National Science Foundation (NSF) programs have provided community colleges with opportunities to equip the current and next generation of skilled workers. But proposed massive funding cuts put those vital programs at risk.
A June 3 briefing on Capitol Hill focused on how NSF funding opens up community college pathways to the future of work. The briefing was hosted by the American Association of Community Colleges and New America.
More than 37 million people belong to the skilled technical workforce. Many have been trained at community colleges, and their training is boosted by NSF programs – most notably, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program.
Related: Gutting the NSF will undermine community college pathways to the future of work
NSF funding doesn’t just provide vouchers and scholarships – it ensures “we don’t just have STEM education, but we have STEM education that delivers on its promise,” said panelist Shalin Jyotishi, founder and managing director of New America’s Future of Work and Innovation Economy (FOWIE) Initiative.
Jyotishi also noted that, as China increases investments in its equivalent to the NSF, it’ll be incumbent on House and Senate appropriators to fund NSF at the highest level so the United States can lead in building a skilled workforce.
Preparing for a changing workforce
Reps. Bill Foster (D-Illinois) and Jim Baird (R-Indiana), who co-chair the Research & Development Caucus, spoke about the importance of NSF programs – and community colleges – in shoring up the shortage of skilled technical workers, particularly during a time of growth for artificial intelligence (AI).
“The speed at which AI is growing is amazing,” Baird said, and trying to get a skilled workforce to help that industry move forward is important.
Community colleges will have a “unique and important role” in helping students navigate what comes next as AI changes the workforce, and NSF funding will be “crucial” to that, Foster said.
He advised attendees to “get into the appropriator’s face” and make sure they understand the role STEM education.
A ‘cascading effect’
Without NSF funding, Jackson College (Michigan) would not be where it is with STEM education, said Dan Phelan, the college’s president.
Jackson College has received two NSF Advanced Technological Education grants, one for an interdisciplinary program in manufacturing and another for a blockchain education program.
NSF provides intensity and focus, Phelan said, and “means by which our faculty and staff can open doors we have not been able to open before.”
Big companies listen when Jackson College calls because of the NSF credentials.
The NSF support also opens doors locally. The college is helping businesses in the region integrate blockchain technology to make their businesses more efficient and keep them protected from attacks. Staff and faculty also are reaching into the high schools to help them become part of the blockchain-ready workforce.
Phelan also noted that, because Michigan has a shared community college system, Jackson College can share their knowledge and resources with other colleges.
“That’s the cascading effect of NSF,” he said.
Phelan emphasized the importance of maintaining – or increasing – NSF funding as the Trump administration has said they want to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
A ‘network of success’
NSF funding is helping SUNY Corning Community College (CCC) facilitate their mission of helping students be successful in the workforce and “contribute to a better place to live for all of us,” said Tony Wohlers, SUNY CCC’s vice president of academic affairs and dean of the faculty.
SUNY CCC is a rural community college and NSF funding has led to the creation of an optical technology program and partnerships with Corning Inc., Micatu Inc. and other companies.
They’re training students to fill some of the 900 annual openings for technicians at those companies.
NSF funding also has led to partnerships across the SUNY system.
“We can collaborate to make sure our students are successful,” Wohlers said. NSF funding “brings us together in this network of success.”
He added that community colleges “are engines of prosperity, and NSF funding is a critical part of that.”
Finding direction
Judy Marouf wasn’t exactly sure what direction she wanted to go in when she started at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). But an NSF-funded program – the Product Design Incubator – helped her discover that she enjoyed project management.
Through the PDI, she and a group of other students participated in a product design challenge. The program integrates entrepreneurship training and design thinking. Marouf gained both “soft” and technical skills.
Now, the 2024 NOVA graduate and Jack Kent Cooke Scholar is studying at George Washington University and continuing on a STEM path. She hopes to secure a role in tech leadership.
Industry perspective
According to David Shahoulian, Intel’s director of workforce policy and government affairs, “NSF is a great value.” It helps put community colleges and industry together to ensure programs are not created in a vacuum, but are guaranteed to meet industry demand.
As the need for AI skills grows, and curriculum changes are needed at community colleges, these partnerships are even more important. NSF has “supercharged” that work.
Shahoulian referenced an NSF-funded program that partners Miami Dade College, Houston Community College and the Maricopa Community College District to launch the National Applied Artificial Intelligence Consortium. That consortium benefits employers like Intel, he said.
“NSF is an important industry partner,” he said.
