Meeting regional STEMM workforce needs in the wake of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming the global economy and significantly shifting workforce demand, requiring quick, adaptive responses. The pandemic has revealed the vulnerabilities of many organizations and regional economies, and it has accelerated trends that could lead to significant improvements in productivity, performance, and resilience, which will enable organizations and regions to thrive in the "next normal." To explore how communities around the United States are addressing workforce issues laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and how they are taking advantage of local opportunities to expand their science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) workforces to position them for success going forward, the Board of Higher Education and Workforce of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a series of workshops to identify immediate and near-term regional STEMM workforce needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop planning committee identified five U.S. cities and their associated metropolitan areas - Birmingham, Alabama;Boston, Massachusetts;Richmond, Virginia;Riverside, California;and Wichita, Kansas - to host workshops highlighting promising practices that communities can use to respond urgently and appropriately to their STEMM workforce needs. A sixth workshop discussed how the lessons learned during the five region-focused workshops could be applied in other communities to meet STEMM workforce needs. This proceedings of a virtual workshop series summarizes the presentations and discussions from the six public workshops that made up the virtual workshop series and highlights the key points raised during the presentations, moderated panel discussions and deliberations, and open discussions among the workshop participants. © 2021 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Undergraduate and graduate STEM students experiences during COVID-19

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. From that moment, leaders of institutions of higher education have had to make quick decisions about how to provide high-quality educational experiences for their students while protecting the health of their students, faculty, and staff and maintaining the fiscal stability of their institutions. Institutions of higher learning took various approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, which raised two questions: what factors informed decisions at these institutions, and what new initiatives or practices seem to be effective for students during the COVID-19 pandemic? To explore these questions and others regarding the effect of higher education's current COVID-19 response on students in undergraduate and graduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a virtual workshop consisting of four online sessions that took place between September 22 and October 6, 2020. Organized by the Board on Science Education and the Board on Higher Education and Workforce, the virtual workshops provided an opportunity for participants from a range of institutions to share strategies and lessons learned. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop. © 2021 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.