The USA has historically been a world leader in STEM innovation, a position that is vulnerable due to a dearth of graduates in STEM fields and threats to funding by the current political administration. To compete in the global economy and maintain national security, more skilled graduates are needed to fill STEM jobs, which are expected to increase by 17% this decade. There is a regional need in the Richmond, Virginia area that mirrors the national landscape, where STEM-related employment is expected to grow by 2.4% annually through 2021. To meet this growing demand, Virginia needs to produce 28% more skilled STEM professionals than it is currently generating. <br/> <br/>To address these issues for our local area, we have assembled an innovative partnership designed to engage, attract, and retain students in STEM at all levels of education, focusing on underrepresented populations in our local area. Our team consists of STEM educators, informal learning nonprofits, Fortune 500 corporations, civic organizations and state government. The project spans elementary school, middle school, high school, and higher education, and includes several projects within the partnership that are designed to engage with our target populations. Projects discussed will include the development of STEM curricula aimed at increasing access to high-quality STEM education for elementary students in high need school districts; a program to identify and engage female Hispanic high school students in central Virginia who show promise and interest in STEM disciplines while providing funding for a college education; a program providing assessment of STEM curricula implemented in Out of School Time (OST) learning environments; and our Noyce Teacher-Scholar program, which is designed to recruit, train, and deploy STEM teachers into local high-need school districts.  <br/>

Randolph-Macon STEM Consortium: A novel partnership between STEM-focused industry, non-profits, governmental oganizations, and academia designed to increase the quality of STEM education in central Virginia

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.