Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century (2018) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 15-28
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From page 15... ...
However, since graduate degrees began to proliferate after World War II, and particularly in the two decades since the National Academies last reported on graduate STEM education (NAS/NAE/IOM, 1995) , there have been profound developments in workforce needs, approaches to STEM research and education, demographic composition of graduate student programs, and potential societal applications of STEM expertise.
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From page 16... ...
For U.S. society, the graduate STEM education system produces scientists, engineers, and research professionals by stimulating curiosity and enabling students to develop the intellectual capacity to recognize, formulate, and communicate complex problems; by helping students understand and create multidimensional, analytical approaches toward solutions; and by creating opportunities for students to discover knowledge that advances their understanding of the world around them.
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From page 17... ...
For students, graduate STEM education provides experiential, relevant exposure to the process by which STEM professionals conduct research, make new discoveries, and foster innovation. Our nation's future depends on a graduate education system that continues to evolve and meet its charge to create highly trained researchers, to develop future faculty and teachers responsible for the educational enterprise, and to support national economic, social, and cultural development.
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From page 18... ...
graduate STEM education is not fully meeting the needs of the entire population of potential graduate students, which is increasingly diverse with respect to dimensions including but not limited to gender, race, ethnicity, visa status, or socioeconomic background at a time when the nation needs to access all available talent; and (3) although unemployment among those with STEM graduate degrees is low, demand is uneven across
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From page 19... ...
. The outcome of these and other concerns is that STEM graduate education in the United States is far less effective than it might be at educating graduate students prepared for the wide range of STEM careers in this century's ever-evolving work environment.
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From page 20... ...
The goal of such an effort is for the graduate STEM education ecosystem to become more inclusive and equitable, and to better meet the needs and interests of an increasingly diverse student body pursuing a broad spectrum of careers in a world in which labor markets, funding sources, institutional policies, and the very nature of STEM research are undergoing rapid change. For graduate STEM education to remain aligned with broader shifts in science and engineering as well as 21st-century society, the entire system needs to undergo significant cultural change to reflect the ways in which the world
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From page 21... ...
Many institutions that serve graduate students face considerable challenges related to funding instability, existing work burden on faculty, and strain on administration and support staff. For the changes called for in this report to flourish in a sustainable way, they might require institutions and departments to reflect on the existing structure of their graduate programs.
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From page 22... ...
Such a risk is one the nation can ill afford at a time when other nations are expanding their investment in STEM education. BACKGROUND OF THE REPORT To determine how well the current graduate STEM education system is serving the needs of various sectors and stakeholders, and to propose new guiding principles, models, programs, and policies that might be adapted to local needs and contexts, the National Academies convened an ad hoc committee, under the auspices of the Board on Higher Education and Workforce and the Committee on Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Public Policy (COSEMPUP)
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From page 23... ...
. The Statement of Task for the Committee on Revitalizing Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century includes the following specific tasks: • Conduct a systems analysis of graduate education, with the aim of identi fying policies, programs, and practices that could better meet the diverse education and career needs of graduate students in coming years (at both the master's and Ph.D.
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From page 24... ...
The goal of these committee meetings and focus groups was to invite direct input from a range of students, employers, faculty members, and other stakeholders. The committee used the analysis prepared by RTI to better understand perspectives from students and faculty at institutions that might not otherwise be well represented in the research or at other public forums.3 The committee welcomed feedback from the STEM education community via participation at conferences, discussion sessions, professional society presentations, and webinars through the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, Association of American Universities, Council of Graduate Schools, Council of Scientific Society Presidents, Duke University, Emerging Researchers National Conference, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, the Graduate Career Consortium, Institute for Teaching and Mentoring, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Washington, D.C., office, the National Postdoctoral Association, Princeton University, Transforming Postsecondary Education in Mathematics, the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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From page 25... ...
This report, the first from the National Academies on the state of graduate STEM education broadly, made an impact on the field by raising awareness and giving stakeholders a set of defined issues to begin discussions. Although there are challenges in connecting specific actions to the 1995 report, graduate education has appeared in other national efforts, from the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate4 to the National Academies' Rising above the Gathering Storm (NAS/NAE/IOM, 2007)
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From page 26... ...
The committee also offers recommendations directed to state and federal research and education funding agencies because they contribute both directly and indirectly to the academic incentive system through their specific funding policies. Finally, the committee calls upon prospective and current STEM graduate students to be more intentional about recruiting supportive mentors, creating professional development plans, fulfilling the core principles and learning objectives of STEM graduate training, and advocating for and helping to develop additional resources as needed for career exploration sufficient to inform confident career choices by the time of completion of graduate training.
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From page 27... ...
It also provides a listing of the committee's recommendations organized by stakeholder to make clear what each must do to actualize the revised graduate STEM education system that the committee envisions. REFERENCES Blume-Kohout, M
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From page 28... ...
2017. The "new normal": Adapting doctoral trainee career preparation for broad career paths in science.
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