Another Day, Another Dollar

One of the peculiarities of working on the Hill (well, maybe just life in general) is the constant cycle of busy/not-busy. The first half of this week was very relaxed, with not too much going on, but yesterday was all go!

We started off the morning with a hearing on STEM and computer science education, focusing on the dearth of eligible employees to fill the every-growing field of computer science. It’s a well-known fact that a degree in computer science is pretty much guaranteed to get you a good job, but I was shocked by the actual numbers: 600,000 high-paying tech jobs in the US were left unfilled in 2015; by 2018 tech is projected to make up 51% of all STEM jobs; 49% of all jobs in the top quartile of earnings value coding skills; and yet, only 40% of K-12 schools offer computer science courses, and even fewer count them towards class credit. It goes on, but you get the gist—if we don’t start teaching people more CS we’re in trouble.

I thought the hearing was very productive and interesting, as the expert witnesses outlined different tactics to take in order to bridge the gap. Witnesses included the Chief Academic Officer of code.org, the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of U.C. Berkley, and the Executive Director of the Micron Technology Foundation, and although they all had slightly different approaches to tackling the problem, everyone was in agreement that it presents a serious threat to U.S. productivity.

As soon as the hearing was over I ran over to the Capitol for a career event hosted by the American Chemical Society, the Congressional Chemistry Caucus, the American Chemistry Council, and the National Association of Chemical Distributors. Surprise: it was about chemistry. I actually really enjoyed the event and particularly hearing from the panelists (though it didn’t hurt that they provided lunch). 

NASA Astronaut Tracy Caldwell described her childhood and young adulthood working on electrical engineering with her dad, and how throughout her PhD work in chemistry she was always convinced that she would, somehow, end up as an astronaut. And she did! I was particularly heartened to hear about her struggles with calculus—it took her three tries to pass with a grade higher than a D! Goes to show that while grades are important they definitely are not the defining factor for success. Riley and I spoke with her briefly afterwards, and she was super nice.

A brief speech from Congressman John Moolenaar (R-MI) resonated with me as he talked about his journey through college. After a while, like me, he realized that while he loves chemistry he particularly enjoyed the people aspect of his major: communicating science and working directly with people rather than sitting in a lab performing research. At that point he started to look beyond traditional avenues for chemistry majors, and eventually ended up in the House of Representatives. I got to talk to him as well and get his advice for a science major who doesn’t want to “do” science.

So, we had the congressman and the astronaut. Next up was… beer? Dana Sedin is another chemist who currently works for the New Belgium Brewing Company. His story is proof that a career can be anything but linear. After running into a couple of dead ends upon finishing his PhD, he ended up taking a job at Coors Brewing Company and it sort of went from there! A few years back he changed companies and had a bit of a culture shock switching from a huge refined lab to a smaller brewery, but his skills are all the better for it and he spoke very highly of his job.

Finally, Bill Provine, CEO and president of Delaware Innovation Space, shared how his science degree had helped him in the business world. As someone who is looking for a career outside of academia, it was refreshing to be reminded of the endless possibilities there are, and how you don’t necessarily have to have your entire life planned out at the onset. I particularly enjoyed hearing from other science majors about the advantages and disadvantages of their backgrounds—so much was so relatable. They complained about the difficulties of talking science with coworkers who may have little familiarity with certain concepts (surprisingly, for Dr. Caldwell this was an issue on the ISS since so many astronauts come from a military background). On a similar note, they emphasized the importance of learning to communicate effectively (yay for the liberal arts!) Dr. Caldwell said the best advice she ever got was from a professor who told her to seek out every opportunity she possibly could to present and speak publicly. There has to be something in it, because I was struck right away by how articulate she was.

One other important point the panelists made was how much their training in science had helped them in their careers. When asked how often they he used the skills he'd learned in college, Rep. Moolenaar replied immediately, "Oh, every day!" As he explained, science teaches you to think critically and logically, seek out every angle of a debate, and problem solve. Dr. Sedin seconded that, adding that he tells all his interns that they are allowed to break things but they aren't allowed to tell him about it unless they can also say what they did to fix it; problem solving is key, no matter what you are doing in life.