Council of Councils Meeting
July 1, 2010
Research in Support of the Workforce
The underperformance of US students in science and math is well documented, and the risk to the US scientific research enterprise and the corresponding leading role in science and technology innovation is enormous. All federal agencies must take steps toward recruiting the best and brightest US students into science careers. A particular need for the US scientific workforce is to tap into populations of students that have not traditionally entered scientific careers to ensure that our scientific workforce remains robust.
Although the NIH has made heavy investments in research training, diverse populations of students do not enter scientific careers, and in particular do not enter biomedical research careers. The NIH needs to understand the factors that contribute to career choices, and then to provide outreach, training, and research support to entice the best and brightest US students to be a part of the US scientific enterprise.
The Common Fund is supporting planning activities that will lead to initiatives in support of the workforce. Specifically, agencies across the federal government will be convened to describe other efforts in this area, and research institutions will be consulted to determine what the workforce needs are. Input from these planning activities will inform initiatives that may address career choices, outreach to broad communities, and possibly interventions that will test strategies leading to more effective recruitment and retention of diverse populations of scientists into the scientific workforce.