This post was mentioned on Twitter by scicheer: “Best students move out of science, engineering careers.” Deconstructing the STEM pipeline http://bit.ly/7z7omy #science…

This may not be too bad of an issue as reported! Shockingly, I tell my students, for example, that becoming scientifically literate is incredibly important, but becoming a scientist and choosing a career outside of science can be just as important- sometimes more so!

I have seen friends get a Bachelor’s degree in a science and go into law, banking or any other non-technical field. Why? Because there is money to be had in these fields, especially if one has a technical background! Patent Law is rather lucrative! Having a technical/scientific background can be useful and an actual advantage when job hunting! An understanding of technology can give one “a leg up” on others in timing of tech investments or even whether a potential technology is really viable or will be a “flash-in-the-pan”- die after the initial buzz on the trading floor…

While it is great to feed Seymore (Little Shop of Horror- the scientific pipeline) more science graduates, having them go out into the real world with technical backgrounds is a great good as well! This raises the general public level of scientific literacy and supports out society in its technological growth.

So the problem is not just making enough scientists, nor keeping them in scientific/technological fields, but having them contribute in an obvious fashion where they are actually using what they have learned. This means: CONTINUE STEM FUNDING! The effects of doing so will permeate society in ways that may not be directly or easily realized for some time, but it is working! We just need to be persistent and patient, but don’t stop feeding Seymore good teachers (at all levels), good facilities/resources and above all else, good funding to get more and more good students out there and contributing!!!

This may not be too bad of an issue as reported! Shockingly, I tell my students, for example, that becoming scientifically literate is incredibly important, but becoming a scientist and choosing a career outside of science can be just as important- sometimes more so!

I have seen friends get a Bachelor’s degree in a science and go into law, banking or any other non-technical field. Why? Because there is money to be had in these fields, especially if one has a technical background! Patent Law is rather lucrative! Having a technical/scientific background can be useful and an actual advantage when job hunting! An understanding of technology can give one “a leg up” on others in timing of tech investments or even whether a potential technology is really viable or will be a “flash-in-the-pan”- die after the initial buzz on the trading floor…

While it is great to feed Seymore (Little Shop of Horror- the scientific pipeline) more science graduates, having them go out into the real world with technical backgrounds is a great good as well! This raises the general public level of scientific literacy and supports out society in its technological growth.

So the problem is not just making enough scientists, nor keeping them in scientific/technological fields, but having them contribute in an obvious fashion where they are actually using what they have learned. This means: CONTINUE STEM FUNDING! The effects of doing so will permeate society in ways that may not be directly or easily realized for some time, but it is working! We just need to be persistent and patient, but don’t stop feeding Seymore good teachers (at all levels), good facilities/resources and above all else, good funding to get more and more good students out there and contributing!!!