Recently, President Barack Obama announced that more than $240 million has been committed by the private sector to expand the interests of students in STEM fields. A significant amount of the funds will be targeting children from underrepresented groups. The hope is that the funds will help to close some of the gender and race gaps within STEM education and the general STEM community.

Currently, the President’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign has gained an estimated $1 billion in financial as well as in-kind support of STEM programs. Other notable statistics include:

• $150 million dollars has been collected from philanthropic efforts to ensure promising diverse individuals stay in STEM education
• The $90 million dollar “Let Everyone Dream” campaign  will aim to expand the STEM opportunities available to under-represented youth
• A $25 million dollar competition from the Department of Education will improve STEM literacy with themed media
• More than 120 universities have committed to train over 20,000 engineers to solve the NAE “Grand Challenges” facing our society
• An additional 1.5 million students to participate in Change the Equation STEM programs

Obama administration’s next Steps in STEM

To move this STEM objective along, the Obama administration will be hosting a series of roundtables that will feature leading members in the STEM education community. These meetings will aim to develop ideas to inspire the next generation of STEM students.

These roundtable meetings will also celebrate the work of leading STEM minds and improve their visibility to the next generation of students. The theme of these presentations will be similar to the recent launch of the government website “Untold Stories of Women in Science and Technology.” Many of those featured in the roundtable will also be successful females in STEM as well as those from underrepresented populations.

Additionally, the aforementioned $25 million grant competition from the Department of Education will be used to expand literacy and interest in STEM. This will include a five year grant focusing on the Ready-to-Learn TV program expanding into science and technology. The Ready-to-Learn organization will also produce games, websites, and mobile apps to help promote STEM education.

Notably, the Ready-to-Learn material will focus on how topics learned in school can be put into practice in the “real world.” This will finally answer the age-old student question, “When will I ever need to use this!?” Perhaps this, more than anything else, will help to get youth excited about learning.

Follow the link to see how more than 120 universities play into this U.S. STEM expansion. You will learn about their plan to train 20,000 leaders to solve the Grand Challenges facing society.

Source Whitehouse.gov.