Coalition Members

inSPIRE STEM USA is a coalition of organizations, companies and leaders supportive of a two-part plan to address immigration and workforce development needs and improve our STEM education pipeline.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the coalition, please complete the membership form.

You can view statements from current members of the coalition here.

Current coalition members include:

Coalition Member Statements

American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Jeremy Berg, President

“Within the life science community, ASBMB is committed to ensure America has the best trained and able biomedical research workforce in the world spanning the breadth of the American population. This is essential to keeping America a global leader for innovation, which benefits the U.S. through ensuring a strong healthy economy – and a strong healthy populace. America has long been a magnet for the world’s most talented young scholars, and without sensible immigration reform, we fear America will educate the world’s scientists, only to have to compete with them as they return to more opportunities in their countries of origin.”

Caterpillar Inc.
Gwenne Henricks, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President

“Caterpillar’s future competitiveness relies on our ability to differentiate our products, and technology is how we will do that. Our education system in the U.S. must produce a robust pipeline of students in STEM-related fields, something it is not doing today. Other countries are producing far more engineers and scientists, yet the U.S. is generating thousands of jobs each year requiring these skills. Caterpillar is tackling this challenge on two fronts. First, we’re getting kids in this country interested in STEM at a young age through involvement in programs like FIRST Robotics. I would be thrilled to see a student who became interested in engineering when designing a robot for a STEM activity, take that experience and develop and apply those skills at Caterpillar as an engineer working on a hybrid machine design or a more fuel efficient engine. The other part of the equation is attracting a diverse group of engineers. We know that embracing diversity and inclusion drives innovation. As we increase our pipeline of STEM graduates in the U.S., Caterpillar will continue to support sensible immigration laws that help us attract—and keep—the best talent from around the world and allow us to serve our global customers. This is not a case of reforming our education or immigration system. We need U.S. and foreign national STEM talent to remain competitive.”

Council of Chief State School Officers
Chris Minnich, Executive Director

“As a national organization that supports state leadership in education policy, CCSSO promotes thoughtful approaches to improving U.S. education systems. U.S. students recently finished 25th in mathematics and 17th in science in a ranking of 31 countries’ performance on international assessments. Improving STEM education is a national priority that requires an increased focus at the federal, state, and local levels. CCSSO is pleased to join inSPIRE as we work together to strengthen educational pipelines for STEM students across the country.”

IBM
Christopher Padilla, Vice President of Governmental Programs

“IBM is committed to advancing STEM skills in the United States so that we can fill high-skilled jobs that support our clients and drive economic growth. STEM graduates from around the world make an important contribution to America’s economic success while meeting the needs of U.S. employers. IBM is proud to join the inSPIRE STEM USA coalition to promote solutions to our high-skilled talent shortage and drive economic competitiveness through adequate funding for STEM education and immigration reform.”

LULAC
Brent Wilkes, Executive Director

“While the success of our economy remaining globally competitive lies in the STEM field, the success of the U.S. STEM field lies in educating our country’s youth. Already, a quarter of kids in kindergarten are Latino, and in 2050, one out of three Americans will be of Latino descent. Yet, Latinos are greatly underrepresented in the STEM field. This is why LULAC supports inSPIRE STEM USA in their mission to help grow our economy by providing our children with the opportunity to train in STEM fields, earn college degreesk, and help propel the nation forward.”

Microsoft
Fred Humphries, Vice President of Government Affairs

“America continues to face stronger economic challenges than ever before. In order to continue to strengthen our long term competitiveness, generate more jobs and foster innovation, we need to address the shortage of American workers with science, technology, and math skills for the years ahead as well as the issue of high-skilled immigration to keep good jobs here at home now. We are pleased to join the inSPIRE STEM USA coalition as part of our efforts to advance solutions to the STEM skills gap that will help us remain globally competitive.”

National Association of Manufacturers
Jay Timmons, President and CEO

“Manufacturing is a sleek, technology-focused industry that requires high-skilled workers to drive the innovation that has made us the world’s manufacturing leader. Manufacturers are dealing with a skills gap that has left 600,000 jobs vacant across the nation. inSPIRE STEM USA is urging Congress and the Administration to implement immigration and education policies that will fix the skilled worker crisis as they look to address the need for comprehensive immigration reform. By reforming the H-1B visa system, manufacturers can fill existing jobs today while strengthening the U.S. STEM education pipeline to ensure that U.S. college graduates are able to fill those jobs tomorrow.”

National Science Teachers Association
Dr. Gerald Wheeler, Interim Director

“Schools everywhere are in desperate need of resources that can truly support effective STEM instruction and every day teachers are asked to do more with less to prepare our next generation of problem solvers, inventors, and leaders. Every single child in this country deserves a quality STEM education, that’s why NSTA supports inSPIRE STEM USA and their common sense approach to provide much-needed funding for K-12 science and STEM education.”