June 2008
STEM Equity Pipeline News
ARTICLES
New Oklahoma Biomedical Academy Set to Open
(Waurika News-Democrat)
They are the first students enrolled in the newly-created Biomedical Science Academy
at Red River Technology Center (RRTC). And according to the "trailblazer" who'll
guide them through the frontier, they are a new generation of pioneers.
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Case Study: Whyville Interactive Science Website Appeals to Middle-School Girls
A new study is developing guidelines for improving the effectiveness of educational
web sites in attracting young girls' interest in science and technology and may
also have important implications for improving school-based learning. The California
Institute of Technology's PreCollege Science Initiative (CAPSI), with funding from
NSF, has teamed with Numedeon Inc. (the creators of Whyville, an interactive science
website for kids) to see how the website's design and features may be used to attract
girls to science and technology.
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Restocking the Engineering Talent Pool
(Douglas MacMillan, Business Week)
A 2005 report by The National Academies found that while 30 percent of students
entering college plan to major in science or engineering (a percentage that has
remained stable over the years), the number of students who remain in and graduate
from the discipline is markedly lower. The National Academies laid the blame at
the feet of American K-12 education, which they found lacking in math and science.
In the face of projected, widespread retirement by Baby Boomers in the field of
engineering, aeronautics corporation Lockheed Martin has decided to address the
shortfall, writes Douglas MacMillan of BusinessWeek.
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Louis Stokes Institute to Focus on STEM Education
(Ronald Roach, Diverse)
The Stokes Institute, which is based at the council's Washington headquarters, will
support research as well as curriculum and professional development to improve STEM
education for low-income, first-generation and minority students. The institute
will work directly with TRIO and other educational opportunity programs, colleges
and universities, community organizations, and government agencies to help them
implement STEM initiatives, according to officials.
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German Companies Seeking Next Generation of Engineers in Kindergarten
(Richard Milne, Financial Times)
Germany's shortage of engineers has become so acute that some of its leading companies
are turning to kindergartens to guarantee future supplies. For example, "[g]roups
such as Siemens and Bosch are among hundreds of companies giving materials and money
to kindergartens to try to interest children as young as three in technology and
science."
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Why Women Quit Technology Careers
(Kathleen Melymuka, Computer World)
What if half the men in science, engineering and technology roles dropped out at
midcareer? That would surely be perceived as a national crisis. Yet more than half
the women in those fields leave-most of them during their mid- to late 30s.In this
month's Harvard Business Review, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Carolyn Buck Luce and Lisa
J. Servon describe the Athena Factor, their research project examining the career
trajectories of such women. Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Work-Life
Policy in New York, told Kathleen Melymuka about what they learned.
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'Geek Girl' Helps Keep Mozilla Safe in Scary Times
Window Snyder isn't your average security czar. As chief of security at Mozilla
Foundation, the unconventional non-profit whose popular Web browser Firefox underwent
a major facelift this week, Snyder cuts an unconventional swath. For starters, her
title is "chief security something-or-other" (yeah, that's on her business card).
It befits her wide-ranging role at Mozilla, the Web browser developer that relies
on the contributions of thousands of programmers worldwide. The programmers generally
work for free, but Snyder's salary is paid with revenue Mozilla generates through
business partnerships with Google, Amazon.com and others.
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