Mapping Existing Investments Could Spur Action Among Local STEM Companies

A central question in Senator Chaudhuri's initial outreach and discussion strongly resonated with our AIR team: How can a STEM indicators dashboard spur action among local STEM businesses, rather than simply serve as a visualization exercise? That driving question led us to map federal investments in NC community colleges for the example prototype map above (while recognizing there obviously remains key K-12 indicators of interest too).

Federal Investments Are a Catalyst for Local Workforce Growth

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has been the leading federal funder for investing in STEM workforce training at community colleges via its Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. In turn, Forsyth Tech in Winston-Salem, NC, has been a state and national leader in using NSF ATE investments to drive local economic growth and build partnerships with STEM businesses, such as through its National Center for the Biotechnology Workforce.

During a Capitol Hill briefing on Feb. 12, 2025, Forsyth Tech president Dr. Janet Spriggs shared how the college leveraged NSF funding to acquire and train students in using cutting-edge equipment such as "bioprinters" that can print synthetic tissues used in organ transplants. The college's overall goal is to create pathways out of poverty by preparing students for the workforce needs of current and emerging tech industries.

Dr. Spriggs described a long list of partners including the workforce development boards from 16 different NC counties, businesses such as Johnson & Johnson and ProKidney, and universities such as North Carolina A&T and Wake Forest University. Most recently, Forsyth Tech is the workforce training lead for the NSF Regenerative Medicine Engine, an investment worth up to $160M over 10 years focused on accelerating the development and commercialization of regenerative medicine technologies, including cell and tissue therapies.

Inspiring Business Leaders to Address Opportunity Gaps

Despite the phenomenal success of some NC community colleges, access to high-quality experiential learning opportunities is uneven across the state. For instance, NSF ATE investments are concentrated in the Research Triangle and Piedmont Triad regions, with comparatively limited funding in rural western and southeastern NC.

These opportuntiy gaps directly affect businesses' bottom line to attract, develop, and retain well-trained workers. Mapping areas of existing investment--and underinvestment--could inspire employers to take action. The map above includes the contact information for NSF ATE programs to spur concrete actions such as:

• Recruiting from a specific community college (e.g., via a job fair)
• Partnering with an existing program to provide work-based learning opportunities
• Starting a new program at a local college modeled on success elsewhere in the state

For instance, Raleigh-based employees at Infosys could help develop cybersecurity talent in nearby rural communities by partnering with Nash Community College's cyber safety program or Piedmont Community College's AI cybersecurity workforce initiative. The map above could help catalyze those connections, to the extent they do not already exist.

The map above could be extended to incorporate other key STEM indicators of interest to NC business leaders, such as yearly counts of graduates from 2-year or 4-year programs in high-demand fields (e.g., biotechnology, data science), based on data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Completions Survey.

At the K-12 level, the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) provides publicly available data on access to STEM courses:

• Course offerings and enrollment in high school data science and AP computer science
• Course offerings and enrollment in high school biology, chemistry, and physics
• Course offerings and enrollment in grade 8 Algebra I and high school calculus

We suspect that NC business leaders will find these K-12 access indicators (e.g., course offerings) more actionable than K-12 achievement indicators (e.g., test scores). For instance, despite having limited influence over how K-12 mathematics is taught, a local IT employer could directly support industry-aligned data science learning opportunities, either in high schools or through dual enrollment programs at local community colleges. The CRDC also reports STEM course enrollment at the individual school level, while disaggregating by student race/ethnicity, sex, English learner status, and disability, allowing for an in-depth study of how oppportunity gaps vary across geograhic regions.

Resource disparities in broadband access may also interest employers (e.g., especially IT companies), given how limited internet connectivity can pose unique challenges for STEM learning in rural regions (e.g., Appalachia). The CRDC reports school-level data for indicators such as fiber-optic connections, Wi-Fi access in every classroom, and school-issued devices for students to take home or use in the classroom.

The August 2026 memo prepared by Education Commission of the States provides a wealth of other potential indicators and data sources to consider. In deciding what to feature, some critical questions include the following:

• What is a STEM employer going to find compelling?
• Would having too many indicators be overwhelming and limit the potential for taking focused action?
• Is the data available with sufficient quality and granularity (e.g., state-level vs. school-level)?

For instance, the pipeline of K-12 STEM educators is a critical issue, especially in rural areas, but the limited quality and relevance of current publicly available data may mean needing to postpone the inclusion of teacher workforce indicators. Before rushing to include current data, having conversations with business leaders might be worthwhile to first ask questions such as: "What information about local K-12 STEM teacher shortages would motivate your company to invest in a school partnership--and what kinds of support could you realistically provide?"

Shortlist of Recommended STEM Indicators

We recommend the following as a shortlist of priority indicators, which each have school-level, publicly available data:

• Federal investments in STEM workforce development, especially for training in emerging technologies at commmunity colleges (source: NSF Award Search Data)
• Postsecondary degree attainment in high-demand STEM fields (source: IPEDS Completions Survey)
• Access to and enrollment in high school STEM courses (source: CRDC)
• Resource disparities in internet connectivity (source: CRDC)

Other potential indicators to consider include (e.g., perhaps for a Phase 2 expansion):

• District-level STEM & CTE teacher vacancies in grades 9-12 (source: NCDPI State of Teaching Profession)
• CTE concentrations in STEM fields (see ECS memo)
• STEM earnings and employment (see ECS memo)
• Dual enrollment in STEM subjects (see ECS memo)
• Restricted-use data from NC Department of Public Instruction

Two indicators for earlier grade levels include (but may be of less immediate interest to STEM employers):

• School-level access and enrollment in Algebra I in grade 8 (source: CRDC)
• School-level math proficiency in grade 3 (source: State Testing Results)