Addressing the STEM crisis through career development

Nearly 50 percent of students interested in the STEM field switch majors by their sophomore year. This had led to an national crisis as millions of STEM jobs go unfilled each year as a result of unskilled workers. UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The United States is in a STEM crisis, according to a Penn State researcher. Each year, millions of jobs centered on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) go unfilled because of a lack of skilled workers and it is predicted that by 2018, approximately 2.4 million STEM jobs will remain vacant. Now, a new study shows that career development may help address the growing crisis. 'From freshman to sophomore year, nearly 50 percent of college students who are interested in STEM drop their major and go to something else,' said Diandra Prescod , assistant professor of counselor education at Penn State.