The TVC’s NCO Enhanced Workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
(NEW-STEM) Initiative

The number of new scientists and engineers emerging from U.S. universities is significantly declining at a time when the number of scientists and engineers in countries who compete with the U.S. economically is increasing. Even if we start major improvements today, it may take at least a generation to implement the needed educational changes to increase the supply of scientists and engineers to meet future U.S. demand, while the U.S. continues to lose its competitive edge in the process.  

At the same time, the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has placed tremendous budgetary stress on the Department of Defense (DoD). To make ends meet, the DoD is planning a major reduction in force. The Air Force alone plans to reduce staffing by thousands in the next five years including officers, non-commissioned officers (NCOs), civilians, and support contractors. The Army and Navy are planning similar, albeit smaller, reductions in their forces as well.   

NCOs, namely technical and master sergeants are universally recognized as the go-to people in the military. While many of the separating NCOs can go directly into industry as highly trained technicians, many are also fully capable of achieving degrees in science and engineering, which most currently do not have.

An initiative of the Tennessee Valley Corridor, Inc. (TVC), the Non-Commissioned Officer Enhanced Workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (NEW-STEM) project will soon begin linking NCOs leaving the Air Force with job openings in Tennessee Valley federal agencies. 

NEW-STEM was created by TVC leaders who recognized that the current shortage of scientists and engineers in the U.S. that coincides with the flux of technically-trained NCOs departing from the military.  Each participating federal agency, which includes the U.S. Army’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) in Huntsville, Ala. and the Dept. of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the Y-12 Site Office and B&W Y-12  in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is identifying five to 15 science/engineering positions that they need filled in three to four years. The NEW-STEM team is working with the Pentagon to identify NCOs coming out of the service to fill these positions. 

NCOs who wish to pursue a degree in a STEM discipline and who have been pre-screened for qualifications will attend one of the Tennessee Valley Corridor universities or community colleges to gain their degree while participating in a co-op/work study program being offered by one of the Corridor federal agencies.  Tennessee Valley universities and community colleges will collaborate to develop the curriculum for the NCOs and then deliver it in cohort groups on campuses near the federal agencies’ locations.  (NCOs who do not wish to pursue a STEM degree or who did not pass the pre-screening would be able to apply for open positions with participating companies directly upon leaving the service through a separate placement program.) Upon the NCOs college graduation, they will permanently fill a position with the federal agency they worked for during their co-operative educational assignment.