Why STEM?
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) occupations are in high demand and continue to be among the fastest growing within the 21st-century workforce across the US economy (BLS, 2017).
And yet, despite comprising 27% of the US Population, only 11% of science and engineering jobs are held by Black, Latinx, and Native American workers (NSF, 2018). The needs of this quickly evolving 21st-century global workforce create both an economic and social imperative to ensure students of color are equipped to engage in the STEM sector at parity with their peers.
Eliminating the barriers facing Black, Latinx, and Native American students who desire to enter STEM and computing professions has the potential to meet the projected demand for STEM workers in our future workforce while broadening the economic opportunities of underrepresented communities of color. Moreover, by investing in youth of color to enter and persist in STEM and computing occupations, they develop the skills to engage in the modern workforce while being empowered to leverage their lived experiences to solve the most pressing problems facing society (Bobb, 2016).
STEM Fast Facts
- College STEM majors out-earn other college grads.
- The STEM jobs market grew 45% in 2018. Fifteen (15) of the twenty (20) fastest growing occupations require significant mathematics or science preparation.
- People in STEM fields can expect to earn 26% more money on average and be less likely to experience job loss.
- 92% of boys and 97% of girls lose interest in STEM if not engaged by the 5 th grade (Dr. Kenneth Wesson, Educational Consultant: Neuroscience).
- Currently only 16% of US bachelor’s degrees will specialize in STEM
- Out of 65 countries, American students score 17 th in science and 25 th in math ability (The U.S. Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development).
- Only 6% of high school seniors will get a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field.
- Only 33% of eight graders are interested in STEM majors
- Undergraduate programs in science and engineering report the lowest retention rates among all academic disciplines. Less than half of undergraduates that declare and intent to major in a STEM field complete a degree in one of those subjects.
- Top earners in technology and science earn millions per year — certainly as much as most celebrities. Even so…the U.S. is not graduating nearly enough majors in these fields to supply the enormous demand.
- Experts tell us that first-hand experience with a subject sparks neurons in a child’s brain that affect how long that child will retain a particular memory
- 6% of U.S. Undergraduate major in engineering compared to 12% in Europe, 20% in Singapore, and 40% in China
- STEM education builds critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are necessary for overcoming the difficulties children may face in life.
- STEM education promotes teamwork.
- STEM education increases global interest in technical disciplines.
- STEM education puts emphasis on visualization.
- STEM education prepares children for future technological advancements, which are inevitable.
Areas of Concentration
S.T.E.M. is interdisciplinary and interwoven into our everyday lives.
S.T.E.M. education works with problems, challenges, and solutions that are real-world based. It is our hope that the Dr. Humphries STEM Portal will provide the resources and support to help prepare BIPOC students to critically analyze problems facing their communities and create STEM-based solutions utilizing a design thinking framework.
S Science enables us to develop our interest in, and understanding of, the living, material, and physical world and develop the skills of collaboration, research, critical enquiry, experimentation, exploration, and discovery.
T Technology is what is produced through the application of scientific knowledge to human activity.
E Engineering is the method of applying scientific and mathematical knowledge to human // activity
M All of STEM is underpinned by Mathematics, which includes numeracy, and equips us with the skills and approaches we need to interpret and analyze information, simplify and solve problems, assess risk, and make informed decisions. Mathematics and Numeracy develop essential skills and capabilities for life, participation in society, and in all jobs, careers, and occupations. As well as providing the foundations for STEM, the study and application of mathematics is a vast and critical discipline in itself with far-reaching implications and value.
Together, these components cover a wide range of fields including business, computing science, chemicals, food, textiles, craft, design, engineering, graphics, and applied technologies including those relating to construction, transport, the built environment, biomedical, microbiological, and food technology.