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Reimagining and rethinking engineering education

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A new report from MIT puts a spotlight on worldwide trends in the changing landscape of engineering education, pinpoints the current and emerging leaders in the field, and describes some of its future directions.

“Engineers will address the complex societal challenges of the 21st century by building a new generation of machines, materials, and systems. We should fundamentally rethink how we educate engineers for this future,” says Ed Crawley, the Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and faculty co-director of the New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET) initiative at MIT.

This realization, Crawley says, is what prompted MIT’s engineering faculty to rethink how they were approaching their own offerings on campus, and to launch NEET. “We’re targeting MIT education at the industries of the future rather than industries of the past,” says Anette “Peko” Hosoi, associate dean of engineering and Crawley’s co-lead at NEET; Hosoi is also the Neil and Jane Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

While their on-campus pilot was at the design stage, Crawley decided to take a broader, benchmarking view. “I knew from my five years as founding president of Skoltech in Moscow that there were examples of educational innovation scattered across the world,” he says, “but these distributed developments are difficult to identify and learn from.”

Until now. Crawley and his colleagues in the NEET program have just released “Global state of the art in engineering education.” The report, authored by Ruth Graham, is a global review of cutting-edge practice in engineering education. It is informed by interviews with 178 thought leaders with knowledge of and experience with world-leading engineering programs, combined with case studies from four different universities. The report paints a rich picture of successful innovation in engineering education as well as some of its opportunities and challenges.

The study identifies institutions considered to be the current leaders in engineering education; Olin College and MIT were cited by the majority of experts who were consulted, along with Stanford University, Aalborg University in Denmark, and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. Outside of the U.S. and northern Europe, the only university among the top 10 cited for their educational leadership was the National University of Singapore (NUS).

“The profile of the emerging leaders is very different,” Graham notes. “While they include universities in the U.S. and Europe — Olin College, Iron Range Engineering, and University College London are among the most frequently cited universities –  thought leaders identified emerging leaders from across the world, such as Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC), NUS (Singapore), and Charles Sturt University (Australia).” (The report includes case studies of four of the emerging leaders: SUTD, UCL, Charles Sturt, and TU Delft.)

The study attributes this contrast to a range of sources. For one, Graham notes, “Many political leaders outside of the U.S. are making major investments in engineering education as an incubator for the technology-based entrepreneurial talent that will drive national economic growth.”

The report also identifies some key challenges facing engineering education, and in some cases higher education as a whole. These include aligning the goals of national governments and higher education, delivering student-centered learning to large student cohorts, and setting up faculty appointment and promotion systems that better reward high-quality teaching.

According to Graham’s report, three trends are likely to define the future of engineering education. The first is a tilting of the global axis of engineering education leadership so it is less focused on U.S. and northern European institutions. The second is a shift toward programs that integrate student-centered learning with a curriculum oriented to the pressing challenges of the 21st century — societal, environmental, and technological. And the third is the emergence of a new generation of leaders with the capacity to deliver student-centered curricula at scale.

The case studies highlighted in the report include universities that may be paving the way by, for example, achieving curricular coherence and integration through a connective spine of design projects. In the longer-term, the world’s leading engineering programs may be those that blend off-campus personalized learning, accessed online as students need it, with experiential learning both in work-based placements and on campus.

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ABSTRACT There is a critical need to broaden access to engineering education in order to build a strong and diverse engineering workforce. However, four-year engineering programs are typically designed for students who are calculus-ready, so many students who wish to study engineering may need additional preparation and time to succeed. The NSF-funded Redshirt in Engineering […]

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About Mechanical Engineering

The Mechanical Engineering Department directly promotes the land-grant mission of the University of Idaho by providing distinctive and innovative learning experiences related to "the mechanic arts" cited in the Morrill Acts. Mechanical Engineering is a statewide department, with faculty in Boise, Idaho Falls and Moscow, and, in conjunction with Engineering Outreach , delivers education to students throughout Idaho, the nation and the world. The department, which offers B.S., M.S., M.Engr. and Ph.D. degrees, has the third largest number of undergraduate and graduate students among all degree-granting departments at the university. Over the last ten years, enrollment in departmental programs has grown by over 30 percent.

For over 20 years, the department has played a leadership role in the inter-disciplinary, industry-sponsored capstone design program as well as the annual Engineering Design EXPO . Its efforts in hands-on, real-world engineering education have been recognized by the National Academy of Engineering  and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers . The education delivered by the department prepares students for professional employment and graduate study at highly ranked institutions. Graduates are highly sought after by employers, and surveys show that companies are very pleased with the technical and problem-solving skills of program graduates. The department has engaged in a number of NSF-sponsored grants related to program assessment of professional skills and has shared its expertise with the College of Engineering in advancing numerous accreditation activities.

Faculty, staff and students within our department perform research sponsored by industry as well as by state and federal agencies. We are a partner in the Center for Advanced Energy Studies in Idaho Falls and have a long history of substantive research collaboration with the Idaho National Laboratory . Our faculty member in Boise is integral to the Center for Ecohydraulics Research . Several Moscow faculty have a long history of involvement with the National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology . The department also engages in many inter-disciplinary projects that involve other colleges across campus on topics of entrepreneurship, manufacturing, energy conservation, water resources, material science, fire science, biomechanics, medical devices, autonomous vehicles and musical performance. The Mechanical Engineering Department is also home to a modern machine shop that is frequently called upon to fabricate precision equipment for other researchers from numerous colleges and departments. The scholarly and creative activities of the Mechanical Engineering Department promote economic development and national security while contributing new knowledge via peer-reviewed publications.

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING INDICATORS

The stem labor force: scientists, engineers, and skilled technical workers.

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U.S. STEM Workforce: Size, Growth, and Employment

Size, growth, and employment.

Individuals in the STEM workforce fuel the nation’s innovative capacity through their work in technologically advanced activities and make important contributions to improving the nation’s living standards, economic growth, and global competitiveness. In 2021, 24% of the U.S. workforce worked in STEM occupations (36.8 million workers), of which more than half (52%) did not have a bachelor’s degree and therefore were classified as the STW. About 63% of the STW worked in STEM middle-skill occupations, and 26% worked in S&E-related occupations. Most of the workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher (90%) worked in S&E or S&E-related occupations ( Figure LBR-1 ).

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U.S. workforce, by STEM occupation group and education level: 2021

S&E = science and engineering; STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Data include the employed, civilian, non-institutionalized population ages 16–75 and exclude those currently enrolled in primary or secondary school. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000.

Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), 2021, 1-Year Public-Use File, data as of 25 October 2022.

Science and Engineering Indicators

Over the last decade, workers in STEM occupations increased in both number and percentage of the total civilian workforce ( Figure LBR-2 ; Table SLBR-2 ). Between 2011 and 2021, STEM workers increased from 22% to 24% (corresponding to 7.1 million workers) of the U.S. civilian workforce. By educational attainment, the STEM workforce with a bachelor’s degree or higher increased more than the STW. Among workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher, the percentage of STEM workers increased from 27% to 30%, corresponding to 5.7 million workers. The percentage of the STW (again, defined as those in STEM occupations without a bachelor’s degree) increased from 19% to 21% (corresponding to 1.4 million workers).

Change in the percentage of STEM workers, by educational attainment: 2011 and 2021

STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; STW = skilled technical workforce.

Data include the employed, civilian, non-institutionalized population ages 16–75 and exclude those currently enrolled in primary or secondary school. Coding of occupations into STEM categories reflects changes to American Community Survey (ACS) occupation codes following the 2018 update to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) implemented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data from 2011 use occupations from the 2010 occupation list, while data from 2021 use occupations from the 2018 occupation list.

Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), 1-Year Public-Use File, 2021, data as of 25 October 2022.

Increased employment in the STEM workforce was not equally distributed among the different categories of STEM occupations. The percentage of all workers in S&E occupations grew in the last decade from 4% to 6%. Among workers without a bachelor’s degree or higher, the percentage in S&E occupations increased by 44% from 1.6% in 2011 to 2.3% in 2021. The percentage of workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher in S&E occupations increased from 10% to 12%. The percentage of all workers in S&E-related occupations also increased over the last 10 years (an increase of 13% from 7.8% to 8.9%), though less than the percent increase among S&E occupations, while the percentage of all workers in STEM middle-skill decreased slightly between 2011 and 2021.

While this report presents data on the STEM workforce from previous years, the sidebar Projected Growth of Employment in STEM Occupations provides an overview of forecasted growth in STEM occupations over the next 10 years using data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Projected Growth of Employment in STEM Occupations

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projections for 2022–32 (BLS 2022 Employment Projections), employment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations * is expected to grow faster than in non-STEM occupations (7% vs. 2%) ( Figure LBR-A ). † While STEM middle-skill occupations are projected to have the largest number of STEM workers ( Table SLBR-A ), the fastest growth is expected among S&E occupations (12%), followed by S&E-related occupations (9%).

Expected growth among STEM occupations: 2022–32

Estimates of current and projected employment for 2022–32 are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) National Employment Matrix; estimates in the matrix are developed using data from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program and the Current Population Survey (CPS). Together, these sources cover paid workers and self-employed workers in all industries, agriculture, and private households. Because data are derived from multiple sources, they can often differ from employment data provided by OEWS, CPS, or other employment surveys alone. BLS does not make projections for S&E occupations as a group, nor does it do so for some of the S&E and S&E-related occupational categories as defined by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES); numbers in the figure are based on the sum of BLS projections for occupations that NCSES includes in the respective categories. The STEM classifications used here differ slightly from those used in the ACS due to additional occupation detail in the projections tabulations. A crosswalk will be provided upon request.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, special tabulations (2022) of the 2022–32 Employment Projections .

There are several ways to identify occupations with the greatest opportunity for employment in the next decade, such as by examining those with the fastest employment growth or those with the greatest expected job openings. The STEM occupations with the fastest expected growth were wind turbine service technicians (expected to grow 45% to 16,000 workers), nurse practitioners (expected to grow 45% to 385,000 workers), and data scientists (expected to grow 35% to 228,000 workers) (BLS 2022a, Table 1.3 ). In comparison, those occupations with the highest average job openings per year were registered nurses (193,000 openings), general maintenance and repair workers (152,000 openings), and software developers (136,000 openings) (BLS 2022a, Table 1.10 ).

The BLS projections also provide typical education requirements for these expected growth areas as well as related work experience or on-the-job training. While the majority of occupations with the greatest growth require at least a bachelor’s degree, there are several that typically require less than a bachelor’s degree, including wind turbine service technicians, solar photovoltaic installers, and computer numerically controlled tool programmers (BLS 2022a, Table 1.7 , Table 5.4 ). All of these occupations are considered STEM middle-skill occupations. In contrast to projected growth, the STEM occupations with the fastest projected employment declines over the next decade were watch and clock repairers (30% decline to 1,000 workers) and refractory materials repairers, except brickmasons (21% decline to about 500 workers) (BLS 2022a, Table 1.5 ).

Job openings often result from a combination of factors, such as occupational growth (or increased demand for a particular job) and the replacement of workers leaving an occupation, either for retirement or a different job. About 62% of the registered nurses who leave their jobs, for example, are expected to also leave the labor force, while 32% of software developers who leave their jobs are expected to leave the labor force (BLS 2022a, Table  1.10 ). BLS publishes projected job openings by expected reason for job separation. The STEM occupations with the greatest percentage of workers leaving the labor force include acupuncturists, radiologists, and optometrists, while the STEM occupations with the greatest percentage of workers leaving for other occupations include atmospheric and space scientists, food scientists and technologists, and nuclear technicians (BLS 2022a, Table 1.10 ).

The BLS employment projections are developed using historical data and cover the 2022–32 period. The projections are long-term and intended to capture structural change in the economy, not cyclical fluctuations such as the impact of the recession that began in February 2020. Besides the immediate recessionary impact, the pandemic may have caused structural changes to the economy that would not be captured here. For more information on the BLS labor projections, see https://www.bls.gov/emp/data/occupational-data.htm .

* The STEM coding used for the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics projections differs slightly from the occupations listed in Table SLBR-1 due to additional granularity of occupations available in the projections. Details will be provided upon request.

† BLS does not produce standard errors for projections, so statistical significance testing cannot be done for the numbers in this sidebar. All numbers in this sidebar are rounded to the nearest thousand.

Employment Rate and Labor Force Participation of STEM versus Non-STEM

Labor force statistics for people associated with occupations can provide insights into a group’s compared experiences with the labor market. ​ To calculate employment rates and labor force participation of STEM workers, workers are identified based on the occupation they currently hold or on the occupation they previously held if they are not currently working. The employment rate of an occupation or a group of occupations is the measure of employed adults among all adults associated with an occupation—including both those who are not currently working (but have occupation information for their last held job) and those who have a job. ​ Employment rates are defined as a measure of the extent to which people available to work are being used. Because this thematic report is looking at occupation groups, the employment rate is for those with a current occupation or an occupation in the last 5 years. Note that the population associated with occupations is smaller than those who may be available to work, but may not have associated occupations, such as those individuals entering the labor force for the first time. The category of “those not currently working” is comprised of two groups: individuals who do not have a job and are looking for work ( the unemployed ), as well as those who are not looking for work ( those not in the labor force ). The unemployment rate is the percentage of people who are unemployed among only those who are in the labor force (the employed and unemployed). Unemployment rate tables can be found in Table SLBR-3 and Table SLBR-4 .

In 2021, people associated with a STEM occupation had a higher employment rate (86%) than those associated with non-STEM occupations (79%) ( Table SLBR-5 ). These rates have been relatively stable over the last 5 years, despite overall employment declines during the 2020 recession. Between 2019 and 2021, people associated with non-STEM occupations experienced a larger decrease in their employment rates (from 83% to 79%) than those associated with STEM occupations (from 88% to 86%). This was primarily due to larger proportions of people associated with non-STEM occupations either leaving the labor force or being unable to find work in 2021. Among the types of STEM occupations, people associated with S&E occupations had the highest employment rate (89%) in 2021, followed by people associated with S&E-related occupations (87%).

While overall employment rates for people associated with STEM occupations had relatively low changes between 2016 and 2021, there was variation by different types of STEM occupations ( Table SLBR-6 ). People associated with all three STEM groups had consistently higher employment rates than those associated with non-STEM occupations during this period. People associated with S&E occupations had the highest employment rates , followed by those associated with S&E-related occupations. By educational attainment, people associated with S&E and S&E-related occupations with a bachelor’s degree or higher had the highest employment rates over the period ( Figure LBR-3 ; Table SLBR-6 ). In addition, people associated with S&E and S&E-related occupations in the STW, as well as all people associated with STEM middle-skill occupations, had about the same employment rates as people associated with non-STEM occupations with a bachelor’s degree or higher. This suggests that STW occupations provide greater employment opportunities for people without a bachelor’s degree than non-STEM occupations.

Employment rate in each workforce, by educational attainment: 2011–19, 2021

Data include the civilian, non-institutionalized population ages 16–75 and exclude those with military occupations, those missing occupation data or who have not worked in the last 5 years, and those currently enrolled in primary or secondary school. Coding of occupations into STEM categories reflects changes to American Community Survey (ACS) occupation codes following the 2018 update to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) implemented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data from 2011 through 2017 use occupations from the 2010 occupation list, while data from 2018 through 2021 use occupations from the 2018 occupation list. Data for 2020 are not available due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ACS data collection for the survey year. Additional information is available at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/data/experimental-data/2020-1-year-pums.html .

Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), 1-Year Public-Use File, 2011–19, 2021, data as of 25 October 2022.

Analyzing data between 2019 and 2021 (the most recent year available) can suggest how people associated with STEM occupations were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, people associated with S&E occupations experienced the smallest decline in employment rate (0.4 percentage points, from 90% to 89%), primarily due to increases in the percentage unemployed over the same period. People associated with S&E-related occupations had a moderate drop in employment rates (1.4 percentage points), decreasing to 87%. Among people associated with S&E-related occupations, those in the STW had the largest drop in employment (2.0 percentage points, from 86% to 84%), which declined about as much as people associated with non-STEM occupations with a bachelor’s degree or higher (2.2 percentage points, from 87% to 84%). People associated with STEM middle-skill occupations had the greatest employment decrease among the STEM occupation groups (3.5 percentage points, from 86% to 83%) due to relatively equal portions of people leaving the labor force and being unable to find work. There was no significant difference between the employment declines of having a bachelor’s degree or higher or not ( Table SLBR-6 ).

Related Content

From music to engineering physics, Regents reviewing the future of 11 KU degree programs that aren’t meeting key metrics

photo by: Shawn Valverde/Special to the Journal-World

The University of Kansas campus is pictured in this aerial photo from September 2023 with the Campanile in the foreground.

For faculty, staff and students in nearly a dozen degree programs at KU, the summer season may be stressful rather than slow.

Over the next several weeks, the Kansas Board of Regents is expected to make decisions on whether to merge or phase out 11 degree programs at the University of Kansas, each of which is suffering from some combination of low degree numbers, low wages, or low job prospects in the region.

Everybody from music majors to engineering physicists will have something at stake. Both of those degree programs are on the list of possible cuts, as are astronomy, atmospheric sciences, African studies, and a pair of religion programs, among others.

If the Regents decide to phase out a program, that typically is a process that takes several years. Students who are enrolled in the program generally are allowed to finish their degrees, although universities often shut down new enrollment in the degree programs.

The idea of the Regents reviewing degree programs for possible elimination is not new, but the process seems to have picked up urgency among the Regents, as the entire higher education industry prepares for an expected downturn in overall enrollment numbers due to smaller high school classes that will graduate in the coming years.

“The current reality is that we have fewer students, and some might say more programs in our inventory,” Regent Cynthia Lane said at a recent meeting of the Regents’ Academic Affairs Committee, which she chairs. “There is a sense across the nation that higher education investment may not be worth it. I think we have a counter-narrative, a different story to be told.”

However, Lane said for that story to resonate, universities must do all that they can to make sure that degree programs are meeting key metrics and “frankly, that our degrees offer our students the promise that higher education is worth the investment.”

Lane, who spoke about the subject both at an April 30 meeting of the Academic Affairs committee and in a brief interview with the Journal-World in mid-May, will play a key role in the program review process. Her Academic Affairs committee will hold a key meeting on Tuesday, where committee members are expected to issue recommendations on whether to merge, phase out or require action plans for 31 degree programs at KU and the other five Regents institutions — Kansas State, Wichita State, Pittsburg State, Emporia State and Fort Hays State.

KU leaders have submitted plans for all 11 of the KU programs up for discussion. The KU group, led by Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer, is not recommending that any degree programs be phased out. It is recommending one program be merged with another one — the bachelor of secondary education in physical education plus would be merged into a more general secondary education degree. For the remaining 10 programs, KU is recommending that they be placed on “action programs,” which would give those programs three years to implement strategies to begin including key metrics.

The action plan process is another sign of the seriousness with which the Regents are viewing the need for universities to narrow their degree programs. Universities used to have eight years to implement an action plan. Now, it is down to three years.

“One of the very first things when I became a Regent three years ago that members started talking about is, we have too many programs,” Lane said. “We are always adding programs but we don’t seem to be sunsetting or removing any.”

Lane said she has learned that perception might be false because Regents have not always been fully aware of the work that universities are doing on their own to narrow programs. KU, for example, has cut 44 degree programs since 2021. Bichelmeyer told Regents that those cuts have resulted in a little more than $5 million per year in payroll savings as KU used a voluntary separation buyout program as it undertook the course changes. Many were in the arts and humanities and faced opposition from faculty leaders, as the Journal-World reported at the time.

Bichelmeyer said she and other leaders don’t favor cuts to the 11 programs that the Board of Regents have mandated for review. She said the metrics used by the Regents don’t always capture the importance the degree programs have to KU’s broader mission of being a world-class research institution.

She said it is important to keep some degree programs in their current structure because to merge them with other programs, or eliminate their teaching altogether, would have impacts on the often collaborative work that researchers do.

“We group our programs on the specialized knowledge of the researchers who come in as faculty and who they need to engage with to advance the knowledge base,” Bichelmeyer said in the April 30 committee meeting where KU presented data and plans to the Regents committee.

Bichelmeyer said it sometimes is important for degree programs to be narrower rather than broader to produce the best research outcomes.

“Some of that has to do with the nature of the research and the uniqueness of the research,” she said. “Do you lose the excellence if you lose the focus?”

All 31 of the degree programs up for review by Regents are on the list because they failed to meet minimum standards in at least two of the four benchmarks used by the Regents — student demand, degree production, talent pipeline, and student return on investment. The last two particularly look at how many students remain in the region after graduation and are employed in a field related to their degree, and how much they are earning in wages in that degree.

Tuesday’s meeting of the Academic Affairs Committee will not be the final action for degree review. Rather, the committee will craft a set of recommendations for the entire Board of Regents to consider at a future meeting. The earliest the full board would review the recommendations would be June 20.

Here’s a look at the 11 KU programs that are up for review, including key statistics and other items that KU leaders presented for the Regents to consider.

• African Studies (Bachelor of General Studies/Arts in African & African-American Studies): The program has an average of 10.25 junior- and senior-level students major in the degree each year. It has produced 4.25 degrees per year over the last four years. Just under 48% of of graduates are employed in the region within one year of graduation. The median salary for graduates is $39,959 five years after graduation. Of the four metrics, only the salary number met the Regents benchmarks.

KU’s strategy for improvement includes boosting employer connections with Black-owned businesses and more targeted recruiting of potential students. Regents were told that the program produces a significant amount of nationally recognized research, despite the program’s size.

• American Studies (Bachelor of General Studies/Arts in American Studies): 19.25 majors, 5.75 degrees, 55% employed in region, $46,480 median wage. The numbers of majors and degrees both fell short of Regents benchmarks.

Strategies include changes to the curriculum that would make it easier for university students to add the degree as a second major.

• Physical Education Teaching & Coaching (Bachelor of Secondary Ed In Physical Ed Plus): 21.25 majors, 8.25 degrees, 72% employed in region, $62,121 median wage. The numbers of majors and degrees both fell short of Regents benchmarks.

KU is proposing to merge the degree with the B.S.E. in Secondary Education. The merger would save about $40,000 a year in department expenses, KU estimated.

• International/Globalization Studies (Bachelor of Arts in Global International Studies): 109.25 majors, 34.25 degrees, 34% employed in region, $35,903 median wage. The employment and wage figures both fell short of Regents benchmarks.

Strategies include more industry partnerships and internship opportunities.

• Religious Studies (Bachelor of General Studies/Arts in Religious Studies): 15.75 majors, 7.25 degrees, 56% employed in region, $48,777 median wage. The numbers of majors and degrees both fell short of Regents benchmarks.

Strategies include curriculum changes that will include more classes that delve into ethical, social and religious issues encountered within professions such as law, medicine, media and business, which may help the degree become more popular with students seeking a double major.

• Jewish Studies (Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies): 7.5 majors, 3.5 degrees, 26% employed in region. Salary information was not disclosed due to small statistical size. The number of majors, degrees and employment all failed to meet Regents benchmarks.

Strategies include changes to the curriculum that no longer require students to complete intermediate-level Hebrew or Yiddish classes. Other strategies include the creation of a new event that connects students in the program with Jewish professional organizations in Lawrence, Olathe and Overland Park.

• Astronomy (Bachelor of Arts/Science in Astronomy): 24.5 majors, 4.75 degrees, 40% employed in region. Salary data wasn’t shared. None of the categories met Regents benchmarks, although the number of majors fell just short of the benchmark of 25 students.

This is a degree that KU says is hampered by the Regents benchmarks. To work in the astronomy field generally requires advanced degrees, and thus many students aren’t in the workforce full time within a year of receiving their undergraduate degrees. KU leaders also noted that the program is important to the overall region. The KU astronomy degree is the only such undergraduate degree program within a 500-mile radius, and KU and Baylor are the only universities that offer the degree program in the Big 12.

• Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (Bachelor of Science in Atmospheric Science): 39.5 majors, 9.75 degrees, 38% employed in region, $44,891 median wage. The degree production and employment numbers did not meet the benchmarks.

Strategies include curriculum adjustments designed to help students with some of the higher-level math classes required for the degree, and also the creation of greater industry partnerships. University leaders told Regents that KU offers the only degree program in the state that meets all the federal requirements to become a meteorologist.

• Geography (Bachelor of General Studies/Arts/Science Geography): 16.25 majors, 6.25 degrees, 59% employed in region, $46,649 median wage. The major and degree numbers did not meet the benchmarks.

Strategies include a redesign of the curriculum that focuses on the geography skills businesses are most in need of — expertise in GIS systems was cited — and how the degree program can work with other majors on providing those skills to those professions.

• Music (Bachelor of Music or Bachelor of Fine Arts/Arts in Music): 74.75 majors, 22.25 degrees, 41% employed in region, $36,400 median wage. The employment and wage numbers did not meet the benchmarks.

KU said this degree is not well measured by the Regents metrics. Many undergraduates seek graduate education, and many music degree graduates work in the “gig” economy as freelancers and performers. U.S. Labor Department wage data does not do a good job of capturing those wages, thus likely negatively skewing the median wage data for the KU degree.

• Engineering Physics (Bachelor of Science in Engineering): 28.25 majors, 6.25 degrees, 50% employed in region, wage data not disclosed. The degrees and employment figures did not meet the benchmarks.

Strategies include additional student recruitment events, job fairs and employer connections. KU told the Regents that KU’s engineering physics program is one of the two oldest such programs in the nation. KU is tied with the University of Maine for having the longest continuously accredited engineering physics program in the nation.

State Government

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Gov. Kelly signs school funding bill with $75 million boost for special education

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Northwestern CS Announces Spring 2024 Outstanding Teaching Assistant and Peer Mentors

The quarterly department awards recognize exceptional service to the cs community.

Northwestern Computer Science honors and recognizes students who demonstrate excellence in computer science mentoring and teaching with the Peter and Adrienne Barris Outstanding Teaching Assistant and Outstanding Peer Mentor awards. Six students were cited in spring 2024.

Nominated by any member of the department for service to the CS community that goes beyond expectations, the teaching assistants and peer mentors work with faculty to deliver courses and support of the highest quality.

Vsevolod Suschevskiy

“Vsevolod has shown exceptional dedication to educating both STEM and non-STEM majors, ensuring that all students grasp the concepts regardless of their academic background,” a nominator said. “He also demonstrated proactive problem-solving skills by promptly addressing and resolving students' issues.”

“It's important to provide scaffolding to non-STEM students who learn computer science,” said Suschevskiy, a student in the joint PhD program in Technology and Social Behavior through Northwestern Engineering and Northwestern’s School of Communication . “They often have valuable ideas with social impact, as well as important questions about the world.”

Suschevskiy is advised by Noshir Contractor , Jane S. and William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences in the McCormick School of Engineering, the School of Communication, and the Kellogg School of Management . Suschevskiy explores how people’s interactions create patterns in society, organizations, and teams. He is investigating how to improve performance in hybrid teams and how to make the process of teamwork more enjoyable.

“By simulating our social world in a computer or in a digital experiment, I can see how our social networks shape everything from trends to movements — think of it as mapping the hidden pathways of human behavior,” Suschevskiy said.

Spring 2024 Outstanding Peer Mentors

The Northwestern CS peer mentor program is designed to ensure that students representing a range of computing backgrounds receive individual attention and real-time feedback.

Madeleine Carter

“As someone who loves computer science and math but is not always the quickest to fully grasp a topic, I want to ensure that students like me feel like they have the support they need to be successful,” said Carter, a fourth-year student in computer science at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences . “It is personally fulfilling to know that I have played a role in others’ success or greater understanding in a complex topic.”

Carter, who is also pursuing a minor in art theory and practice, is co-president of Northwestern’s Art Union club. She is passionate about oil painting, digital art, and 3D modeling and aims to build a career that combines her computer science and creative skills.

Nominators praised Carter’s approachability and ability to help students gain a deeper understanding of challenging concepts.

“Madeleine's transparency in sharing her thought process as she works through a proof has been invaluable in developing my own proof writing skills,” a nominator said. “She isn't afraid to admit uncertainty but instead uses it as a teaching opportunity, guiding peers through her reasoning and empowering them to become independent and capable thinkers themselves.”

Zarif Ceaser

“If I could have Zarif as a peer mentor in any class I took for the rest of my time at Northwestern, I would gladly take that option,” a nominator said. “Despite the difficulty of homework assignments, Zarif was able to effectively break down complex concepts without completely giving away the answer, allowing the student to fully understand how to arrive at the correct conclusion.”

Ceaser chose to serve as a peer mentor to help students manage the stress of coursework and to help develop collaboration skills.

“Collaboration and interpersonal communication are key in computer science and are skills that need to be cultivated in order to be a better teammate and generally a more likeable coworker,” Ceaser said.

Ceaser plans to join Northwestern Mutual as a full-time software engineer following graduation.

Justin Dong

“Many of the topics in Operating Systems are conceptually hard to grasp and even harder to explain. Yet, Justin is exceptionally skilled at helping students crack issues in their understanding or code,” a nominator said. “Justin is the peer mentor that other peer mentors in the class look to for extra guidance.”

Dong collaborates on systems research in Prescience Lab , advised by Peter Dinda , professor of computer science and (by courtesy) electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern Engineering. Dong is also a member of the CS Student Advisory Group.

“Northwestern Computer Science has a great culture of collaboration and support,” Dong said. “I learn new things from other students every day, so I try my best to do my part to continue fostering that culture and giving back to the community.”

This summer, Dong will join Citadel Securities as a software engineer intern.

Nathan Hendrickson

“Nathan was truly one of the most helpful peer mentors I have worked with so far at Northwestern,” a nominator said. “He understood this was a difficult class for many and did not hesitate to take extra time out of his day when there was a particularly difficult project that week.”

Leaning toward a career in industry, Hendrickson is also considering computer science education as a future path. Twice a week, he works with preschool students and serves as a teacher’s aide through Jumpstart, a national early education organization.

“I enjoy helping people with computer science problems,” Hendrickson said. “I know how difficult CS projects can be and how even just a little bit of guidance and help can make a big difference. I've been blessed with problem-solving and teaching abilities, and I want to use those gifts to help others.”

Hendrickson will join payment processing platform Stripe for an internship this summer.

Bennett Lindberg

“Bennett is a great team player and always makes great contributions to the course,” a nominator said. “He designs intricate and encouraging homework questions and is very reliable. I value him greatly as a colleague and am encouraged and inspired by his work ethic and creativity.”

Drawing on his own positive experiences from computer science faculty mentors, Lindberg sought to provide similar encouragement as a peer mentor.

“I firmly believe in the positive impact of a welcoming, supportive atmosphere in achieving one's goals,” Lindberg said. “Computer science and its subfields can be daunting to break into for new and veteran students alike, and I hope that fostering an empathetic learning environment for others can ease their first steps into this exciting area.”

Lindberg is the director of technology for the Safe Security club at Northwestern, a student group committed to expanding cybersecurity awareness and accessibility within the Northwestern community.

Lindberg is also involved in programming languages research. He aims to pursue a PhD in computer science to further investigate topics such as language pragmatics and logic mechanization.

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Dear Colleague Letter: NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-STEM) Scholarship Supplements for Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Recipients

May 28, 2024

Dear Colleagues:

With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) invites active Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program recipients to submit supplemental funding requests to provide scholarship support for students who meet the qualifications for the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-STEM).

A well-educated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce is critical to maintaining the competitiveness of the U.S. in the global economy, yet there continues to be high attrition among STEM undergraduate students across U.S. colleges and universities 1 . The NSF S-STEM program addresses the need for a high-quality STEM workforce in STEM disciplines supported by the program by providing scholarships to academically-talented, low-income students with demonstrated financial need who are pursuing associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degrees in these disciplines. This DCL encourages active ATE recipients to submit supplemental funding requests to provide S-STEM scholarships to eligible students participating in active ATE projects.

Supplemental Funding Request Preparation Instructions

Supplemental funding requests from current ATE recipients should be limited exclusively to funds for student scholarships and should align with the eligibility requirements outlined in the S-STEM program solicitation .  Namely, prospective scholarship recipients must:

• Be citizens of the United States, nationals of the United States (as defined in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), aliens admitted as refugees under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or aliens lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. Please note that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) individuals are ineligible for support from this solicitation unless they meet the requirements listed in the first sentence of this bullet by the time of application;
• Be enrolled at least half-time as defined by the institution in a program leading to an associate degree in an S-STEM eligible discipline;
• Demonstrate academic ability or potential as defined by the institution;
• Be low-income. The definition of low-income must follow the institutional guidelines for income thresholds that qualify the student as low-income (for example, see eligibility requirements for the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Pell and TRIO grant programs or for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) public housing program . The institution's definition of low-income must be included in supplementary documents within a letter from the Financial Aid Office.
• Have demonstrated unmet financial need. Demonstrated financial need for undergraduate students is defined by the US Department of Education rules for need-based Federal financial aid Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). In the case of S-STEM, institutions are required to follow the calculations in section II.B of NSF 24-511 that include other grants, fellowships, and scholarships but not loans (see https://studentaid.gov/complete-aid-process/how-calculated#need-based ). Income from potential work study should not be included in the calculation for undergraduate students. Loans should not be included in calculations of unmet need for students.

The supplemental funding request must include the following:

• A detailed summary of proposed work that describes the planned scholarship program including institutional context and numbers 2-7 below.
• Pool of Potential Scholars: A description of the pool of potential scholars, including the table below.
• Retention and Graduation Rates: A description of current 1-year retention rates and graduation rates for the above pool of students in each S-STEM eligible discipline that is included in the request.
• Cost of Attendance: Cost of Attendance (COA), determined by each educational institution, is the total amount it will cost a student to go to school, including tuition and fees; on-campus room and board (or a housing and food allowance for off-campus students); allowances for books, supplies, computer equipment, transportation, loan fees, dependent care, mandatory health insurance, graduation fees, and costs related to a disability; and miscellaneous expenses.
• COA - Student Aid Index (SAI) - other grants and scholarships (which for the purpose of this program should exclude loans and work) = Unmet Need.
• The SAI is determined by the FAFSA form and represents the expected family contribution toward the COA ( https://studentaid.gov/ ).
• Determination of Financial Eligibility: A description of the determination of financial eligibility including the institution's definition of low-income must be included in the request.
• Description of Academic Eligibility: The request should describe clear and equitable selection criteria for scholarships and describe how scholars will be selected out of the pool of all qualified individuals.
• Student Support Services: The request should discuss already existing academic and student support structures that are relevant to the S-STEM supplement and describe ways in which the S-STEM supplement will use or enhance those structures. These activities need to respond to the documented low-income student and institutional needs or goals.
• Letter from the Financial Aid Office or equivalent: The letter should certify the Office's understanding of the guidelines and requirements of the S-STEM program, confirming the institutional definition of low income, that the eligible students will meet its definition of low income, and stating their commitment to support the project as described in the proposal if awarded. This letter should be included in the other supplementary documents section.

Additional guidance on the contents of each of the above listed items can be found in Section V.A.5 of the S-STEM solicitation. Additional guidance on preparing and submitting a supplemental funding request may be found in Chapter VI.E.5 of the  NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide .

Supplemental Funding Details

Support will be provided through S-STEM supplements to existing ATE recipients. Funding shall not exceed 20% of the total original ATE award. Scholarship costs should be entered as Participant Support Costs (line F.1. of the budget request sheets) in the proposed budget. Indirect costs (F&A) are not allowed on participant support costs. Therefore, indirect costs are not permitted for this supplemental funding request.

Target Date

Supplemental funding requests may be submitted at any time in FY2024 or FY2025.

Submission and Review

All supplemental funding requests will be reviewed in accordance with the NSF’s merit review process.

Supplemental funding requests cannot be submitted without prior NSF approval. To explore submission, please contact the cognizant Program Officer (see list below) of the award to which the supplement will be attached by sending via email, a 2-page (maximum) summary of the planned funding request including a draft budget. You will then be contacted on how to proceed.

Principal investigators with questions pertaining to this DCL may contact:

• Celeste Carter, Program Director, EDU/DUE, [email protected]
• Thomas Kim, Program Director, EDU/DUE, [email protected]

James L Moore, III Assistant Director, EDU