A hand up: The importance of bringing girls along (Boston Herald article)

[This article was published on 1 January 2010 in the Boston Herald's business section as part of a series on the STEM efforts in Massachusetts]

One of Massachusetts’ most worthwhile and promising initiatives is the STEM program, which recognizes the state and nationwide need to develop the next generation of strong and skilled scientists and engineers in order to guarantee a globally competitive nation in the 21st century.

As one of its immediate statewide goals, Massachusetts aims to double the number of bachelor’s degrees in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math – by 2020, with a special focus on currently underrepresented groups.

Making up one of these groups are girls and women. Currently, only 25 percent of graduates in most scientific fields are women, and the percentage of the nation’s professional scientists is the same, and in many fields, much lower.

Engaging and empowering girls while they are still developing their interests and skill sets have been identified as primary ways to increase these numbers and develop the future class of women engineers, mathematicians, engineers and scientists.

You can read more of my thoughts on how girls fit into the STEM effort here.