STEM Sell

In his State of the Union Address in January, President Obama said he visited "many business leaders who want to hire in the United States but can't find workers with the right skills." Not hard to imagine, considering the U.S. Department of Commerce reports that only one in every 18 workers in America currently works in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM)-related job. With more than 2 million STEM workforce opportunities expected to come online in the next two years, it's worth asking whether American workers will be in a better position in 2014 than they are today. That's the hope of principal investigators for the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program, who have spent the better part of two decades working with community colleges and local workforce and business partners to create job opportunities through high-tech, hands-on training initiatives. This special report features insights and input from organizers at five of ATE's most successful centers.