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

Filed under Publications by Kate Brodock on 3 January 2010 at 16:10 {no comments}

[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.

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Mass High Tech: Community tools needed to improve STEM education

Filed under Technology by Kate Brodock on 3 July 2009 at 08:20 {no comments}

An opinion piece written for Mass High Tech’s “How I See It” Column concerning how community and social online tools would be helpful in achieving their goals set forth to improve the State of Massachusetts Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education

I recently attended the STEM Business Leaders Breakfast concerning tapping Massachusetts’ potential in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. The goal of the initiative, which is part of the national Tapping America’s Potential (TAP) Coalition, is to act as a “voice to the business community’s deep concern about sustaining U.S. scientific and technological leadership into the future.”

Many of the attendees and speakers at the STEM breakfast continually used words such as “outreach,” “connecting,” “information sharing,” “collaboration” — and even “community” — when addressing how they envision many of the STEM programs would need to be created and maintained.

This is where I’d like to expand on the conversation that was focused on how we go about building communities, connecting with core audiences and collaborating across a wide range of industries and schools. How we do it quickly, with the highest probability for success and the most cost-effective implementation.

The answer, I believe, is rooted in online communities, open-source collaboration technology and social networking…..

For expanded text, please visit Mass High Tech.

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