Merrilea Mayo | The Way We've Always Done Things | Science 'UnSummit' 2010

Описание: In this talk given at the Science UnSummit 2010 Merrill Mayo talks about the mismatch between what universities produce in their course offerings and training (particularly at the PhD level) and what the industries hiring STEM workers are actually looking for.

This presentation was given by Merrilea Mayo, founder of Mayo Enterprises, at the Science 'UnSummit' 2010 in Washington DC.
Merrilea, who has done numerous studies with the National Academy of Science, shares three extremely topical issues for the workforce development of scientists (especially life scientists) in our country. The symptoms, or phenomena, are:
Merrilea gives an insightful explanation using the field of Computational Finance ('Quants' - the mathematicians that provide predictive analyses for financial instruments or products). Analyzing employment rates for five of the top ten schools for Computational Finance degrees, she finds that students in that field have twice the unemployment rate as the average college graduate.

Quite startling, given that the banks are desparately looking for 'Quants' to hire. The difference is in language. Schools train students with degrees with names like 'chemistry,' 'biology,' 'engineering.' Jobs say they are looking for 'chemists,' 'biologists,' 'engineers.' But, the name hides a profound difference in what these words actually mean -- it's like comparing apples and oranges. Until Universities recreate themselves to be relevant to the current market needs, they will continue to produce students that do not get the jobs they thought they were training for.

She also gives cogent insight into the difference it would take to have minority students succeed in the science and technology sector - don't put out the content and expect they will find it and succeed. Recruit, mentor, support, train. That's what the sports fields do.

Lastly, she calls out NIH as the biggest 'Gorilla' in the employment sector for Life Sciences. Thinking themselves trainers for industry jobs, they run like an education organization. Yet they ARE the employers. The physical sciences are the opposite. Government jobs often hire individuals after they work in the private sector. NIH expects their post-docs to go into the private sector after their government job, but NIH far exceeds the private sector in volume of jobs.