Nanotechnology Careers Presented by Morton M. Sternheim July, 2013

STEM Careers Currently, there are 14 million people unemployed people in the U.S. and 3 million unfilled STEM jobs -- There is a STEM skills gap! U.S. News & World Report STEM Solutions 2012 Leadership Summit: June 27-29, 2012http://usnewsstemsolutions.com/

STEM Skills - Mathematical literacy - Ability to apply STEM knowledge to real-world situations - There are many technician-level jobs - Need many STEM-skilled people for sophisticated jobs in manufacturing - Typically, students are not aware of the types of jobs a STEM education can lead to Science DOI: /science.caredit.a Michael Price July 6, 2012

STEM Employment STEM employment grew over 3 x faster than the total workforce between 1950 and 2007 (NSF, 2010) STEM employment is expected to continue to grow faster in the next decade than the overall workforce (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009) Growth in STEM degrees has not kept pace with the overall demand, and the gap has been filled by foreign-born scientists and engineers

STEM Employment, cont. The U.S. is expected to face a serious shortage of skilled workers in STEM fields over the next twenty years (NAS, 2007; ACT, 2006). Depending on ones definition, 60 to 80% of the 30 fastest growing occupations are STEM or IT related. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010)

Educating a Nanotech Workforce National Nanotechnology Initiative "Small Wonders" (2001) A need for 2 million nanotechnology workers worldwide by Lux Research report Hiring Nanotech Talent (2007) Nanotech teams are poised to grow 74% by % of companies surveyed feel a shortage of nanotech talent. Scientists on development teams will shrink to 40%, as engineering grows to 25% and sales and marketing to 22% of future hires.

Caveat The forecasts have limitations. The Labor Department's macroeconomic model works on two noteworthy assumptionsthat the economy will rebound to long-term growth and that there won't be any more big shocks like the recession. Thus its forecasts don't predict the big job-market swings or sudden changes in the supply of workers that can easily happen in a volatile economy.

Caveat, cont. That means you could pick a job from the Labor Department's "fastest-growing" list when you enter college, only to find the field in a slump by the time you graduate. For example, a 2006 high-school graduate eyeing the government's forecast for nursing at that time would have read about excellent job prospects, with "thousands of job openings" predicted because experienced nurses were expected to retire. Wall Street Journal, 2010

Nanotechnology is an example of Interdisciplinary Collaboration at work People from diverse fields working together -- more rapidly solving important problems in our society Physics Chemistry Biology Materials Science Polymer Science Electrical Engineering Chemical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Medicine And others

References NSF, Science and Engineering Indicators 2010, US Department of Labor, Occupational employment projections to NAS, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. Washington, D.C., The National Academies Press.

References, cont. ACT, Developing the STEM Education Pipeline. Washington, D.C., ACT U.S. Department of Labor, 2010.Employment Projections Program. Wall Street Journal, May 25, html html

What are nano careers and fields that might appeal to your students? Subject Groups discuss career ideas List 5-10 ideas ~ 5 minutes Report on Moodle