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Position Paper
Dismantling Organizational Barriers to Advance STEM Learning and Innovation
Create a culture of collaboration & data-driven impact among STEM and Workforce Readiness Leaders
The Hidden Opportunities within the STEM Workforce Pipeline
Five Connections in STEM Education That Can Harmonize America's Workforce Pipeline
Organizational Barriers
Advancing STEM Learning and Innovation
Reflections
I love playing the game Memory. I love solving puzzles. My experience teslls me most people hate these challenge games. My brain is always looking for patterns, storylines and connections. I like the challenge. I love the dopamine hit when after 2 hours of finding five pieces, you find 50 in two minutes. This is why I chose the Nine Dot Problem as part of my corporate logo.
I see the U.S. Education system in the same way. Just a big old puzzle to solve. If each dollar education dollar spent was a puzzle piece, it would be a 250 billion piece puzzle. I better get a bigger table. And where are the corners and straight edges?!
Executive Summary
Organizational barriers slow progress and fragment efforts to improve STEM education, making it harder for students to access the cohesive, high-quality STEM learning experiences they need to thrive in our future workforce.
This Capstone Project was an 18-month examination of STEM ecosystems to understand the barriers to get cross-sector organizations to work together efficiently. I'm proud of what I created and was excited to share it with ecosystems around the world in October 2025.
Six months later, projects have ebbed and flowed for a multitude of reasons, but the innovative approach works, and will have great impact as a National Talent Strategy starts to be realized.
Moments of Impact
One Roadmap to STEM Learning Success
"The Hidden Opportunities within the STEM Workforce Pipeline
Reflections
Solving the STEM workforce pipeline crisis is an ongoing effort. There are many examples of success in STEM Education and career-connected learning, and we need to find ways to identify and scale. This paper originated from my desire to break down this complex issue into ‘Moments of Impact’ at the earliest ages that affect the direction of a student's STEM interest. The desire is to look at each of these issues, and identify research-based solutions that can minimize the amount of time, effort, money and resources to implement. Many solutions and best practices already exist. They need to be identified and built for scale, not profit. If they do not exist then a community of practice (CoP) can be formed to develop innovative solutions.
Executive Summary
Imagine you're an eight-year-old passionate about science, forced to abandon learning through play for test prep. Or, you’re fourteen, and reach high school lacking awareness of STEM careers, unable to access career-connected learning. Now you’re eighteen and off to college, only to abandon your STEM major, or you earn your degree only to end up working outside your field. Meanwhile, 69% of employers can't find talent because they lack the durable skills so desperately needed. This is America's STEM workforce pipeline.
“Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth” - Tom Barrett, politician and diplomat
The recent changes to our education system have created a state of uncertainty and instability, which presents a unique moment in time to change systemic design failures that can be accomplished within existing budget, people and resource constraints.
This analysis of research, mostly from 2015-2025, identifies five opportunities in the STEM workforce pipeline to create “Moments of Impact” that can change the direction of a student's STEM education pathway.
