Last month, President Obama met with 40 of the nation’s top scientists-all of whom still happen to be in high school. These Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students were finalists of the 2013 Intel Science Talent Search competition. They were recognized by the Obama Administration for excellence in innovative projects that include the development of an algorithm that detects oncoming seizures, and an invention of an inexpensive water filter that can reduce toxic E.coli levels in water by as much as 99 percent.
The winner of that competition was 17 year-old Sara Volz who developed a way to use algae as an economic source of biofuel. Just before the New Year, the Obama administration announced its Crossed-Agency Priority goal of making sure there are one million more STEM graduates over the next decade. A statistic from the Commerce Department was referenced in the announcement and it stated that estimates show that STEM occupations will grow 1.7 times faster than non-STEM occupations over the period from 2008 through 2018. In order to meet the workforce needs, the U.S. needs approximately one million more STEM professionals than are projected to graduate over the next decade.
In order to reach this goal, the announcement states that the federal government needs to invest in academia, industry, and foundation, among other partners within the education community. The Obama Administration also stated its goal of preparing 100 thousand STEM teachers to give students the STEM skills they need.
Soon after this year’s State of the Union Address, President Obama spoke on the topic of the need for STEM education during a Google+ Hangout. He specifically cited the lack of representation of girls, women and minorities in the STEM fields. “One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields, and that means we’ve got a whole bunch of talent….not being encouraged the way they need to,” President Obama stated during the Google+ Hangout discussion.
The White House took on the issue of women, girls and minorities being underrepresented by recently launching the Equal Futures App Challenge, which promotes civic education and inspires girls to serve as leaders in our democracy.
