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STEM Jobs
FACT SHEET: Ready to Work At a Glance: Job-Driven Training and American Opportunity (White House)
Across the country, federal job training programs help hard-working Americans find good jobs and careers, employers recruit and hire the skilled workers they need to compete, and American communities build the skilled workforces they need to attract business investment and create jobs. In order to continue to grow the economy, expand opportunity, and widen the pathway to the middle class, the President and Vice President are committed to improving training opportunities for Americans by replicating strategies that work. Today, the President and Vice President will announce the results of the review, including new actions by the federal government and the private sector. The Vice President will release a new report that details these actions and highlights successful job-driven strategies. The President will also sign the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which will help improve business engagement and accountability across federally-funded training programs. 
Diversity in STEM
Maria Klawe (President, Harvey Mudd University): The Science Behind Graduating A Class With Majority Women Engineers (Forbes)
A few weeks ago at Harvey Mudd�s annual commencement, we broke a record: we graduated more female engineers than male. In the class of 2014, 56% of students receiving engineering degrees were women. This is certainly the first time in Harvey Mudd�s history that we�ve had a class with more women majoring in engineering than men; as far as we know it�s the first time for any co-ed U.S. college. Nationally, only 18.8% of engineering majors are women, and women comprise only 12% of working engineers. The National Science Foundation categorizes engineering as one of two STEM fields with �low participation� from women; computer science is the other with a national average of 13% female undergrad CS majors.
Study: Young female scientists face sexual harassment, assault while in the field (Washington Post)
As government initiatives push women to enter careers in science, a new study reveals that young female scientists are getting sexually harassed and even assaulted while conducting field work crucial to their success � mostly by their supervisors. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, claims to be the first to investigate experiences of scientists at field sites, surveying 142 men and 516 women with experience working in anthropology, archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines. Of those surveyed, 64 percent said they had experienced sexual harassment and 20 percent said they had been victims of sexual assault.
Ravishly: Why is STEM Still a Four-Letter Word for Women? Seven Leaders Weigh In (HuffPost ImpactX)
In the last few decades, women have made immense strides in both educational and occupational success, garnering higher degrees, wages and visibility in the workforce. It is particularly perplexing and frustrating, then, that in one realm of achievement, the proverbial glass ceiling remains stubbornly intact: Even after all this progress, women are notably under-represented in [STEM]. The cold hard facts? Only 5.5% to 22.3% of civil, industrial, chemical and mechanical engineers are women, and they represent just a quarter of the workforce involved with computer and mathematical sciences. To get to the bottom of this issue, Ravishly.com asked seven pioneering women -- including a career expert, two women's issues writers and ladies who have themselves broken barriers in tech, engineering and biology -- why STEM is still a four-letter word for women.
Higher Education
STEM grant provides nearly $600K to Bona (Buffalo Business First)
St. Bonaventure University has won a federal grant that will help it recruit talented students in the STEM fields. The five-year, $594,287 grant from the National Science Foundation will provide need-based aid to those who might not otherwise be able to attend St. Bonaventure, a private Catholic college near Olean. Bona�s program, titled �Discovery Within Community,� aims to bring 25 academically talented students with financial need for the fall 2015 freshman class, with concurrent moves to improve academic performance in its STEM programs and increase student retention rates. The students will be housed together, take several core-area courses together and take a special STEM course that explores the multidisciplinary character of 21st century scientific discovery.
Georgia Regents Launches STEM MBA (Find MBA)
Georgia Regents University's Hull College of Business will launch a full-time MBA program for recent graduates with degrees in [STEM] fields. The program will be 15 months long, from May of one year to July of the next. The curriculum is set to cover a range of mostly quantitative curriculum, including classes in business analytics, financial management, and analytical tools for business managers. Additionally, all students will be required to take an internship as part of the program. Located midway between Atlanta, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, Georgia Regents University is accredited by AACSB International.
Viewpoints
Vivek Wadhwa: America�s Crazy, Upside-Down Immigration System (Politico Magazine)
Does America's immigration system make sense to anyone? The recent influx of thousands of migrant children from Central America has highlighted the failure of reform efforts and gripped the nation�s attention. This is a humanitarian crisis that must be resolved. But forgotten in the emotional debates over immigration are the more than one million legal, skilled immigrants who have been held hostage to political wrangling. Many of these doctors, scientists and engineers are getting fed up with being in immigration limbo and are leaving the country. They are in high demand wherever they go. The loser is the United States, because it is limiting its economic growth and creating its own competition.
Rev. Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., Ph.D. (President, Loyola University): STEM Alone Is Not Enough (Huffington Post)
The concerns of presidents past and present are about a changing economy and America's role in that economy. Those concerns are absolutely important and valid. And, the development of STEM education is important so Americans will be able to take their place in a changing work force. But there is something missing -- something that so far is absent from the STEM education discussion. The fields of science and technology alone do not tell human beings how to use the knowledge or the technology. There is no formula for that. Rather, how knowledge and technology are used is framed by the moral values people hold.
Non-Profits
Junior Achievement embarks on major transformation (Pittsburgh Business Times)
Throughout its 95 years, Junior Achievement has built itself to become the world's largest organization dedicated to educating students on workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. But as technology has advanced, it has met the challenge that has also opened the door to increased competition. Recognizing these challenges, the organization is undergoing a massive transformation, which kicks off this week at its National Leadership Conference, held in Pittsburgh. Junior Achievement is rolling out JA Education Gateway, which blends the JA's traditional volunteer-based delivery model with the latest technology. The effort is a five-year, multimillion-dollar initiative to digitize the JA experience to reach more students.
Florida
Scott touts tax cuts, STEM funding at Orlando Science Center (Orlando Sentinel)
Florida Gov. Rick Scott used the Orlando Science Center as a backdrop today to pitch permanent manufacturing tax cuts and increasing [STEM] training. Scott's "Jobs for the Next Generation" statewide tour started yesterday in South Florida and was geared to promote permanently ending the sales tax on manufacturing machines and equipment that's due to expire in 2017. It saves businesses $141 million annually, his office said. Scott said he would also propose that "Florida�s best STEM teachers" get paid summer residencies at private companies. The Republican Scott got a warm welcome from Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democrat. Dyer lost to then-Republican Charlie Crist in a 2002 attorney general race.
STEM Food & Ag
Feeding 9 Billion People: A Q&A with Paul McMahon (Modern Farmer)
.jpg) Everyone�s gotta eat. That won�t change, but what has changed is how food gets to the consumer and sometimes how it doesn�t. With years of experience working with the UN, charities, and in the investment world, Paul McMahon has written �Feeding Frenzy: The New Politics of Food,� a refreshingly non-dogmatic look at the global food system -- and how it must change if the world hopes to feed nine billion people. We recently caught up with him to talk about his book. Paul McMahon: Food has gotten a lot more expensive over the past years. What is causing that? I wanted to dig in and understand what was driving these changes in world food markets and look forward to when the world population is projected to grow to more than 9 billion people. How can we deal with this, and is there a sustainable food system we can construct?
Grow Kale Inside Shipping Containers, With This Hipster Aquaponics Design (Fast Co.Exist)
Steve McLeod and Lori Medlin don't take credit for the idea of aquaponic shipping containers. McLeod remembers hearing about them 30 years ago. "There was talk about aquaponics feeding villages in Africa using oil tankers," he says, "and using shipping containers as green houses because of the durability, value, and ease of transport." But the partners are making progress to make the idea a reality. They have a prototype "lean green growing machine" and a plan to build a compact, self-contained system constantly producing lettuce, microgreens, spinach, kale, and broccoli. Aquaponics is the process of nourishing plants with waste from fish. McLeod and Medlin germinate the plants first, then, at a certain height, they transplant them to vertical growing arrays linked to fish tanks. |
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Ocean 180 challenges scientists to turn discoveries into stories
 Ocean scientists, grab your cameras and start filming. The Ocean 180 Video Challenge is entering its second year and offering $9,000 in cash prizes for the best short videos summarizing the results of a recent ocean-related study. Sponsored by the Florida Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence and funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation, Ocean 180 taps into the competitive spirit of scientists and challenges them to use video to communicate and share the meaning, significance, and relevance of their research with a broader audience. Contestants are asked to produce a 3-minute video abstract summarizing a recent publication that will be judged by a team of potential future ocean scientists - middle school students from all over the world.
International Association for STEM Leaders Gives Dr. Jeff Mathews the "Powering Up" Technology Leadership Award
 The International Association for STEM Leaders has awarded Dr. Jeff Mathews, of Peachtree Ridge High School, the "Powering Up" STEM Leadership Award for his promotion and vision for technology in education. Dr. Jeff Mathews is part of IASL's ongoing video documentary featuring national STEM leaders. Mathews is a leading STEM thought leader who has been a strong understanding and mastery of technology and its full potential for classroom use. His philosophy is to enable children to power up their devices and provide digital access for all students. The devices promote formative feedback, digital information access, and communication with school partners and others.
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U.S. team captures Silver in 2014 International Rocketry Challenge
 Five students from Creekview High School of Canton, Ga., took home silver medals in the seventh annual International Rocketry Challenge at the Farnborough International Air Show. The U.S. team, sponsored by Raytheon, won second place, while the French team captured first and the U.K. team took third. Competing teams designed, built and launched rockets with a goal of reaching an altitude of exactly 825 feet during a 48- to 50-second flight window. |
