The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has sent to the White House six recommendations approved by the council that are aimed at growing the Federal pool of workers skilled in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
The advisory group’s letter containing the recommendations and titled “Expanding STEM Talent in the Federal Workforce” was approved by PCAST members during their meeting on July 11.
PCAST, which draws its membership from the private sector and academia, was created in 2001 to advise the President on science, technology, and innovation issues.
Dan Arvizu, co-lead of the PCAST Federal STEM Working Group and former president of New Mexico State University, presented the six recommendations the advisors sent to the White House that aim to bolster the Federal STEM workforce.
The first recommendation calls on the Federal government to “expeditiously” adopt initiatives that have been piloted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), like “leveraging processes developed for the AI surge, and maximize the use of existing hiring flexibilities at scale across all agencies.”
The second recommendation calls for the modernization of recruiting and accelerating hiring processes. Some examples Arvizu provided included differentiating STEM marketing and recruiting and upskilling agency human resources offices.
OPM announced earlier this year that it is launching a project to overhaul the Federal government’s hiring process for the IT management job series – transitioning to a fully skills-based approach by the summer of 2025.
Arvizu’s third recommendation notes that Federal agencies should “ambitiously” expand use of OPM’s Pathways Program. Earlier this year, OPM announced that it updated the Pathways Programs – expanding skills-based hiring through qualified career programs, raising the ceiling for starting salaries for recent graduates, and easing the path for interns to be converted into permanent positions. Arvizu recommended that OPM leverage the National Science Foundation’s tech hubs to create a STEM internship pipeline into the Federal government.
The PCAST letter also recommends that the government “lower barriers” for detailing seasoned experts to agencies, particularly at the Pentagon.
The fifth recommendation calls on each agency to designate an executive leader to spearhead the recruitment and retention of the STEM workforce.
Finally, the PCAST Federal STEM Working Group recommends that OPM create a repository to share successful initiatives and best practices for bolstering the Federal STEM workforce governmentwide.
