A Federal Register notice published January 21, 2022 announced that DHS "is amending the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List by adding 22 qualifying fields of study and a corresponding Department of Education Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code for each." See 87 FR 3317 (January 21, 2022). This critical list controls which F-1 students are eligible to apply for a 24-month extension of their Optional Practical Training (OPT).
The additions span a number of fields, from Bioenergy, to Human-Centered Technology Design, Climate Science, and Business Analytics, and is a welcome step for international education.
The STEM Designated Degree Program List is used to determine whether a degree obtained by certain F-1 Students qualifies as a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree, as required for the F-1 Student to be eligible to apply for a STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension. The STEM OPT extension is a 24-month extension of OPT available to F-1 Students who have completed 12 months of OPT and received a degree in an approved STEM field of study as designated by the STEM list.