More and more young people are learning about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in a wide variety of afterschool, summer, and informal programs. At the same time, there has been increasing awareness of the value of such programs in sparking, sustaining, and extending interest in and understanding of STEM. To help policy makers, funders and education leaders in both school and out-of-school settings make informed decisions about how to best leverage the educational and learning resources in their community, this report identifies features of productive STEM programs in

The primary goal of the From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals Program (NEXTGEN) is to enable 1890 institutions, 1994 institutions, Alaska Native-serving institutions and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions and insular area institutions of higher education located in the U.S. territories to build and sustain the next generation of the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) workforce including the future USDA workforce primarily through providing student scholarship support

Getting Americans Back to Work EDA’s American Rescue Plan $500 million Good Jobs Challenge is making once-in-a-generation investments in high-quality, locally led workforce systems to dramatically transform America’s communities. With a focus on equity, the program is expanding career opportunities for more Americans to reach their full potential and secure good-paying jobs while producing a skilled workforce to ensure the United States is prepared to innovate, compete, and succeed in a 21st Century global economy. The Good Jobs Challenge highlights workforce development as key to accelerating

Start building our clean energy future with a career in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). EERE offers opportunities across its technology offices and on its operations team. EERE is fighting the climate crisis by advancing President Biden’s goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 through cutting-edge research that will bring clean energy technologies to communities all across America. But we need your help. Below are various career maps to help you think about what your career can look like in clean energy, based on your education and experience.

Based on a three-year-long ethnography of the hobby of model rocketry, I present a practice-centered theory of interest relationships—that is, the pattern of long-term, self-motivated engagement in open-ended practices that has been theorized under the concept of individual interests. In contrast to extant theories of individual interests, in which persistent engagement is pegged to a topic-specific relationship (e.g., a model rocketeer has an interest in the topic of rocketry, broadly conceived), I propose that persistence in a practice of interest is best understood in terms of what I call

Career prospects for trainees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are growing, but today’s opportunities are not always like the traditional science careers of the past. Individuals move in and out of roles and positions in which they consult, start businesses, and hold jobs across disciplines and sectors. People take many paths through school and weave careers around an assortment of circumstances, such as rearing families, serving in the military or volunteer corps, fulfilling caregiving responsibilities, or reengaging with formal education. These experiences bring