From the Whitehouse.gov Web site:
President Obama has launched an “Educate to Innovate” campaign to improve the participation and performance of America’s students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This campaign will include efforts not only from the Federal Government but also from leading companies, foundations, non-profits, and science and engineering societies to work with young people across America to excel in science and math.
Large numbers of highly-educated foreign born U.S. workers plan to return home. This has major implications for our economic future.
“… a growing body of evidence indicates that skilled foreign immigrants create jobs for Americans and boost our national competitiveness. More than 52% of Silicon Valley’s startups during the recent tech boom were started by foreign-born entrepreneurs. Foreign-national researchers have contributed to more than 25% of our global patents, developed some of our break-through technologies, and they helped make Silicon Valley the world’s leading tech center. Foreign-born workers comprise almost a quarter of all the U.S. science and engineering workforce and 47% of science and engineering workers who have PhDs. It is very possible that some of the smart Indians who sat in the room with me holding their hand up on Columbus Day will start the next Google or Apple. Many of them will build companies which employ thousands. But the jobs will be in Hyderbad or Pune, not Silicon Valley.”
Full Article: TechChrunch
We have to find a way to get more students interested in pursuing careers in math and science. If we can do that and expand the size of top-notch schools like OSSM we stand a chance of remaining a leader in innovation and job creation. Its clear that we can no longer depend on a steady stream of foreign born worker to fill our need for scientist and engineers.
The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics was notified recently that 17 of its seniors have been named as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.
These students have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,000 National Merit Scholarships awarded in the spring. OSSM is Oklahoma’s two-year residential high school for academically advanced juniors and seniors from across the state.
OSSM's National Merit Semifinalists
Pictured recently during a dinner with Dr. Thomas Landers, Dean of the OU College of engineering, (far left) and Dr. David Ray, Dean of the OU Honors College (far right), the students are Shawn Swatek, home school Claremore; Sifan Zhang, home school Stillwater; Nirupama Sarathy, home school Stillwater; Teo Ene, home school Stillwater; Irving Dai, home school Stillwater; Andrew Vincent, home school Eufaula; Mubeen Shakir, home school Okla. City/Casady; Jing Shang, home school Edmond/Santa Fe; Paige Abernathy, home school Okla. City/Casady; Di Wu, home school Idabel; Deborah Olaleye, home school Tulsa/St. Stephen’s Episcopal; Onkur Sen, home school Broken Arrow/Booker T. Washington; George Malatinszky, home school Edmond/Classen School of Advanced Studies; Dipika Mohan, home school Broken Arrow/Tulsa Union; Peter Luo, home school Norman/North, Lisa Zhang, home school Tulsa/Jenks, and Ben Cassidy, home school Duncan.
Foreign Grad Students enrollment in US colleges is way down. What will happen to our country’s economy if we don’t educate more math and science students here at home?
… a recent study by the Bay Area Council, the Campaign for College Opportunity and IHELP showed that we’d need a 90% upswing in people graduating with degrees in science, technology, math or engineering to keep up with all the new jobs being created in that discipline. What created Silicon Valley was a culture of openness and there is no future to Silicon Valley without it.
Source: TechCrunch
A report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a non-partisan research and educational institute think tank recommends investing more in specialty schools of science and math.
If America is to succeed in the innovation-powered global economy, boosting math and science skills will be critical. This is why a wide array of task forces and organizations has recently raised the clarion call for more and better scientists and engineers. While the policy proposals offered are wide ranging, one key policy innovation has surprisingly been largely ignored: the role of specialty math and science high schools. Today, there are well over 100 of these high schools throughout the nation. And evidence shows that these schools are a powerful tool for producing high school graduates with a deep knowledge and strong passion for science and math that translates into much higher rates of college attendance and graduation in scientific fields.
As a result, any solution to the scientist, technician, engineer, and mathematician (STEM) shortage must include a national commitment to expand the number of specialty math and science high schools. To do this, Congress should allocate $180 million a year for five years to the National Science Foundation to be matched by states and local school districts and industry with the goal of tripling enrollment in math and science high schools to around 140,000 by 2012.
Shanon Lucid, Oklahoma native and former NASA Astronaut spoke to over 500 mid and high school students recently at Science Museum Oklahoma:
Lucid said she told her students and children to pursue math because the future cannot be predicted, but strong math skills will be the foundation for most future professions.
Governor Henry’s response:
In an editorial in the Daily Oklahoman yesterday, Dr. Tom Landers Dean of the OU School of Engineering writes:
Oklahoma needs engineers, now and for the future, to create the innovations that are essential for prosperity and security…
Even during the current economic downturn, there is strong demand in Oklahoma for engineering talent in our leading industries, particularly aerospace, biotechnology, energy and infrastructure. Thanks to the vision of our state’s leaders, the Engineering Workforce Act went into effect Jan. 1, providing tax credits to engineering graduates and the Oklahoma aerospace companies that hire them. But as the recession deepens we must keep our sights set on the future and the pipeline to supply vital engineering talent the state and nation demand.
The Oklahoma Legislature convened on Monday February 2nd.