You may also visit our STEM2Veterans pre-launch website @ STEM2Veterans.org!!

The primary focus of STEM2Veterans is to create an education/career development program focused on getting our young Veterans into science and technology careers. The cost to expand and enrich STEM2Veterans is a small fraction of the cost of the post-9/11 Veterans educational benefit. Yet by expanding it, the S2V community could engage a significant number of Veterans with the potential to pursue careers in fields of science and technology.

The bottom line is that there is a shortage in the U.S. to engage and fullfill engineering and science workforce needs.

The cause is a downward trend in student interest in engineering and science and the expected retirement of large numbers of engineers and scientists during the coming decade. Today a large proportion of engineering and science graduates of American universities are not U.S. citizens.3 The new veterans benefit offers an unparalleled opportunity for the United States to expand its technical workforce while serving those who served.

Post-9/11 veterans offer the nation’s engineering and science employers a diverse and pre-qualified pool of future talent. The vast majority of those who serve in the enlisted ranks of the nation’s armed services are high school graduates with strong cognitive aptitudes. Most members of the officer corps hold four-year or advanced college degrees. Many of those who serve today are interested in technical careers and equipped to succeed in them. They have experience managing technical systems and solving complex problems. They know how to work in teams and how to lead.

An opportunity exists to develop programs that will usher post 9-11 veterans into technical fields and shape them into workforce-ready engineers and scientists. In order to be successful, a set of partnerships will be required, including the veterans themselves, the nation’s educational institutions, technology firms, and the government’s technical and scientific organizations. Recognizing this opportunity, the Division of Engineering Education and Centers of the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored a workshop to discuss how best to approach this opportunity. The workshop meeting occurred on April 13-14, 2009, in the offices of the MITRE Corporation in McLean, VA.

The workshop had five objectives:

• Develop ideas for customizing educational programs in engineering and science to attract veterans and enrich their educations;
• Develop concepts for building and sustaining a community of partners, including the VA and DOD, institutions of higher learning, business and government science and technology organizations, and others who will work together to improve opportunities in engineering and science for post-9/11 veterans;
• Develop approaches to coordinate community efforts to make post-9/11 veterans aware of this special program;
• Develop a rough estimate of the cost of an enhancement program and identify possible resource partners and what they might contribute; and
• Discuss how to initiate a start-up program quickly, to be ready as soon as possible after the post-9/11 benefit goes into effect.

Veterans Services of America, Inc. is commited to adhereing to the above mentioned criteria and providing turnkey solutions that includes Veterans housing, continuing ED, entrepreneurship education, workforce development, and subsequent jobs by maintaining and growing a diverse community of engaged Colleges and Universities, housing communities, employer groups, federal, state and local agencies along with corporate citizenship alliances that will enable our veterans to succeed and fill the many STEM related career opportunties now presenting in the marketplace.

Our Mission

To provide every opportunity to serve those who have served us through responsible and seamless transition back to civilian life and allow our heroes to continue to serve for the betterment of global shifts in paradigms related to 21st century education and economic growth within the United States.