Science, Math … did I lose you already?

Chances are if you are a high school or college student in the US, then yes!

American students, it seems, just aren’t interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)… and this is having a negative impact on the nation’s global competitiveness.

Take a look at these numbers:

• In September 2001, there were 4,012,000 ninth–graders in the U.S.
• In June 2005, there were 2,799,000 high school graduates.
• In September 2005, there were 1,861,000 high school graduates with plans to enter college.
• Of these, 1,303,000 actually entered college.
• Just 277,000 majored in science or technology or engineering or math.
• Only 166,000 will graduate with a STEM degree.

While the number of STEM graduates grows in China and India, experts are pointing to a STEM brain drain in the U.S. The rate of STEM to non–STEM graduates in the U.S. is 17% while the comparable percentage internationally is 26%. One example of the decline: the number of computer science degrees fell 27% in the U.S. from 2004 to 2007.

The problem is that STEM disciplines are increasingly important in all kinds of enterprises. Case in point: Nationwide Insurance was surprised to find that their single largest employment category was “technology,” not “insurance.” Nationwide had to import a whole department of computer scientists from India to Columbus OH because they couldn’t find talent in the U.S. According to Brian Fitzgerald, executive director of the Business–Higher Education Forum, “You can be selling insurance or manufacturing cars but almost every American corporation has been turned into a technology operation.”

Even good intentions are not enough. Just 50% of students who enter college to study one of the STEM fields actually graduates with a degree in the field. Yet, the nation produces 50 new MBAs and 18 lawyers for every Ph.D. in the physical sciences, according to the Aerospace Industries Association.

Efforts are underway to reverse the STEM brain drain. Calculus courses are often described as “STEM killers” so colleges are redesigning calculus classes to be more interactive and computer–based. The Obama administration is earmarking $250 million to hire more science and math teachers. Time will tell if these measures –– and others –– will stem the tide.

The change to calculus is likely a very good start.  I know when I decided to go back and add a civil engineering degree, calculus was difficult because it was all theoretical and very little of it was rooted in something I could touch or could even envision as real.  For me that was incredibly frustrating and made it difficult to stay mentally connected to the subject.  My son complained wildly about science in middle school because it was all theory and very little application.  Before middle school, he was thinking of engineering, now he is tilting toward the social sciences.  It doesn’t help that the way his high school is now teaching math courses have turned them theoretical too by teaching them “holistically” rather than in a linear fashion and working in groups (including test taking).  He still has two years and I’m still encouraging him to keep his options open but it is a battle since he has lost his passion for the subjects.

He is one student (an important one to me obviously) but my experience, couple with his experience and then added to these statistics make me pretty concerned.  This has been a known issue in the United States for as long as I can remember. I hope the response is not yet another blue ribbon panel or study group.

Source:
“The STEM Challenge” by David A.Kaplan. Fortune. June 14, 2010.
“Let’s get back to worksheets” by Bill Costello. Japan Today. www.japantoday.com September 2009.

Please Stay

U.S. colleges and universities have long been a magnet for international students seeking advanced doctorate degrees. But, is the U.S. able to retain this talent after they earn their Ph.D.’s?

Recent data shows that the answer is Yes –– although there’s a caveat: this data only tracks activity through 2007, just before the recession started.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the prevailing thought was that many foreigners who earned Ph.D.s in science and engineering in the U.S. would return to their native countries due to restrictions on immigrants and increased opportunities at home, especially in India and China. New data shows that the “stay rates” after 9/11 remain surprisingly strong: 62% of foreigners who earned their Ph.D.s in science and engineering in 2002 were still living in the United States in 2007. Of those who graduated in 1997, 60% continued to live and work in the U.S. in 2007. The data was compiled by the U.S. Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education for the National Science Foundation.

The ability to attract and retain international students is important for two reasons. First, the students are increasingly important to the research conducted at U.S. universities and research facilities. The percentage of Ph.D.s awarded to foreigners in science and engineering has increased from 30% in 1997 to 46% in 2007. Second, they are even more important in the years following graduation. Foreigners comprise about 40% of all science and engineering Ph.D.s working in the U.S. –– providing much needed intellectual capital to spur innovation. “Our ability to continue to attract and keep foreign scientists and engineers is critical to…increase investment in science and technology,” said Oak Ridge analyst Michael Finn.

Graduates in the physical sciences and computer sciences are more likely to remain in the U.S. than other fields. Stay rates, however, vary by nationality. Oak Ridge’s data finds that Chinese and Indian students are more likely to live and work in the U.S. than students from Taiwan, South Korea or Europe. Among the 2002 graduates, 92% of the Chinese and 81% of the Indians remained in the U.S. in 2007 while only 41% of South Koreans and 52% of Germans stayed.

Will the stay rates remain at the same high level following the recession? It’s too early to tell, but Vivek Wadwha, executive in residence at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, believes that the stay rates will decline. Using social media like Facebook, Wadwha and several others questioned foreign students about their plans after earning degrees at U.S. institutions. Their results show that more than 50% of Indian students and 40% of Chinese students hope to return home within five years given the growing opportunities in their countries.

For some foreigners, the time spent here is an investment they do not want to waste. Joy Ying Zhang, now a research assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley campus, does not plan to return to China. “I have spent ten years here already, it took me some time to get used to American life,” he said. Zhang added that returning to China would be “reverse culture shock.”

Zhang noted, however, that younger Chinese students have more options to study at home. “Life in China is getting better. There are research alternatives in China –– like Microsoft China. They can get good mentoring and advice there, instead of coming to the U.S.”

For now, the U.S. still appears to be drawing its fair share of the world’s students. The National Science Foundation reports that the number of foreign science and engineering students enrolled in graduate programs in the U.S. increased 8% in April 2009 from the previous year. Over 158,000 foreign students are studying in the U.S.

Source:
“U.S. Keeps Foreign Ph.D.s,” by David Wessel. The Wall Street Journal. January 27, 2010.

Women have vaulted to the head of the class

For the first time in history, women with college degrees now hold more non–farm payroll jobs than men. Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that this trend began just last year; in January 2010, women held 720,000 more non–farm payroll jobs than men.The reason for this change is clear. Women are earning significantly more college degrees than men –– in 2007, women earned nearly 166 associate and 135 bachelor’s degrees for every 100 earned by men. Women are also using their degrees to obtain jobs in fields that have been more stable during the recession including teaching, government and health care. Casey B. Mulligan, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, noted, “There are very high returns to education in the marketplace right now; it’s a fact that women have leveraged.” In a sense, it’s back to the future for women. Until the start of World War II, women in the U.S. were typically more educated than men. This changed after the war, when men went to college in large numbers thanks to the G.I. Bill while more women stayed home to care for growing post–war families. The momentum changed once again in the 1960s as both male and female baby boomers entered college. By the 1980s, women were earning more bachelor’s degrees than men in all fields except physical sciences, math, engineering, business and economics –– a trend that continues today. As Harvard University economist Claudia Goldin explained, “Men have traditionally needed less education, [because] guys can get good jobs in construction without a master’s in Education and women can’t, so education substitutes for that.” Here are several other job–related gender trends worth noting: Women’s wages are also rising faster than men’s. During the most recent two–year period, men’s wages rose 3.4% while women’s wages rose 5.3%. The disparity between black men and women is even greater. Black women are earning 219 associate’s degrees and 192 bachelor’s degrees for every 100 earned by black men. Men are more likely to be unemployed than females. In January, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for males was 10% while it was 7.9% for females. The last time the unemployment rate was equal between genders was in November of 2006. Indeed, men have lost almost 75% of all jobs lost during this recession. In November 2009, 19% of all men in their prime working years (ages 25 through 54) were unemployed –– the highest percentage since 1948, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s no wonder that some economists are calling the current economic situation a “man–cession.” According to University of Michigan professor Mark Perry, “For a recession to have had such a disproportionate effect on one gender has never before happened in the modern period.” Source: “Education Gains Shield Women From Worst of Job Woes,” by M.P. McQueen. The Wall Street Journal. February 12, 2010. “How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America” by Don Peck. The Atlantic. March 2010.

SNC Announces Spring Leadership Series

Beginning Thursday, March 11, 2010

ST. NORBERT COLLEGE SPRING LEADERSHIP SERIES:
INTERACTION MANAGEMENT

St. Norbert College in conjunction with Development Dimensions International (DDI) will host three leadership courses that begin on Thursday, March 11 and run through Thursday, May 13. Matthew Doyle, a certified instructor through DDI and Continuing Education Instructor at St. Norbert College, will facilitate these interaction management courses.  For more information about DDI, reference their website at www.ddiworld.com.
Courses to be offered include:

Thursday, March 11, “Essentials of Leadership”
This course is a prerequisite for the following two courses and will focus on how to work well with others, reduce wasted time, lessen conflict and influence interactions in a positive way.

Thursday, April 8, “Coaching for Success”
This course introduces skills for guiding individuals and teams toward achieving successful business results. Leaders learn how to recognize and approach each coaching opportunity as a catalyst for success.

Thursday, May 13, “Coaching for Improvement”
The last course focuses on enhancing employee performance and creating a more efficient work environment. Attendees will learn how to develop improvement plans, conduct effective improvement discussions, and handle various challenges they may encounter when executing improvement discussions.

Each session costs $249 and requires pre-registration. Courses will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the F.K. Bemis International Conference Center on the St. Norbert College Campus. The registration fee includes workbook, course materials, refreshment breaks and lunch.  Special group pricing is also available.

To register, or for more information, please visit the Continuing Education Institute website at: www.snc.edu/continuinged. You can also call (920) 403-3100 or email continuinged@snc.edu.