Tech is ready to drive ‘all segments of society’. What are Philadelphia universities doing to expand STEM-capable pipelines?

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If you sit in a higher education class that focuses on any technology, the problem of industrial diversity is obvious.

Over the past few decades, the number of undergraduate students in higher education in the United States has increased dramatically, from 30% in 1996 to 45% in 2016, with a wide range of people pursuing a bachelor’s degree.

A.D. In 2018, only 7% of STEM bachelor’s degrees in the United States went to black students, and 12% went to Latin students. Pew Research A study was found. Meanwhile, white students and Asian students with STEM degrees have more representation than the American population. And while STEM degrees have seen some gender differences in recent years, with women taking the lion’s share of health degrees and positions (75%), technical professions and fields such as engineering and computer science are very male and white.

Here in Philadelphia, the most recent census data shows that non-white residents make up more than 65% of the population, and you can see this variability in play. But there are efforts to make a difference.

How to properly hire and retain color students

Aunsul RegeA Temple University Associate Professor in Cyber ​​Security and the Cyber ​​Security in Application, Research and Education (CARE Lab)It follows the general motto, “You cannot be invisible.”

When she completed her undergraduate degree in computer science in the early 2000s, she said she was one of the two women on her team and the only woman. She believes that seeing people like them in high cyber security roles is one of the keys to student success. And in higher education, this may mean looking outside your own institution.

Aunsul Rege

Aunsul Rege. (Photo of Honor)

Regge works together Black Girls Hack And of Intertribal Education FoundationAnd often with local colleges, high schools, and graduate programs at Care Lab events, just like this summer’s social engineering event. He stressed the need to create networks for the next workforce, both higher and higher education.

“I think we need to develop these media better. We are training the next generation of manpower,” Raj said. “If you see people like them on the other end of the spectrum, they can set up their network and support their teams, which makes it an easy transition.”

It is also important to look outside of higher education. Christine AustinDirector of Addition, Diversity, Equality and Accessibility Rewrite the codeTechnology-learning women’s community. The organization serves more than 15,000 women, and Austin works specifically with blacks, Latinos, and neurodegenerative populations.

The original does not serve as an input for universities, but for the students themselves, employers ‘relationships, employers’ companies, personal and professional development. One of the quickest strategies many companies are using is hiring HBCUs – this is a good strategy, says Austin, but it has not reached the exact number of women in technology. In this way, you are accessing only a limited number of women of color.

Do you want to implement meaningful diversity efforts in your higher education institution? Try to avoid financial constraints.

“Senior Eddie always wants something more than a scholarship,” Austin said. But scholarships help students a lot. “Do it and see what happens. Money does not buy happiness, but it does buy food. And when students can afford to pay rent, they become happier and more successful.

Christine Austin. (Photo of Honor)

Try this means you are bringing a few people into the program, says Austin, because your stay rate and the impact on those people will be very, very high.

Second, Austin says she has been able to create learning communities by connecting students with their peers and making the curriculum more consistent, coordinated, and relevant to their experiences. Duke University This live and learning version has recently been developed to bring together students on topics and interests in sex and sexuality, marine science and general well-being.

Third: Encourage every student in technology to take a basic course in technology discrimination and the technology industry in general. Non-white and non-male students are stigmatized by their peers, and many women, in particular, have dropped out of school.

Austin said: “It is not content at all, it is always stigmatized.

As a faculty member interested in learning more about how to support students of color, one of Austin’s easiest things is to be open to external resources and programs and share them with their students.

Case study by Drexel

Dean ዪ Deng Of Drexel University College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) Speak Technical. ly 11 to 12 percent of the school’s black and Latin population is undergraduate. It is on par with peers, but the school is in the early stages of five years of racial equity reform.

Deng came to Philadelphia six years ago and played the role of Drexel, a crowded, connected metro city and university. He sees the technology industry not as a vertical growth, but as a horizontal growth, in deep-seated industries and in the way we live our daily lives.

“Twenty years ago, technology was a tool. Working in the field of technology means we were engineers. We have built, we have developed systems and infrastructure, ”said Deng. Today, however, technology is at the core of every industry and society.

That is why for the past five years, he has been working with CCI on the diversity initiative to increase the number of women enrolled in the college and entering technology. The goal was to increase the number of female students by 50% over the next five years. Deng said it was a top-down approach for the entire college, and included building its own pipeline – new recruitment practices, sharing information about the school, engaging local high schools and parents, training teachers, and working with industry partners. It also means spending some 100 dollars every year on female students.

Per Deng, five years ago, had a college bachelor’s degree for 1,600 out of 1,600 students, about 10.5%; By September 2021, the 2,400 students would include 340 women, 14% of the population. The goal is to continue to grow by about 20%.

“We are not done yet. We still have a long way to go. ” “But we have made significant improvements.”

ዪ Deng (right third) at DXC Applied AI Studio @ Drexel Ribbon Cutter in 2019. (Photo courtesy)

Last year, the school planned to increase the number of students in terms of race, using methods that have been successful in promoting gender diversity. This initiative aims to increase the number of students and women of color in the student population. The way to get there is four pillars of focus.

The only thing that matters is how much impact buying from people at all levels of school can do, ”Deng said. If successful, it will have a significant impact on expanding Philadelphia’s capacity pipeline and retaining professionals.

“We are one of the largest technology providers in the region. How much we can do here is a long way to go to expand the technology manpower in our area,” Deng said. No matter how big or how rich you have, it should be a joint effort. We cannot change the suggestion by working hard for a month or a year. You must have a consistent drive.

The same can be said of technological advances when it comes to ‘affecting everyone.’

For the past two years, University of Pennsylvania Professor of Computer Science CJ Taylor In the Department of Computer and Information Science, he is assigned a role in collaboration – Diversity, Fairness and Inclusion.

He has a long career in higher education, but is new to the DEI job, prioritizing two years ago in Pen Engineering Dean Vijaya Kumer.

“One person, along with our entire community, has been observed by engineers and technologists in providing or maintaining our field units in diversity and real inclusive environments,” Cummer wrote in a statement. Role

CJ Taylor (Photo of Honor)

They outlined three goals for the school: a climate where anyone can do the work, recruiting multicultural students into the postgraduate program (because undergraduate recruitment is hosted internationally through Penn) and external programs to increase the school’s community involvement.

These objectives are available in a number of forms, primarily in the construction of the capacity pipeline. The school began to work together I get it.The STEM Equality and Innovation Program is a non-profit Steppingstone Scholars It solves the strategic barriers that keep low-income and black and brown students from entering the most white and masculine industries in history. The school has developed a Virtual Computer Science AP course, and Penn’s undergraduate degrees are a Philadelphia School District A partnership that develops computer science curriculum. It also supports scholarships, and returns to the Bridge program, which is aimed at people on the way to Master’s PhD.

Taylor emphasized that his work was challenging, and that he had much to do. However, Phil’s home at the University will be given a significant impact on the institution.

“Engineering solutions, energy systems, various electronic systems – the situation is affecting everyone,” Taylor said. “If this is the case, you want to build an inclusive, inclusive future. In fact, technology is exciting. It’s a wonderful place to work. We want to invite as many people as possible to make sure we get the best ideas and the best systems out there.

What’s next?

According to higher education experts we spoke to this month, tech will continue to expand in all areas of our lives. Although we have known for a long time that different groups are better for business, they have told us that the future of our technology products is based on college-level and pre-basic work. Philadelphia is in a unique position to do this, as it hosts a variety of population and technology programs at these institutions of higher learning, but it requires commitment.

“Our enemies are not the same, so we don’t have to be,” said Rage from Cyber ​​Security.

“It helps to bring in other situations, languages, backgrounds if you want to build more supportive systems,” she said. “When you meet people from these different groups, we understand that community best.”

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