Fortune 500 companies throw support behind groundbreaking conference focused on bridging the skills gap between employers, job seekers, and educators
Washington, District of Columbia, June 07, 2012
Right now in the United States, there are 3 million unfilled jobs requiring workers adept in science, technology, engineering and math. Due to a domestic shortage of such workers, businesses too often either leave positions unfilled, negatively affecting productivity, or are forced to hire qualified candidates from overseas. That’s why so many of them, including Fortune 500 companies AT&T, Boeing, and Dell, are lining up to support the conference designed to find solutions to the STEM jobs crisis, U.S. News STEM Solutions 2012: A Leadership Summit.
Taking place in Dallas June 27-29, this first-ever conference of its kind will bring together on a national stage several of the major players with an investment in the future of a robust STEM workforce. Hundreds of business executives, HR managers, educators, policymakers, government officials, technology experts, philanthropists, community leaders and association chiefs will gather to develop best practices and the next steps for building the pipeline from competitive STEM workers to available jobs.
Over the next 10 years, the number of U.S. STEM jobs is projected to grow by 17 percent, compared with 9.8 percent growth in non-STEM jobs. At a time of high unemployment, American companies recognize the need to fill this demand domestically. STEM Solutions 2012 will address the broad array of issues related to that goal, from engaging young students, to aligning educators with job creators and the skill sets required.
“For several years, the aerospace industry has been working collaboratively among our member companies and with other industries and stakeholders to improve connectivity between employers and educators,” says Rick Stephens, chair of the Business and Industry STEM Education Coalition and senior vice president of human resources and administration at Boeing. “It is critical that employers provide both higher education and local school districts paint an accurate picture of what skills and capabilities students will need to function successfully in the 21st Century economy.”
Charlene Lake, senior vice president, public affairs and chief sustainability officer for AT&T, echoed that sentiment stating, “Workers with STEM education are increasingly important to our business — and to nearly every business — because STEM drives innovation and innovation drives our economy. To meet this growing need, we must
collaborate with educators, governments, industries and others to increase the number of people with STEM education, experience and expertise. U.S. News recognizes this
imperative with its 2012 STEM Summit, and we’re proud to be a part of it.”
In addition to AT&T, Boeing, and Dell, the following companies are supporting STEM
Solutions 2012:
• The National Science Foundation
• Battelle
• CSC
• The College Board
• Ingersoll-Rand
• Kraft Foods
• Lenovo
• Lockheed Martin
• Monster
• Northrop Grumman
• Purdue University
• Research Corporation for Science Advancement
• Southern Company
“We are grateful for the support of so many top-level companies and organizations, who share our vision of cultivating STEM-savvy workers and connecting them to employers,” says Brian Kelly, Editor and Chief Content Officer of U.S. News & World Report. “It is not an exaggeration to say the future of our country depends on this collaboration. At its heart, our conference is about the economic health and national security of the U.S. in an increasingly competitive world.”
STEM Solutions 2012 was created to help anyone with a stake in our country’s STEM workforce achieve his or her goals. Interested participants can find more information at http://www.USNewsStemSolutions.com.
U.S. News STEM Solutions 2012—A Leadership Summit is a mission-critical event focused on the shortage of science- and tech-related skills in the American workforce. U.S. News & World Report, together with Innovate+Educate, STEMConnector™ and more than 50 key organizations will bring together for the first time on a national stage major corporations, leading educators, top policymakers, and education technology companies to create a collective that will fill jobs now and advance the future STEM workforce. Held June 27 – 29, 2012, at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel, in Dallas, Texas.
U.S. News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and analysis, which includes the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine and www.usnews.com. Focusing on News, Opinion, Education, Health, Money, Travel, and Cars, U.S. News has earned a reputation as a leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. Its signature franchises include its “Best” series of consumer guides that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, and more.
Innovate+Educate is a national non-profit led by Fortune 500 companies with a goal of aligning STEM education and workforce efforts on a state-by-state basis.
STEMConnector™ is a resource center and network that helps bring together the many STEM projects around the country with a website of more than 3,000 organizations dedicated to STEM education; jobs and diversity are key priorities.
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