A Proposed Roadmap to Close the Gap Between Undergraduate Education and STEM Employment Across Industry Sectors

Automation, powered by advances in machine learning and data science, is super-charging innovation and disrupting industries and jobs. Work in America looks very different from a couple of decades ago, and it will look even more different going into the future decades. For new jobs to offset the losses, particularly in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), America will require an adaptable workforce [1] with a new set of skills [2]. To gain an industry perspective on how STEM undergraduate educational institutions might best meet the expected demands for new skills, the International Society of Service Innovation Professionals (ISSIP) was awarded a contract by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of this project was to seek the perspectives of industry leaders using a survey and a workshop focusing on workforce re-skilling and educational trends that industry views as important and necessary for a thriving future workforce. These perspectives were summarized and provided to leaders in higher education. In this paper, the authors present the outcomes of the workshop, the stakeholder feedback, a roadmap for the future of STEM education, and a set of recommendations to the leaders of higher education institutions.