Report Discusses the State of STEM
Astronaut Mark Lee tests the new backpack called Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), a system designed for use in the event a crew member becomes untethered while conducting an EVA. The Lidar-In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE) is shown in the foreground. The LITE payload employs lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging, a type of optical radar using laser pulses instead of radio waves to study Earth's atmosphere. Unprecedented views were obtained of cloud structures, storm systems, dust clouds, pollutants, forest burning, and surface reflectance. The STS-64 mission marked the first untethered U.S. EVA in 10 years, and was launched on September 9, 1994, aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery.
Media Credit: NASA
A report from STEMconnector titled “State of STEM: Defining the Landscape to Determine High-Impact Pathways for the Future Workforce” includes input from the ISSInternational Space Station National Lab Education Manager Dan Barstow. The report provides an overview of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) ecosystem; the organizations and systems involved; and the forces that influence it. The report also highlights critical gaps in the STEM workforce and recommendations for how to work toward closing the gaps.
STEMconnector is a commercial services firm focused on “increasing the number of STEM-ready workers in the global talent pool.” To develop the report, STEMconnector gathered perspectives from more than 100 individuals across the U.S. involved in STEM—from nonprofit organizations, academia, corporations, foundations, and other institutions. The firm also conducted a literature review across STEM and related fields and reviewed quantitative data from sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics.
The report quotes Barstow as saying, “In the era of Google, we don’t need people who can memorize, we need people who can think.”
For more information about STEMconnector and to download a copy of the report, go to https://www.stemconnector.com/state-stem-report/.
To learn how the Space Station Explorers Consortium, a growing community of the ISS National Lab partner organizations, is working to leverage the unique platform of the International Space Station to provide valuable STEM educational experiences to inspire the next generation, go to www.spacestationexplorers.org.