This editorial was published in the Laramie Boomerang on December 7, 2010.
Filling the STEM Pipeline
Tom Buchanan, President, University of Wyoming
Myron Allen, Provost, University of Wyoming
In September, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)
unveiled a report on America’s capacity to train future professionals in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It noted:
“STEM education will determine whether the United States will remain a leader among
nations and whether we will be able to solve immense challenges in such areas as
energy, health, environmental protection, and national security.”
That should electrify anyone dedicated to Wyoming’s future. All four issues — energy, health
care, environmental protection, and national security — make statewide headlines nearly every
day.
The University of Wyoming is committed to precisely the form of leadership that PCAST urges.
Thanks to remarkable state, private, and industry support, UW provides spectacular high-end
opportunities for students who pursue STEM-related fields. We have a School of Energy
Resources; a supercomputing partnership with the National Center for Atmospheric Research;
engineering programs with outstanding job placement and licensure rates; federally funded
research experiences for undergraduates in the life sciences, earth science, chemistry, and
mathematics; outstanding programs to train health care professionals; and recognized expertise
in virtually all aspects of the environment and natural resources.
But the upstream end of the pipeline needs attention. Like the rest of America, Wyoming must
attract more students into STEM disciplines. Here UW is hard at work. Our Science Posse
sends graduate students to middle schools and high schools across Wyoming, to
demonstrate the principles of science through hands-on activities. Our School of Energy
Resources and College of Engineering and Applied Science offer summer programs for middle
school and high school students to capture their curiosity. Our biology faculty has revamped its
first-year courses to prepare students for the rapid changes in the life sciences. Our involvement
in the Wyoming P-16 Education Council helps ensure the smoothest possible transition for
students as they enter the state’s institutions of higher learning.
Still, to meet the nation’s needs, including the needs of our supporters in industry, UW must do
more. And we can do more, especially for students who have yet to decide that science,
engineering, or health care is their calling. To take advantage of UW’s high-end opportunities,
students need the best possible preparation in entry-level physics, chemistry, biology,
engineering, and mathematics courses. The science and engineering laboratory facility
recommended unanimously by the State Building Commission, which will be named in honor of
U.S. Sen. Michael B. Enzi, will help UW fulfill its role. It will provide state-of-the-art teaching
laboratories for entry-level students, so we can lure more of them into the STEM pipeline and
keep them there.
America needs to maintain its leadership in STEM disciplines. With careful reinvestment of coal
payments coming from our resource-based economy in projects like this one, Wyoming will
show the way.