BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Shirley Collier said the state’s technology work force needs to be replenished.

“We have a perfect storm brewing: low supply and high demand,” said Collier, chief executive officer of Optemax, a wireless optical networking company and nationally known speaker.

She’s referring to a lack of qualified students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math, aka STEM, statewide.

“Roughly half the population of NASA could retire now,” said Chris Scolese, NASA’s associate administrator.

The median age of the work force is 47, he said.

Northrop Grumman Corp. officials also reported more than half of their workers will be eligible to retire in the next five to 10 years.

Collier, Scolese and more than 100 business and educational leaders recently gathered at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Howard to discern why so few students are entering these careers.

They are also members of the Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Business and Education Coalition, which creates curriculum and programs to prepare students to meet industry goals.

Why students aren’t entering STEM fields is the “million-dollar question,” said Army Col. Kenneth McCreedy, Fort Meade commander, who said STEM education is needed for jobs arriving at Fort Meade due to the Base Realignment and Closure process.

He suggested the trend could be reversed “through imaginative, hands-on experiential learning; through partnerships with practitioners who can provide real world case studies and research; and through enabled teachers.”

Experts have said students simply did not see these careers as “cool” and were often are distracted by the value entertainers and celebrities place on having a lot of money.

“Once they reach middle school, they just want to be popular and cool, and STEM initiatives are not seen as popular and cool,” said Collier.

Too often, he said, students see STEM fields as for “others” or only for a “small, narrow” group of “nerdy” people, said Donald Langenberg, chancellor emeritus at the University System of Maryland.

“This is not a problem for the schools — it is the community’s challenge,” McCreedy said. “That means our newspapers, businesses, government, popular culture must ... partner with our K through 12 schools, our community colleges, and our four-year universities and graduate schools.”

jkowalkowski@baltimoreexaminer

Comments from Examiner Readers

11:04 PM MST on Mon., Apr. 14, 2008 re: "Brisbane to gauge baylands wind flow"

Examiner Reader said:
Wind turbines certainly generate clean energy (preferrable), but I wish leaders would allocate some of their design engineers to study how to protect the wildlife (birds) fatalities. It seems easy enough to place a cage around the turbines, just like the smaller, domestic models that protect children from getting their fingers clipped by the fan blades. I'm sure there's a way to make this look attractive in a super-size turbine.

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11:46 AM MST on Thu., Apr. 10, 2008 re: "Defense, technology firms� needs make Baltimore the place to be for IT positions"

Examiner Reader said:
The Dice Report. �Baltimore-Washington has the third-highest average salary for IT professionals at $81,750 a year, ahead of the national average of $74,570.� WOW and yet the jobs which I applied for are paying way below the average. Usually a company asked what salary range I'm looking for, and usually that's a sign of we can't afford you. I answered negotiable, they pursuit for a number. When I give them a number I don't hear from them. Most of the positions I come across are bombarded with responsibilities and has a failure of matching the pay.

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11:07 AM MST on Mon., Mar. 24, 2008 re: "U.Md. study shows MBAs lead to higher salaries in IT sector"

Terence said:
What the article failed to address is that if you have an a non-business major and have an engineering or computer science degree, it is advisable to pursue an MBA degree and as such you would tend to pursue something like an IT degree and in that case, the jump in salary is significant. If you have a business undergrad in IT and pursue an MBA, that jump is significantly less. I still do not understand why students would do both an undergrad and grad in business. Really the textbooks are almost the same, the delivery is the difference. In some cases, classes are cross-taught at both the undergrad and grad. Pursuing a masters of science in marketing, operations and IT is the appropriate route not an MBA for undegrad in business. Just IMHO

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7:34 AM MST on Thu., Mar. 13, 2008 re: "Businesses, educators agree they must unite to address tech job shortage"

Iconic Xer. said:
I find this story missing a critical and informative element. Sure, tech companies and institutions such as NASA may be losing *employees* to retirement. But that doesn't mean there aren't *lots* of tech professionals around. Quite the opposite. There's an abundance of them. Companies have got to change their cultures, compensation and engagement of workers to be in alignment with the preference of many tech professionals to work outside of organizations, to work for multiple companies, to be flexible, nimble and not dependent on one industry or company for survival. It's a generational thing, really, with your GenXers (27-47 in 2008) heavily leaning in this direction. Re: the lack of kids entering STEM. It has nothing to do with them not wanting to be cool. They are achievement, affluence and team-oriented. Sing their song and they'll come in droves. Sing *your* song & they won't hear you ... or even bother trying. And, mistakenly, you'll conclude they're not interested. What

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10:17 AM MST on Fri., May. 11, 2007 re: "Schools to lease land for phone towers"

Examiner Reader said:
Possible health risk of cancer too! See international studies.

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9:26 AM MST on Fri., May. 11, 2007 re: "Schools to lease land for phone towers"

Examiner Reader said:
You can't stop it now and usually there is a reason its done that way

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