White House Proposes Policies to Enhance STEMM Ecosystem
From the workforce to the populations that the discoveries support, America’s science and technology ecosystem is in dire need of diversity and equity, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) said. In December 2022, it launched an action plan (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/12/12/equity-and-excellence-a-vision-to-transform-and-enhance-the-u-s-stemm-ecosystem/) to create avenues in the fields (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/12/12/equity-and-excellence-a-vision-to-transform-and-enhance-the-u-s-stemm-ecosystem/) of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) for previously excluded communities.
OSTP’s plan focuses on five action areas for improvement (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/12/12/equity-and-excellence-a-vision-to-transform-and-enhance-the-u-s-stemm-ecosystem/):
- Ensuring that students, teachers, workers, communities, and others have adequate support to participate in and contribute to science and technology
- Addressing the STEMM teacher shortage and investing in a strong and diverse teacher pipeline
- Closing the funding gap and support researchers and communities who have been excluded in the past
- Scaling solutions that remove bias, discrimination, and harassment in classrooms, laboratories, and workplaces
- Promoting accountability across the science and technology ecosystem
“In America, everything is possible,” President Joe Biden said (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/12/12/equity-and-excellence-a-vision-to-transform-and-enhance-the-u-s-stemm-ecosystem/). “We can channel the full talents of all our people into a greater measure of hope and opportunity for our nation and for the world.”