Approximately 300,000 bachelor’s and associate’s degrees in STEM fields are awarded every year in the United States. That seemed to be a respectable amount until I learned the country would need one million additional college graduates in STEM fields over the next decade in order for the U.S. to retain our historical preeminence in science and technology, meet workforce demand, and address current and future technology issues confronting the world. To reach this goal, our country must increase the number of undergraduate STEM degrees by nearly 34 percent annually.
The consensus at the 2017 ABET Symposium was the recognition of the national need to grow the number of STEM graduates. A broader issue also was defined: We must innovate the manner with which STEM education is provided to more effectively engage students to develop the skillsets required by a rapidly evolving global economy.
This is exactly what the Purdue Polytechnic Institute has set out to do. The curriculum transformation we are implementing is placing the college and Purdue in a strong position to produce more STEM graduates, and our growth is occurring at the right time for a nation desperately in need of leadership in education innovation.
We also are just beginning to create a research impact area around the Future of Work and Learning. This research impact area will be aligned with the transformation as well as society's overall need to address the critical shortage of STEM professionals.
The work we are doing is laying the foundation for a generational change through which our college will be recognized as a national leader.