New UTSA study addresses lack of American engineers and scientists
(Aug. 8, 2016) -- A new study by Huy Le, associate professor of management at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), identifies factors that could lead more young students to successful careers in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
Over the past several years, the U.S. has ranked low among other nations in numbers of students proficient in math and science, as well as skilled workers in those fields. According to Le, American students are perfectly capable and interested in entering those fields, but aren’t being encouraged to pursue a STEM career.
He and his colleagues followed students from the time they were in 8th grade up to between 6 and 9 years after they first applied to college. They adapted a psychological framework to their evaluations of the students, focusing specifically on how well they fit into the STEM environment.
“People seek out the environment that fits their personal characteristics,” Le said. “If they work in an arena that suits them, they’ll be happy and successful. With these predictors, we can identify students with potential for obtaining a STEM degree nearly a decade before they pursue it.”
Le also found no difference between the abilities of girls and boys to succeed in STEM, based on these two predictors. Essentially, if a girl and a boy have the same amount of interest and ability to succeed, they are each entirely capable of doing so.
“There are many theories about the social pressure that keeps women out of STEM,” he said. “We found that young men in general were more interested in the field, but considering that young women showed the same ability in our study, that seems to suggest that the dearth of women in the field is probably due to societal factors.”
Le notes that many students, especially women, who excel cognitively also have excellent verbal ability and will often choose a career other than STEM because they have so many opportunities before them. Le says that educators and counselors can influence those decisions by simply introducing students to the benefits of a career in science or engineering.
“This is a critical issue in our economy right now,” he said. “We have a crippling deficit of participants in the STEM field, and if we can encourage our students to pursue this path, we’ll be on our way to eradicating it.”
-------------------------------
Read Huy Le’s study, “Building the STEM pipeline: Findings of a 9-year longitudinal research project.”
Learn more about the UTSA Department of Management.
Connect online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
Events
Finalist candidates for the dean of the College of the Sciences will discuss their vision for the college.
Assembly Room, JPL 4.04.22, Main CampusIn this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to use AI to make your voice recordings sound professional, edit with easy text-based editing, and create high-quality recordings with royalty-free music, so you can focus on your story. You will also plan your own mini-podcast during the session.
Academic Innovation Center (MS 420)Have questions about making your OER accessible on UTSA Pressbooks? The OER Team and the Digital Accessibility Team are ready to answer them! Bring your questions about OER and accessibility and receive guidance from our two teams.
Virtual EventUpon completion of this workshop, attendees will be able to: explain the history of Creative Commons, summarize the role of copyright law in the creation of Creative Commons, differentiate between different CC icons, identify the different layers and elements of CC licenses and tools, and list factors to consider when choosing a license for your project.
Virtual EventJoin UTSA Librarians for this introductory workshop for early career faculty on how to build your online scholarly identity. We will discuss how to set up author profiles as well as find existing and emerging metrics for measuring research impact, including Impact Factor, Altmetrics, and beyond.
Virtual EventThis workshop explores the intersection of digital activism, data collection, and visualization techniques in the context of gender-based violence and feminist movements. Participants will learn how to harness the power of GraphCommons to create impactful visualizations that can amplify marginalized voices and reveal hidden patterns in complex social issues.
CEDISH Co-Lab 3.02.38, 3rd Floor, John Peace LibraryHave questions about making your OER accessible on UTSA Pressbooks? The OER Team and the Digital Accessibility Team are ready to answer them! Please bring your questions about OER and accessibility and receive guidance from our two teams.
Virtual Event