A recent analysis of national higher-education data by a researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, found that the United States exceeded the goal of producing one million more graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) over the course of a decade. That goal, set in a 2012 report by then-President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), was one of several national objectives created to maintain America's scientific leadership position in an increasingly competitive global landscape.