Building a STEM Education Ecosystem for Future DoD Engineers
Abstract
The global economy relies heavily on highly qualified personnel (HQP) having advanced degrees in science and engineering (S&E). For the US to remain competitive, especially in rapidly developing sectors like robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), participation in research-intensive graduate education must be expanded. While graduate enrollment in S&E disciplines has increased by 35% since 2000, much of this growth was driven by international students holding temporary visas. Despite the growing demand for HQP in S&E, the graduate enrollment of Americans has declined since 2008. Furthermore, rates of participation in graduate education are disproportionately lower among black and Hispanic populations, and people from low and middle-income families are less likely to pursue graduate degrees than college graduates from high-income families. We are proposing the BRIDGE program to expand access to graduate education that is focused on DoD modernization priorities, including AI, autonomy, and robotics. This program will dismantle barriers that are blocking Americans from pursuing advanced degrees. These barriers include a lack of hands-on research experience at the undergraduate level and the lack of information about the professional value of advanced degrees. We hypothesize that a two-year Master’s-to-PhD BRIDGE program focused on providing extensive research experience to students with a Bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree will generate a much-needed pipeline of talent into the DoD workforce. We will leverage the expertise of our Faculty at The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to focus our training program on critical areas such as robotics, Autonomous Systems, AI, and neuroengineering. Moreover, we will aim at broadening the pool of candidates pursuing advanced degrees by actively recruiting individuals from historically underrepresented groups (URM) in STEM fields, including student veterans and children of veterans. Other bridge programs have had success in recruiting, training, and generating URM students with Ph.D. degrees in basic science. The same success is achievable in engineering fields constituting modernization priorities for DoD. URM students will be recruited Nationwide. In the BRIDGE program, students will complete sufficient research hours and coursework to earn a Master’s degree with a research Thesis in Bioengineering at Pitt or Mechanical Engineering at CMU. These courses include technical coursework in the fields of robotics, computer science, machine learning, computational neuroscience, and bioengineering as well as professional development training in ethics, scientific writing, and oral communication. Students will attend biweekly scientific seminars to further enhance their cross-disciplinary training. Importantly, the requested funds will also support the participation of BRIDGE students in a (9 to 12-week) summer internship program at 1 of 9 participating DoD Laboratories distributed across the country. This internship experience will be of tremendous value since students will appreciate the impact of scientific discovery in real-world applications while working with potential employers. We anticipate our graduates will transition into a doctorate program at any top Research University and pursue a scientific career in either the government or private sector. The BRIDGE program will yield three tremendous benefits to our society. First, it will make graduate education accessible to any American student, regardless of their socioeconomic background or prior academic opportunities. Second, it will reveal a strategy for discovering and nurturing the untapped talent of young Americans. Third, it will generate a critical mass of national scientists that will become future leaders in STEM fields. These three benefits are essential for maintaining the United States leadership in science and technology worldwide.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 10, 2021
- Source ID
- HQ00342110020
Entities
People
- Gelsy Torres-Oviedo
Organizations
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- University of Pittsburgh
- Washington Headquarters Services