This paper uses a Foucauldian critical discourse analysis to unpack the new, conglomerate discipline of “STEM”, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and math, as a dynamic and productive discursive formation in education that powerfully regulates the kinds of knowledge that are possible and desirable. It then shows how STEM operates as a nationalist discourse that resembles U.S. Cold War-era calls for science education. Further, it shows that STEM is largely a neoliberal project that argues for a global, market-based competitiveness, positioning students as entrepreneurs and marketers of their own employability in heroic service of the nation. The paper draws from three main data sources: the website, publications, and social media presence of the U.S.-based “STEM Education Coalition”, a group of over 500 businesses, professional, and educational organizations; two documents from the U.S. National Governor’s Association regarding STEM education agendas; and, finally, documents from the U.S. Congressional Research Service that outline legislative activity and funding for STEM initiatives. Methodologically, it borrows from Allan, Iverson, and Ropers-Huilman (2010), who see policy as a discourse that ought to be contested, disrupted, and illuminated to bring “greater clarity” in understanding policy’s “intersections with race, ethnicity, social class, and sexuality” (p. xiv). This paper thus seeks to understand the material, historical, and political meanings of STEM and how the acronym functions as a disciplining discourse.