Never in our history have science and technology figured so prominently in our economic well-being and national security, demonstrating the urgent need to overcome challenges for U.S. STEM education. STEM jobs and products dominate the economy, accounting for 69% of the U.S. gross domestic product. Emerging technologies across energy, information, transportation, healthcare, agriculture, and every other aspect of life are now battlegrounds of capable, competitive nations.

In his recent letter to the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, President Donald Trump charged his Office of Science and Technology Policy to “cement America’s global technological leadership and usher in the Golden Age of American Innovation.”

That means the administration will do all it can to bolster the STEM K-12 talent pipeline, right? And Americans will surely support policies aimed at equipping youth for high-demand and mission-critical career paths, eh?

U.S. STEM education faces eight ornery, grand challenges, each conceivably conquerable if we rally to overcome these challenges for U.S. STEM education.

1. America’s STEM Education imperative is being eclipsed by an AI exigency. The stakes associated with leading in artificial intelligence blow the 1958 Sputnik crisis out of the sky. The Trump administration recently released an AI-in-education executive order. The STEM education community should seize leadership of a chaotic AI-in-education landscape, leveraging vast networks and partnerships as testbeds. STEM gives AI context and purpose. Many leading AI developers and funders are investing strongly in K-12 technology education.

2. Federal education research and development funding has been sharply diminished lately. STEM education leaders are going to miss the data and research that flowed from the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education through its now-diminished National Center for Education Statistics, including the hobbled National Assessment of Educational Progress and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. But as plans for carving up federal education grant programs into state block grants emerge, state STEM networks will be well-positioned to advance this sort of analysis.

Read the full article about challenges for U.S. STEM education by Jeff Weld at The 74.