White House Unveils Over $240M in Multi-Sector STEM Commitments

President Obama announced over $240M in new multi-sector commitments dedicated to STEM education and outreach, with an emphasis on underserved groups, at the 2015 White House Science Fair on Monday. With the new investments, the president’s “Education to Innovate” campaign, launched in November 2009, has now resulted in more than $1 billion in financial and in-kind support for STEM initiatives. 

This year’s science fair focused specifically on diversity, especially the engagement of women and girls in science. In addition to the president’s remarks to students, science educators, and business leaders in attendance, notable commitments announced at the fifth White House Science Fair, according to a White House fact sheet, include:

• $150 million for a philanthropic effort  led by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Simons Foundation for a new Faculty Scholars Program that provides grants and resources to early-career scientists;
• $90 million for the “Let Everyone Dream” campaign, to expand STEM opportunities to under-represented youth through focused media campaigns and support for internship and career-readiness programs;
• $25 million for a Department of Education competition, providing five-year grants to support the development of educational television, interactive learning games, websites, and mobile app programming for young children and parents, with a specific emphasis on science;
• An announcement from 120 universities and colleges for their plans to expand or launch “Grand Challenge” Scholars Programs on their campuses, committing to train 20,000 engineers whose undergraduate experience will be structured around a diverse set of challenges;
• A CEO coalition, “Change the Equation,” expanding effective STEM programs to an additional 1.5 million students this year, with the goal of identifying the most effective and inclusive STEM programs and driving corporate philanthropy to them.

Also announced at the event were new opportunities to engage students in citizen science with federal agencies, labs, and parks, as well as a diverse array of initiatives to support the maker-movement, such as access to 3D printers, peer networks, and online courses.

To support STEM teachers, the 100K in 10 initiative, a network created in response to president Obama’s 2011 State of the Union call to action to prepare 100,000 STEM teachers over 10 years, announced that it is adding more than 30 new contributors to its campaigns.  Several other organizations, ranging from the Discovery Channel to the National Student Clearinghouse, announced their intentions to provide educators with new resources and training.

The College Transition Collaborative, a partnership of researchers and 13 universities and with support from the Raikes Foundation, announced that they plan to deliver interventions that help low-income students make the transition into college, while 10 universities are partnering through the University Innovation Fellows program to expose incoming freshmen to design thinking, entrepreneurship, and innovation to retain students in STEM disciplines.