Illustration of microscope, books and globe

Science at Work

DHS Digital Hub

Somewhere in the world an aspiring scientist hones her skills.

She dreams of designing robots to venture into deep space, breaking the boundary of human understanding. It’ll take mettle, finding opportunity where others feel defeat. It’ll take the ability to bend equations and experiments to her will.

So today, she listens and learns in a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) class.

Students from across the world choose to study STEM at U.S. colleges and universities. Between May 2016 and May 2017, the number of international students enrolled in U.S. STEM programs increase from from 474,442 to 513,611, according to a recent report.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) changed the regulations governing international students, allowing some STEM graduates to remain in the country longer and receive on-the-job training with U.S. employers. Graduates loved the change. Others didn’t share their enthusiasm.

Expecting a stampede of reaction and press, DHS asked Adfero to help corral it. Adfero, with its partner Grant Thornton, built a digital hub on DHS’s Study in the States website to explain the changes to students, schools, beat journalists and political stakeholders. The hub broke heady regulations down into the basics: what happened, who it affects, when it starts and where to turn for questions.  

Within its first month, users visited the hub 30,335 times. Study in the State’s overall traffic increased with 63 percent more page views and 53 percent more site visitors.