Quick: Can you explain who you are, what you do, and why someone should care–in three minutes? To help sharpen your elevator pitch skills, U.S. News STEM Solutions is announcing an exclusive opportunity: Ten attendees will be selected to give a presentation at the “Fever Pitch” session of the 2013 U.S. News STEM Solutions National Conference in Austin, Texas, on June 18, 2013. A panel of experts will choose the top three presentations, and the session will include a discussion of lessons learned from the presenters.  Perfect for communications directors, organization heads, and anyone else looking to hone their ability to talk about their organization and speak clearly and directly about their mission.

This unique opportunity is available only to registered attendees of the U.S. News STEM Solutions National Conference. Interested “Fever Pitch” candidates should send an email to STEMsolutions@usnews.com with one paragraph explaining who you are (for individual entries) or who your organization is (for organizational entries), why you want to make a presentation, and how you or your organization would benefit from the opportunity.  Applicants should also include their name, telephone number, email address, mailing address and, for organizational entries, organization and title.  Entries must be received no later than 11;59 pm on May 29, 2013. All entries are subject to the Official Contest Rules. 

Act now and start polishing those pitches!

Each conference track is designed to generate innovative ideas and tangible outcomes that will make an immediate and lasting impact on STEM workforce development. Specific topics will range from minimizing the gender gap to furthering professional development. Sessions and workshops will open discussion towards tangible solutions, such as online badges and other engaging student activities, new math and science standards and bringing the STEM message to new audiences.

View official conference tracks and news release.

View the video on the official U.S. News STEM Education blog.

A year ago, U.S.News & World Report launched a special project to examine the problem of why, at a time of high unemployment, there are so many jobs going unfilled. The answer: American workers lack the necessary skills for those jobs. We came to summarize this as the STEM problem and called our project “STEM Solutions.” STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math, and it is the lack of skills in those subject areas that is behind many of the nation’s vacant jobs today—and the prospect of considerably more in the next few years.

As we learned more about the importance and complexity of this issue, we decided to move beyond just reporting on it and play a role as an information resource for both policymakers looking for solutions to a significant national problem and consumers seeking educational skills that will land them a good job. One key need that became apparent was the lack of a national forum for the many committed groups that are working in this field. We hosted that meeting this summer in Dallas, bringing together 1,600 people representing hundreds of organizations. It turned out to be a unique gathering of a surprisingly broad community of leading educators, corporate and nonprofit executives, and government officials who realize the urgency of making progress on an issue that is at the heart of America’s economic future.

For the full story, visit the U.S. News & World Report Education blog.

View the Hall of Fame winners list on the right.