![]() ![]() Let’s encourage the next generation to study STEM by teaching them that the technology that surrounds their daily lives is not just for their consumption, it is for them to create and build upon. Yes, STEM-related education can be challenging at times, but it can also be inspiring. The insight I gained into how things work together opened my eyes to new possibilities and instilled in me a desire to create new technologies.Īs we look to the future, improving the size and the composition of the STEM education pipeline will strengthen our country’s global competitiveness and unleash new innovations that will propel society forward. For me, that person was my father, who encouraged me to deconstruct, analyze, and experiment with our home appliances. Sometimes students just need role models who inspire them to pursue STEM-related careers. National nonprofit organizations, like the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, also play an important role, by supplying Congress with research and policy analysis, in addition to providing scholarships directly to students.įinally, let's not overlook contributions from local, personal efforts. On the national level, Congress and the administration have shown an interest in the issue, pursing legislation and enacting programs to help expand the number of underrepresented minority students studying STEM in college. We need to reconcile these opposing trends so that the composition of our STEM education pipeline reflects America’s shifting demographics. Yet of all the engineering bachelor’s degrees in the U.S., less than 15% are awarded to underrepresented minorities. At the same time, 43% of school-age children today are of African American, Latino, or Native American descent. Although women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S., they hold less than 25% of STEM-related jobs. Second, we need to improve the composition of the STEM education pipeline to include more women and underrepresented minorities. Public-private partnerships like this can help invigorate and maintain students’ interest in STEM. ![]() The schools also pair students with corporate mentors, who help guide curricula and provide real-world insight into industry trends. Students at these innovative grade-9-to-14 schools will graduate with an associate’s degree, along with the skills and knowledge they need to continue their studies or transition directly into jobs in the information technology industry. For example, IBM is a partner in new schools in New York and Chicago that focus on STEM education. Public-private partnerships can help improve this ratio. In Japan, China and Singapore, that ratio is more than one in two. colleges? STEM-related degrees represent only about a third of all the bachelor’s degrees awarded in the U.S. How important is it to increase the retention rate of STEM majors in U.S. Our youngest students show an interest in STEM subjects, but the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has concluded that roughly 40% of college students planning to major in engineering and science end up switching to other subjects. Here’s how.įirst, we need to increase the size of the STEM education pipeline by maintaining an enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and math throughout high school and college. To turn this trend around, we need to improve both the size and composition of the pipeline of U.S. Today that number has shrunk to about 15%. When I graduated from college, about 40% of the world’s scientists and engineers resided in the U.S. So it is clear that to benefit our economy and society, our national priority should be on encouraging more students to study STEM. Sequoia is a powerful example of what American ingenuity in STEM-related disciplines can mean for the betterment of society. It could provide a 40-fold improvement in the prediction of earthquakes to help provide safer evacuation routes. What could be done with that kind of computing power? Sequoia could run a simulation of how the human heart reacts to new medicine in two days instead of two years. ![]() ![]() That represents an astounding 16,000 trillion calculations per second. Last week, for example, IBM’s Sequoia supercomputer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory set a world record in computing speed by breaking the 16 petaflop barrier. STEM-related disciplines are responsible for many of the societal innovations that make our world better. ![]()
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