Engineers Who Did Something Special

Women Built London’s Waterloo Bridge, But It Took These Photos to Prove It

During the new bridge’s opening ceremony, on December 10, 1945, then-Deputy Prime Minister Herbert Morrison had declared that “the men that built Waterloo Bridge are fortunate men.” It wasn’t until 2015 that the hard work of these women could be confirmed, by the historian Christine Wall, thanks to a series of photographs she found.

Waterloo Bridge, c. 1950s. Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy

Acetylene welders dismantling the old Waterloo Bridge, 1944. Daily Herald Archive/National Museum of Science and Media/Science and Society Picture Library

Eight years prior to her discovery, Wall had collaborated with the filmmaker Karen Livesey on a documentary called The Ladies Bridge. It explores the stories of women working on Waterloo Bridge and records first-hand the experiences of a variety of wartime workers who were women. “There was jobs galore. There was absolutely jobs galore. You could go anywhere,” recounts one woman in the film.

Waterloo Bridge, c. 1950s. Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy

But as Wall notes in the film, despite well-documented accounts of women working in munitions factories, or on the railway, stories of women who worked in construction during the war are quite rare. According to Wall, nearly 25,000 women were working in the British construction industry by 1944. (Some things don’t change: she also notes that wartime women construction workers were paid far less money than their male counterparts). Wall did manage to find photographs in the Imperial War Museum’s archive of women construction workers during the war —but nothing relating to the bridge.

A welder, identified as “Dorothy,” at work. Daily Herald Archive/National Museum of Science and Media/Science and Society Picture Library

• Donna Auguste One of the most well-known of these products, the Newton Personal Digital Assistant , owes its development to Donna Auguste, a former senior engineering manager at Apple.

  Auguste holds various patents related to her work on the Newton. Prior to her tenure at Apple, she conducted research into artificial intelligence at Carnegie-Mellon University, where she earned a master’s degree in computer science. In 1996, she founded Freshwater Software, a company that provided software solutions for monitoring web-based applications.

  

  Katherine Johnson

  Without Katherine Johnson, the United States might never have reached the moon.

  In 1953, Johnson became an original member of the West Area Computers, a group of women at NASA (then called NACA) tasked with number crunching and calculations for guidance and navigations systems. When NACA transitioned to become NASA in 1958 Johnson became the only woman and person of color on NASA’s Space Task Force, a group meant to spearhead efforts towards making the US the first country to reach the moon

New York State Master Teachers Getting Extra 15,000

The New York State Master Teacher Program started in 2013 and gives participants a $15,000 annual stipend for four years as a way to reward high-performing teachers.

New York’s 623 master teachers teach STEM subjects,(science, technology, engineering and math) at schools in almost 300 districts.

Barbie’s Book Sparks Outrage

Barbie’s: I Can Be a Computer Engineer’ book, which was released in 2013, has been slammed for being one of the most sexist and demoralizing representations of how women can excel in computer science.

Novelist and screenwriter Pamela Ribbon, reviewed the content of the book, found the book at a friend’s house and was dismayed to see how out of touch the content was from reality.

In the book, which is ostensibly aimed at young girls with the goal of interesting them in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) careers, Barbie wants to be a computer engineer, but requires the help of two male friends to solve her computer problems.

Barbie, who is working on a game idea to teach girls about computers using puppies, tells her sister Skipper in the book that she is only creating the design ideas because she’ll need Steven’s and Brian’s help to “turn it into a real game!”

Barbie, who is working on a game idea to teach girls about computers using puppies, tells her sister Skipper in the book that she is only creating the design ideas because she’ll need Steven’s and Brian’s help to “turn it into a real game!”

The plot thickens when a virus infects Barbie’s computer, Barbie’s female computer science teacher instructs her how to backup and repair an infected computer (a good skill), but to actually get that done she needs Steven and Brian’s help.

The book, published by Random House, received withering comments online as female programmers, engineers and pop stars, who freelance as InfoSec experts, all chimed in with their criticism and “suggestions” to fix the text of the book

 

 

Borrow A Robot At The Public Library

Peters Township Public Library is the first in Pennsylvania to offer the robots for borrowing.

The Chicago Public Library received 500 Finches donated by Google Chicago It is  the first library in the nation to have them available for people to take home. Finch was designed at CMU partially by Lauwers, who commercialized the technology in 2011 once he earned his doctorate in robotics from the university.  The robots were invented by a lab at Carnegie Mellon University. They are set up for use with more than a dozen of the most commonly used computer languages. Users hook the robots up to their home computer or laptops and download instructional tutorials from the company’s website

Each Finch is bound on a 15-foot cable that plugs into a USB port. Young children can work with the robot using a simple drag-and-drop system, while high school and college students can use programming languages such Java and Python. Peters Township Public Library purchased 10 Finches about a month ago. It allows users to check them out like library books.

Tech Summer Camps Booming In Popularity

 

Tech summer camps are growing in popularity particularly around the Pacific Northwest.

iD Tech Camp is holding several summer tech camps at the University of Washington.Video games are very popular. At iD Tech Camps, kids ages 7-to-17 are learning how to code, program, and develop video games and apps. They also get hands-on training in Photoshop, web design and popular robotics classes.

Camp counselors are trying to get young people trained in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs. iD Tech Camp points says more than one million jobs in STEM fields are expected to go unfilled by 2020. Yet, 9-out-of-10 high schools don’t offer computer science classes. Computer Science is a field where the females are  outnumbered by males. Still at the tech camps there are more boys than girls.

Major tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn released their workforce diversity figures this week after much pressure. According to USA TODAY, males outnumbered female staff by an average of 70% to 30%. The majority of workers were white followed by Asian.

 

Twitter’s Figures & Stats

 

Twitter’s diversity figures, by ethnicity. Graphic via Twitter.

More Stats Here

Google’s Stats

Facebook

Pinterest

Yahoo

 

The STEM Crisis & Recruiting From Overseas

 

STEM -Science Technology Engineering Math

The rest of the world is  soaring ahead while United States lag behind.  Our knowledge capital, which fuels innovation and economic growth, is at risk. 

The National Math + Science Initiative list hard facts on why STEM education matters and why our country’s student performance must improve in order for America to remain globally competitive. 

Decline in Education in America’s Elementary and Secondary Schools

• 44 percent of 2013 U.S. high school graduates are ready for college-level math.
• 36 percent of 2013 U.S. high school students are ready for college-level science.
• 26 percent of 2009 U.S. students took Algebra I before high school. (Up from 20 percent in 2005.)
• Only 12 percent of black students and 17 percent of Hispanic students took Algebra I before high school in 2009. But, 48 percent of Asian students took Algebra I before high school in 2009.
• In 2013, 42 percent of American fourth grade students and 35 percent of eighth grade students, performed at or above the proficient level in mathematics.
• In 2011, 32 percent of eighth grade students performed at or above the proficient level in science.
• In 2009, 34 percent of American fourth grade students and 21 percent of twelfth grade students performed at or above the proficient level in science.
• 9 percent of Hispanic and 10 percent of black U.S. students took advanced Algebra or calculus in 2008, compared to 22 percent of white students and 43 percent of Asian students.
• 19.5 percent of AP test takers in the class of 2012 earned a qualifying score on an AP exam.
• 27 percent of 2011 test takers took an AP science exam and 26 percent took an AP math exam.
• 

• Decline in Higher Education in America

  • Students who progress through at least Algebra II in high school are twice as likely as those who do not to complete a four-year degree.
  • 38 percent of students who start with a STEM major do not graduate with one.
  • In 2009, men age 25 and older held 87 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering fields.
  • In 2009, of the 56 million people age 25 and over with a bachelor’s degree, nearly 20 million of them held a degree in a science and engineering field

  • Teachers

    • In 2007, about a third of public middle school science teachers either did not major in the subject in college and/or are not certified to teach it.
    • 36 percent of public middle school math teachers in 2007 either did not major in the subject in college and/or are not certified to teach it.
    • Teacher turnover is costing America $7.3 billion annually.
    • In 2007, the average cost of teacher turnover was over $17,000.
    • Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000.

    • International Comparisons 

      • 29 nations: The number of industrialized nations whose high school students performed better than U.S. students in math in 2012.
      • 22 nations: The number of industrialized nations whose high school students performed better than U.S. students in science in 2012.
      • In 2008, 4 percent of U.S. bachelor’s degrees were awarded in engineering.Compared to 31 percent in China.
      • In 2008, 31 percent of U.S. bachelor’s degrees were awarded in science and engineering fields. Compared to 61 percent in Japan and 51 percent in China.

      • Workforce

        • As of February 2012, more than half of the 30 fastest growing occupations require some level of post-secondary education.
        • “All of the increase in employment over the past two decades has been among workers who have taken at least some college classes or who have associate or bachelor’s degrees – and mostly among workers with bachelor’s degrees.”
        • The number of science and engineering (S&E)  bachelor’s degree completions has grown by 19% from 2009 to 2013, compared to9% growth for non-S&E disciplines.
        • Of the 15 Major categories, Engineering has the highest median earnings, yet less than 20% of students choose a STEM path.
        • In 2008, 59 percent of all jobs in the U.S. economy required post-secondary education. (Up from 28 percent in 1973.)
        • By 2018, it is projected that 63 percent of all jobs in the U.S. economy will require post-secondary education.
        • By 2018, 92 percent of traditional STEM jobs will be for those with at least some post-secondary education and training.
        • 23 percent of STEM workers are women, however women make up 48 percent of workers in all occupations.
        • In 2009, 12 percent of STEM workers were non-Hispanic black and Hispanic. But,non-Hispanic black and Hispanic individuals accounted for 25 percent of overall employment.
        • Women received 29.6 percent of computer science B.A.’s in 1991, compared to 18.2 percent in 2010.
        • 23 percent of STEM workers are women, however women make up 48 percent of workers in all occupations.
        • Jobs in computer systems design and related services, a field dependent on high-level math and problem-solving skills, are projected to grow 45 percent between 2008 and 2018.
        • The U.S. may be short as many as three million high-skills workers by 2018.

The Growth of STEM Jobs

 

 Science,Technology, Engineering,  Math 
The map also reveals pockets of the U.S. where key industries are clustered among the largest cities:
• Motor vehicles parts manufacturing traditionally focused in Rust Belt cities, but Southern metros such as Birmingham, Louisville and Nashville are emerging in this sector.
• Oil and gas extraction is a major driver of high-wage job growth in Texas, Oklahoma and the surrounding region. It’s also becoming a driver of job growth in Denver.
• General freight trucking is concentrated in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast (Nashville, Memphis, Jacksonville, etc.), where transportation routes are plentiful and huge population centers are in close range.
• Software publishing has a big presence in Silicon Valley, but is also growing in major markets such as Seattle, Boston, Atlanta and Denver.
• General medical and surgical hospitals are driving jobs in Columbus, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Rochester and St. Louis, among others.
• Highway, street and bridge construction has seen an uptick in jobs in Baton Rouge, Oklahoma City and San Antonio as cities rebuild after natural disasters and address other public concerns.

In a separate study of the same 100 metros, CareerBuilder and EMSI discovered which metros have added the most jobs per capita post-recession:

1. Salt Lake City, UT – added over 62,000 jobs since 2010, up 9 percent (534 new jobs per 10,000 people)
Originally a farming community, Salt Lake City has grown into an industrial center for the state. Industries that have experienced strong job growth in this metro include electronic shopping and mail order houses (up 43 percent), software publishing (up 28 percent), specialized freight trucking (up 23 percent) and credit intermediation (up 22 percent).

2. Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI – added over 39,000 jobs since 2010, up 10 percent (513 new jobs per 10,000 people)
This manufacturing heavyweight has benefitted from the rebound of production jobs after the recession. The metro saw job increases in various manufacturing segments such as plastics product (up 35 percent), motor vehicle parts (up 33 percent), metalworking machinery (up 30 percent) and office furniture (up 12 percent). Hospitals also accounted for an upswing in jobs (up 16 percent).

3. San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara, CA – added over 91,000 jobs since 2010, up 10 percent (498 new jobs per 10,000 people)
It’s no surprise that software publishing (up 30 percent), computer systems design (up 19 percent), data processing and hosting (up 16 percent), computer manufacturing (up 12 percent) and scientific research (up 9 percent) are big contributors to employment for this Silicon Valley metro.

4. Austin–Round Rock– San Marcos, TX – added over 90,000 jobs since 2010, up 11 percent (488 new jobs per 10,000 people)
Austin has made a name for itself as a technology and business hub, fueling job growth in management, scientific and consulting services (up 35 percent), computer systems design (up 35 percent), data processing and hosting (up 35 percent) and semiconductor manufacturing (up 17 percent).

5. Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, TX – added over 281,000 jobs since 2010, up 10 percent (451 new jobs per 10,000 people)
Energy-rich Houston continues to see job growth in utility system construction (specifically, oil and gas pipeline, up 45 percent), mining support (up 38 percent), metal and mineral (except petroleum) wholesalers (up 31 percent), oil and gas extraction (up 25 percent), and architectural and engineering services (up 21 percent).

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Philly’s Robot Expo @ Drexel

 

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