STEM Outreach: A Stakeholder Analysis
Daniel Appel, Ralph C. Tillinghast, Carla Winsor, Mo Mansouri
Abstract
The evolving challenges facing our society will increase the demand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professionals. Educational outreach in STEM areas can supplement current educational systems to promote interest, increase understanding, and encourage students to pursue careers involving STEM fields. In order to maximize benefits from STEM educational outreach opportunities, developing a better understanding of stakeholders involved, and their needs, goals, and objectives across the educational ecosystem, is required. This work presents a stakeholder analysis for the STEM outreach system intended to enhance understanding of how each stakeholder in the STEM educational outreach system of systems contributes towards unique goals of improving student understanding and success in pursuing educational and career goals within STEM fields. Understanding the dependencies and relationships between stakeholder entities enables further research and future improvements for STEM outreach initiatives. Ultimately, these efforts aim to provide key contributions to building the next generation of science and engineering professionals.