Jay B. Labov, a senior advisor for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, will highlight ways America can attract more professionals into science, technology, engineering and mathematics career fields during a March 19 lecture on campus.

Labov will discuss the topic “The Changing National Landscape of STEM Education: Connecting the Dots,” at 4:30 p.m. in the Lake Room of Rose-Hulman’s student union building. The session is part of the institute’s Oscar C. Schmidt Lecture Series and has been made possible by the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program, administered by the Council of Independent Colleges. The talk is free and open to the public, but online reservations are requested in advance.

NAS and other national science and engineering organizations project that the U.S. will have a shortage of at least 1 million STEM professionals over the course of the next decade.

“Filling this need begins with our partners in kindergarten through 12^th grade and continues through higher education. We need to work together to help America retain its global leadership in STEM,” says Ella Ingram, associate dean for professional development and associate professor of biology. “Dr. Labov’s expertise in education practices and policy will provide direction toward these approaches.”

Labov has been a member of the NAS staff for the past 23 years and is the senior advisor for education and communications. He has spent most of his career examining issues in undergraduate education, teacher education, advanced study for high school students, K-8 education and international education.

As a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow at Rose-Hulman March 19-23, Labov will exchange ideas with administrators, faculty and students about undergraduate STEM education.

Labov is an organismal biologist by training and a former college biology professor. He has been honored by the National Science Teachers Association and National Association of Biology Teachers for overseeing NAS's efforts to confront challenges to teaching evolution in the nation’s public schools. In 2016, Labov was the chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s education section.

The Oscar C. Schmidt Lecture brings national leaders to campus to discuss key issues and developments. The lecture was established more than 50 years ago through the generosity of the Cincinnati Butcher's Supply Company in memory of Oscar C. Schmidt, who was a pioneering manufacturer of machinery for the packing industry. His son, Milton, is a 1974 Rose-Hulman mechanical engineering alumnus.