Earlier this month, Bob Rivers told Louisa Murzyn of nwi.com that if there was a silver lining to business innovation in Indiana during rough economic times it would stepping up STEM. "Our businesses have sounded an alarm because they have to hire people from our of state," the Director of the Center for Science and Technology Education at Purdue University Calumet relayed to Murzyn.
Creating a pipeline of strong STEM students is easier said than done, though. The U.S. Department of Labor cites that only five percent of U.S. workers are employed in STEM fields despite the fact that they are responsible for more than 50 percent of sustained economic expansion. To go even deeper, STEM careers have garnered 26 percent more earnings than their non-STEM counterparts.
STEM job growth was three times that of non-STEM jobs in the past decade and is the runner up to health care as the fastest growing occupational category, but the growth still isn't enough. River communicated that Indiana really needs to step up their game and raise the bar all around. Key STEM fields in Indiana include advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, engineering and information technology.
Not enough STEM professionals isn't a problem in Indiana alone. In fact, it doesn't come as a huge surprise to many that the problem extends itself nationwide. Commentary on the STEM problem usually leads to discussions of testing and holding students, educators and institutions alike accountable for teaching science and getting students prepared to tackle higher level science courses. Rivers explained to Murzyn that an imperative part of the process is assessing student ability in science over the long haul and starting these assessments at the upper elementary level.
Also part of the discussion is exciting students about STEM fields. Since STEM degrees and certificates are not keeping pace with the growth of STEM jobs, many think that students are simply lacking excitement about the subject matter. In Indiana, Rivers thinks that lighting the fire in elementary school is essential because that's "where the pipeline starts."
Rivers also told Murzyn that the composition of the STEM pipeline needs to include more women and underrepresented minorities. This argument has faced opposition recently, but the statistics still show that men dominate the STEM playing field. Nonetheless, Indiana is looking to solve these problems a step at a time with small improvement after small improvement.
Check out Murzyn's full article on building a STEM pipeline in Indiana and view more of Rivers' commentary on the issue.
