STEM ACADEMY
According to “Recovery: Job Growth and Education Requirements Through 2020” from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, the number of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs will increase by 32 percent in Virginia by 2020, and more than 90 percent of those jobs will require post-secondary education.
NOVA is responding to this need by creating a college-wide initiative to encourage more students to pursue two- and four-year STEM degrees.
In addition to motivating more students to pursue careers in STEM fields, the program aims to enrich student experiences with new curricular and extracurricular STEM opportunities, enhance STEM curricula through advanced professional development opportunities, improve diversity in NOVA’s STEM enrollment and promote STEM education through collaboration with the regional community, industries and government agencies.
Dr. Ia Gomez, Manassas campus Associate Dean for Sciences will facilitate the implementation of the plan. “We have a great team which includes faculty members from various STEM disciplines and all six campuses. I look forward to working with them to place NOVA at the forefront of STEM education in America,” Gomez said.
With funding support from the Virginia Community College System, NOVA plans to invest more than $2.2 million over the next three years in equipment and faculty development to ensure NOVA students receive the most current training. Through the NOVA College-wide STEM Initiative (NCSI), students in STEM courses will have access to electron scanning microscopes, atomic force microscopes and other cutting-edge technologies. In addition, each of NOVA’s six campuses will designate a flagship STEM program that will receive resources for further development.