Ball State University recently performed a study where they learned that robots would perform low-skilled jobs replacing human manual labor. In 2021, there were almost 10 million professionals in STEM careers, and according the U.S. Department of Labor, the industry will increase by 11 percent by 2031.
Meanwhile, in April of 2021, Pew Research Center showed that for 2018, Black students earned 7 percent of STEM Bachelor degrees, and women are only making up 47 percent of the workforce. Making them still underrepresented in STEM, Black women make up 14.1 percent of bachelor’s degrees earned towards STEM occupations. While women of color make up 11.5 percent of those employed in STEM, when minority women are engage din these fields, their contributions include scientific and technological advancements.
To conclude Computer Science Education Week, Terysa Ridgeway, a Technical Program Manager for Google, is currently involved in a STEM education program in order to help empower young girls in her community to take part in STEM. She has also published her own book, “Think Like A Computer,” the first in her “Terysa Solves It!” series designed to stimulate girls’ curiosity to consider venturing into STEM programs in the future. Ridgeway created the book series around her own adventures as an inquisitive eight year old who often enjoyed solving technical problems with her computer. The first installment has the main character, Terysa, thinking more like a computer than a human. The book also includes a color book and an interactive digital e-book in order to help girls go even further in STEM.
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