The first year of this event, 115 highly educated STEM participants (60% with PhDs) met with representatives of New Mexico’s academic institutions, national laboratories, business and economic development communities, and venture capital.
2017 STEM SYMPOSIUM
Businesses have assumed that a talented workforce does not exist because they haven't found it here. Faculty, teachers, and advisors have focused on helping students get advanced degrees but not in NM economic development or business. The moment this disconnect was clear to us, the solution was obvious: bring New Mexico employers and the educated and highly trained STEM workforce together through Operation Boomerang.
In 2017, such an experiment was carried out at the University of New Mexico in an event called the NM Educated Workforce in STEM (NEWS) Symposium—the results were positive and quite surprising.
From NM Graduates...
...To Young Professionals
Thirty employers recruited at the event – from LANL, Sandia, and AFRL, established companies such as Ethicon and LRRI, as well as tech and biotech and startups.
Foundation
The impactful forces that led to the creation of STEM Boomerang.
During the summer of 2017, the lack of a highly technical workforce in NM received significant media attention and this was echoed at business meetings .
Dr. Maggie Werner-Washburne, whose laboratory research and Pre-PhD programs helped more than 500 UNM students get advanced graduate and professional degrees, realized that her database of names of former New Mexican students who are now young professionals could be used to energize one side of this equation. She wrote to the students and asked them if they would want to come back to NM if there were good career opportunities here for them.
More than 150 students said they were interested, and 80 were ready to come back. 50% said they would be looking for a position now or in a year. Of these 150 students, close to 50 (60%) had PhDs and close to 75% were currently living outside New Mexico. Through cooperative efforts with numerous economic development groups in Northern New Mexico and contacts through UNM, Operation Boomerang found about 30 laboratories, startups, and companies that were hiring PhDs.
Through a survey of businesses, we identified the educational requirements, areas of employment, plans for hiring more PhDs, and contact and website information. This allowed us to bypass the individual employment pages and provide timely and accurate information. But it took coming to the symposium for many businesses to understand the value of this approach.
Goals
As of May 15, 2018, we met our hiring goals of 8 jobs and two out-of-state participants are working with a biotech business professional to develop startups in New Mexico.
Long Term Potential
There were immediate “wins” and significant, longer-term benefits that indicate potential for a significant annual participation and creating a flow of NM young people into high-paying, valuable careers here in the state.
Student Reaction
Undergraduates and graduate students, who were not looking for immediate positions, saw, often for the first time, the exciting career opportunities that are here for them in NM. Current NM graduate students and young professionals were also surprised by the range and quality of the business landscape in Northern New Mexico.
