in New York this fall. BHEF is already in conversation with conference leads to develop an action-agenda.