Thousands of jobs in the STEM fields of food, energy and the environment are going unfilled in the U.S. today. These applied biological disciplines are vital to our national and global security and economy, but graduate too few students to meet current and projected workforce demands.
A team of Michigan State University researchers has landed a $1 million National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics grant to recruit, nurture and graduate students who are prepared for these careers.
The grant will provide scholarships to 24 high-achieving, low-income high school students who are interested in animal science, crop and soil sciences, forestry, entomology, fisheries and wildlife, food science or horticulture. The cohorts will include Lansing School District high school students, Lansing Community College students and MSU students who haven’t declared a major.
“Too few students are entering these disciplines – a problem that can be addressed by an effective, multifaceted, experiential and interactive recruitment program that engages students,” said Eunice Foster, MSU crop physiologist and the grant’s principal investigator.
“Though many people want to know where their food comes from, there seems to be a disconnect in recognizing that science, technology, engineering and math are integral to the careers associated with food production, processing, packaging and delivery,” Foster said.
Researchers also will assess why so few students enter these career fields, which have high job demand and good salaries. They’ll use that information to further design and assess effective recruitment programs. Career opportunities are excellent and summer internships are readily available in these fields.
The current shortage of graduates from these disciplines has resulted in growing concern among government agencies, the scientific community and STEM industries.
“The big question, for us, is why don’t students choose agriculture and natural resources as major areas of study?” said Brian Roth, associate professor in fisheries and wildlife. “Misconceptions about STEM programs are pervasive. Many students, parents and K–12 educators mistakenly associate agricultural sciences with ‘sows, cows and plows,’ failing to realize that math, chemistry and biology course work provide the foundation for these STEM disciplines, just as they do in the other sciences.”
The U.S. has a surplus of 22,500 jobs in this sector, with 27 percent of the expected growth in STEM disciplines, said Lorraine Weatherspoon, MSU food scientist.
“Job market growth is expected in most STEM disciplines. The strongest job growth is expected in the sector that includes plant scientists, food scientists, sustainable biomaterials specialists and water resource scientists,” Weatherspoon said.
With the NSF grant, researchers will investigate the STEM pipeline and marketing issue, while developing a model to help recruit a diverse population of low-income, high-achieving students from high school, community college and university students. Through the use of scholarship dollars, the team will work to recruit two cohorts of students into STEM programs in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The interdisciplinary team of MSU contributors includes Gabe Ording, Janice Siegford, Steve van Nocker, Jerry Urquhart and Jim Lucas.
