At UVM, a big investment to grow STEM

• University of Vermont planning $104 million investment for new STEM building, campus renovation
• At UVM, STEM fields are chemistry, physics, computer science, engineering, mathematics & statistics
• Number of graduates from UVM's STEM fields in the last 10 years hovers below 10 percent
• Goal is to boost undergraduate enrollments in STEM disciplines by 50 percent over the next decade

The big investment the University of Vermont is planning for its "STEM Initiative" belies the relatively small numbers of graduates from certain science, technology, engineering and math programs.

The capital investment is expected to amount to about $104 million — the university's largest to date, covering a massive new building and an adjacent, major renovation on the central campus. The new complex will accommodate fields in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The graduates who received bachelor's degrees in UVM's designated STEM disciplines this year amounted to about 9 percent of the graduating class. A review of UVM statistics for the last decade shows that STEM majors have comprised fewer than 10 percent of graduates in every year but one (10.1 percent in 2012).

The modest numbers of graduates do nothing to diminish the enthusiasm of Provost David Rosowsky, the prime mover of the STEM Initiative within the UVM administration.

Rosowsky, who has called the initiative "a strategic imperative" for the university, points out that enrollment numbers — undergraduates who take at least one STEM course — are far higher. And he points to one of his expectations embedded in the initiative, that undergraduate enrollments in STEM disciplines be increased by 50 percent over the next decade.

STEM by the numbers

"STEM" admits various disciplinary definitions, some of which include social sciences as well as biological and health sciences, but at UVM, the identified fields are chemistry, physics, computer science, engineering, mathematics and statistics.

Indeed, the STEM Initiative is partly a response to repeated appeals, from Gov. Peter Shumlin, business leaders and a gubernatorial UVM study commission, for the university to turn out more graduates for high-tech jobs in Vermont that employers are now having to fill by recruiting out of state. One of the commission's recommendations was that UVM double the size of its engineering program.

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The university's biological labs have been upgraded within the last few years, while the aging facilities in engineering (Votey Hall) and the physical sciences (Cook Physical Science Building) are a matter of some institutional embarrassment. Cook, which houses chemistry and physics and dates to 1969, will be demolished under the initiative, and the new building will rise on its site; Votey will be thoroughly overhauled, and the two buildings will be joined by a skywalk.

A preliminary conceptualization of the new complex put psychology in the disciplinary mix. The Department of Psychology also occupies antiquated facilities (Dewey Hall, built in 1905), and has been lobbying for new quarters at least since 2010, when Neuroscience, Behavior and Health was designated as one of the university's three "spires of excellence" under the Transdisciplinary Research Initiative. Psychology is among the most popular majors (its graduate numbers exceed those for engineering). As design work on the STEM complex proceeded, psychology's space needs could not be accommodated but are said to be high on the administration's capital-priority waiting list.

In 2013-14, according to UVM statistics, 2,319 students received bachelor's degrees. Of those, 214, or 9.2 percent, majored in STEM fields.

Graduates were in single digits in at least four STEM disciplines: chemistry (8), computer science and information systems (4), physics (2), statistics (6). In these fields, most annual graduate totals have been below 10 for the last decade.

The lion's share of STEM graduates this year, as in previous years, majored in engineering (120), math (46) or computer science (28).

Two engineering fields — mechanical and environmental — have seen robust growth over the last decade, reflecting national trends. Graduate numbers in electrical engineering has been relatively flat; ditto, computer science.

The number of STEM graduates from UVM increased nearly 50 percent over the last decade. The increase in total graduates, fed by steady enrollment increases, was about 29 percent.

By contrast, the number of graduates in all other sciences went up 22 percent in 10 years. (Other sciences account for about one-quarter of this year's graduates, compared to STEM's 9.2 percent.)

Enrollment numbers, as distinct from graduates, reflect a bigger STEM presence.

"The overall enrollment in our college has increased steadily over the last few years," wrote Luis Garcia, dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, in an email. "In 2013 we saw the rate of that increase pick up substantially and this year the early indications are that we will again see a significant increase." Since 2005, he said, the college's enrollment has increased 71 percent for bachelor of science majors and 70 percent for combined bachelor of science/bachelor of arts majors.

Rosowsky, the provost, suggested that graduate numbers don't tell the whole story. Forty-five percent of UVM's recent graduates took at least one chemistry course during their undergraduate careers, he said, and 91 percent took at least one math course.

He acknowledged, however, that STEM's share of graduates, around 10 percent, is low compared to other comprehensive research universities, where the proportion is likely to be closer to 20 percent. He said he'd like to see UVM boost its STEM turnout to that level.

Keeping up with the competition

In his "Case for STEM" presented to trustees in February, Rosowsky cited calls by President Obama and Gov. Shumlin for more STEM graduates to bolster economic development.

"As Vermont's public research university, we have an obligation to step up," he wrote, "and we are both prepared and excited to do so."

Rosowsky also saw the STEM Initiative as bolstering something else: UVM's competitiveness.

"We are losing students to colleges and universities around the country and right here in our region with superior classrooms, studios and laboratories," he wrote. As a regional example, in an interview, he cited the University of New Hampshire.

"These are some of the first facilities students and their parents ask to see on campus tours, and often are the feature that makes or breaks a student's decision on choice of university," he wrote. "Science and technology spaces (classroom, labs, maker spaces, design studios and project spaces) are often cited at the top of the list of facilities that drive students' decisions — over residence halls, libraries and even student unions."

Garcia said his college's enrollment gains have come "despite the fact that the Votey Building is not a strong selling point for us. With the new STEM project, we expect UVM to be an even more attractive option for prospective students and families."

That recruiting boon is still several years away. If all goes according to schedule, the work on the complex would be undertaken in phases, to be completed in 2018.

Contact Tim Johnson at 660-1808 or tjohnson@burlingtonfreepress.com