[BlindMath] [nfbcs] Science division reach its 2017 STEM scholarship goal

Wed May 10 03:55:46 UTC 2017

Hi,

I would like to point out that part of the low unemployment rates that
you are discussing, if indeed that is a trend, is due to the fact that
in general, so many more people are employed in humanities and the
"other crap" that you were discussing in a previous email. Since
humanities and social sciences are generally supersaturated fields,
more so than science at this point in time, more people are bound to
end up without a job, since only a certain number of jobs are
available in each field. Due to the availability and seemingly
constant expansion of STEM careers, specializations, etc, those who
are involved in STEM are more likely to find careers and
specializations.

On 5/9/17, William Grussenmeyer via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> There are plenty of news stories covering research studies showing
> that STEM fields have lower unemployment rates and moreover have
> higher pay rates, especially graduate students.
>
> http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2015/03/employment-picture-improving-stem-majors
>
> https://www.asme.org/career-education/articles/early-career-engineers/engineering-salaries-on-the-rise
>
> and look at this news story showing the top 25 highest unemployment
> rates for majors:
> College majors with the highest unemployment
> 1. Clinical psychology 19.5%
> 2. Miscellaneous fine arts 16.2%
> 3. United States history 15.1%
> 4. Library science 15.0%
> 5. (tie) Military technologies; educational psychology 10.9%
> 6. Architecture 10.6%
> 7. Industrial & organizational psychology 10.4%
> 8. Miscellaneous psychology 10.3%
> 9. Linguistics & comparative literature 10.2%
> 10. (tie) Visual & performing arts; engineering & industrial management 9.2%
> 11. Engineering & industrial management 9.2%
> 12. Social psychology 8.8%
> 13. International business 8.5%
> 14. Humanities 8.4%
> 15. General social sciences 8.2%
> 16. Commercial art & graphic design 8.1%
> 17. Studio art 8.0%
> 18. Pre-law & legal studies 7.9%
> 19. Materials engineering and materials science and composition &
> speech (tie) 7.7%
> 20. Liberal arts 7.6%
> 21. (tie) Fine arts and genetics 7.4%
> 22. Film video & photography arts and cosmetology services & culinary
> arts (tie) 7.3%
> 23. Philosophy & religious studies and neuroscience (tie) 7.2%
> 24. Biochemical sciences 7.1%
> 25. (tie) Journali
>
> taken from
> http://www.cbsnews.com/news/25-college-majors-with-the-highest-unemployment-rates/
>
> and check out this news story.  There are 10 times more tech jobs than
> computing majors last year:
>
> You Probably Should Have Majored in Computer Science
>
> Quartz, March 10
>
> If you’re looking for a college major that gives you a great future
> job outlook, computer science is still one of the most attractive
> options available. There are almost 10 times more U.S. computing jobs
> open right now than there were students who graduated with computer
> science degrees in 2015. That year, the most recent for which the
> National Center for Education Statistics has collected data, about
> 60,000 students graduated from U.S. institutions with bachelor degrees
> in computer and information services. There are about 530,000
> computing jobs currently open, according to Code.org, which used data
> from business research association The Conference Board.
>
> taken from:
> https://qz.com/929275/you-probably-should-have-majored-in-computer-science/
>
>
>
>
>
> On 5/9/17, Don Winiecki <dwiniecki at boisestate.edu> wrote:
>> Hi William,
>>
>> I am a sociologist who teaches in a College of Engineering.  My role is to
>> promote inclusion, diversity and social-justice in engineering.  We have
>> lots of social science data providing substantive evidence that students
>> in
>> STEM fields who are not part of the demographic majority (read, white
>> males)
>> face substantive disadvantages leveraged by members of the majority
>> demographic.
>>
>> I am a Principal Investigator on an NSF funded project to `Revolutionize
>> Engineering Departments` in the directions noted above -- initially
>> focusing
>> on Computer Science.    NSF is obviously strongly in favor of attempting
>> to
>> reverse the damages to STEM fields by biases of the demographic majority
>> in
>> society and in that discipline.
>>
>> The field of Computer Science is now (finally) waking up to the fact that
>> their innovations reflect the same biases that plague society in general.
>> The same Computer Scientists who are researching `algorithmic bias` and
>> bias
>> in machine learning technologies are also strong proponents of involving
>> members of the social sciences and the humanities in their research, in
>> order to take advantage of the real knowledge of social problems they have
>> discovered and documented over several centuries.  I myself am working
>> with
>> one of our Data Scientists at Boise State University to write a proposal
>> for
>> funding combined social science and data science research to produce and
>> prototype use of precision agriculture tools.
>>
>> To be honest, I find your comment to reflect some of the problems that I
>> and
>> others are attempting to address in the sciences -- and in Computer
>> Science
>> in particular.  I hope you come to realize the influence you have on
>> others
>> in your field and begin to see the value of working to foster inclusive
>> transdisciplinary partnerships across all the sciences, arts and
>> humanities.
>>
>> Incidentally, I taught myself FORTRAN, C and Lisp and use them when
>> appropriate in my own activities.  Computer Science is not just for
>> computer
>> scientists.
>>
>> PS: If you'd like to provide data to support your claim that humanities
>> and
>> social science graduates are unemployed at a rate higher than in the
>> sciences, I'd be happy to see it.  My own reviews of those data show that
>> engineering graduates are not employed at higher rates than other majors,
>> and in fact in many engineering fields, job satisfaction drops
>> precipitously
>> with time.  Research on that latter phenomenon indicates that older
>> workers
>> are often seen as a liability in `high tech` and despite the fact that
>> they
>> were once the developers (perhaps now the maintainers) of our
>> technological
>> infrastructure, they report they are treated poorly in comparison to those
>> in the youthful vanguard -- they feel the industry has cast them aside.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> _don
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Don Winiecki, Ed.D., Ph.D.
>> Professor of Ethics & Morality in Professional Practice
>> Boise State University, College of Engineering
>> 1910 University Drive, Boise, Idaho 83725-2070 USA
>> E-mail: dwiniecki at boisestate.edu
>> Telephone: (+01) 208 426 1899
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ipa
>>
>>> On May 9, 2017, at 7:05 PM, William Grussenmeyer via BlindMath
>>> <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Good.  I am tired of seeing all those scholarships going to people in
>>> majors like English, social work, and other humanities crap where they
>>> will never find a job.
>>>
>>>> On 5/9/17, John Miller via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> Thank you to everyone who has been a part of our successful effort to
>>>> collect donations for a 2017 NFB Science, Technology Engineering, and
>>>> Mathematics (STEM) Scholarship.
>>>> The STEM scholarship will be awarded in the amount of $3000 to a worthy
>>>> blind student at the 2017 NFB convention.
>>>>
>>>> We have made significant progress towards raising funds for a 2018 STEM
>>>> scholarship as well.
>>>> I want to let you know that we started the 2017 fundraising effort with
>>>> $940
>>>> in the scholarship fund in July 2016.
>>>> At this time we have raised $1565 towards a 2018 STEM scholarship.
>>>> I feel confident that working together we can again award the STEM
>>>> scholarship in 2018.
>>>>
>>>> We know that blind professionals and students are succeeding in biology,
>>>> chemestry, and natural science.
>>>> We know that blind individuals are performing at a high level in
>>>> mathematics, physics, engineering, and related fields.
>>>> Donations came from blind individuals working in these fields, our
>>>> friends,
>>>> and our family.
>>>> This year one corporate donation came from E.A.S.Y. LLC,
>>>> www.easytactilegraphics.com<http://www.easytactilegraphics.com>, an
>>>> organization committed to blind individuals creating technical drawings
>>>> independently.
>>>>
>>>> I am so grateful to be part of an organization that has a belief in the
>>>> abilities of blind people and a commitment to helping the next
>>>> generation
>>>> of
>>>> blind students.
>>>> I am also so thankful to those who patiently listened to my pitch for
>>>> the
>>>> scholarship and then generously made it happen.
>>>>
>>>> Very Best,
>>>> John Miller, President
>>>> Science and Engineering Division
>>>> of the National Federation of the Blind
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> William Grussenmeyer
>>> PhD Student, Computer Science
>>> University of Nevada, Reno
>>> NSF Fellow
>>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> William Grussenmeyer
> PhD Student, Computer Science
> University of Nevada, Reno
> NSF Fellow
>
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