| You hear every American, from the President himself | | | | million (approximately 37%). Almost every product |
| to the everyday citizen, talking about things this | | | | used today is due to some form of engineering. The |
| country needs. Among them is a new utility | | | | number of specialties is as broad as the number of |
| infrastructure, green technology, smart telephones, | | | | people in the field. They include agricultural, |
| miniature computers and even growing food more | | | | biomedical, chemical, civil (the largest category), |
| efficiently. All this will take skilled manpower, in which | | | | electrical/electronics and mechanical engineers among |
| the U.S. is enduring a shortage. It's reaching critical | | | | others. There are also drafters and technicians, who |
| proportions. People who work in these areas fall into | | | | assist the engineers in designing and then testing the |
| a vastly broad category called STEM (for science, | | | | products they help produce. |
| technology, engineering and math), and the federal | | | | (3) Technology - The largest of the four with nearly |
| government is creating programs, grants and new | | | | 2.9 million (almost 50%), this field is primarily reserved |
| scholarships to counter this. For those already | | | | these days to computer and information processing |
| working, looking to enter these fields, online college | | | | technology. This category uses logic, mathematics |
| classes may be the way to go. | | | | and computer science to make computers function. |
| This shortage has been keeping online colleges | | | | Some technology workers create new software, |
| humming, not only in helping young students obtain | | | | design computer systems, and develop databases. |
| their first Bachelor's degree, but from seasoned | | | | Others focus on helping people use computers and or |
| workers needing to move on to their Masters, Ph.D's | | | | keeping computers running well. The field |
| or just staying current in their respective specialties. | | | | encompasses design and development of the |
| At its core, STEM is a field of perpetual study. It's | | | | machines. |
| also so broad it can use clearer definition. | | | | (4) Mathematicians - The smallest of the groups at |
| Probably the best way to start is to define the four | | | | barely 57,000 (less than 1%), they focus on |
| main categories. According to the Bureau of Labor | | | | mathematics almost exclusively. Mathematicians |
| Statistics, these four groups should be seen as the | | | | include actuaries, pure mathematicians, operations |
| following: | | | | research analysts and statisticians. Practical |
| (1) Natural Science Occupations - These scientists and | | | | mathematicians work on anything from figuring out |
| technicians fall broadly into three key subsets: Life | | | | your insurance premium to setting odds for casinos. |
| scientists, physical scientists and natural scientist | | | | As a group, STEM workers earned about 70 percent |
| technicians. They compose approximately 13% | | | | more than the average worker in 2005. They also |
| (752,000) of all STEM personnel. Specialists include | | | | enjoy better than average benefit packages, including |
| agricultural and food scientists, biological scientists, | | | | insurance, investment/retirement, continuing |
| conservation, environmentalists and geophysicists, | | | | education and vacation programs. This is due to an |
| astronomers and medical scientists. The technicians | | | | extremely strong demand for workers. Depending on |
| assist scientists in conducting experiments and | | | | the specialty, growth is expected to range anywhere |
| analyzing the results. | | | | from 10% to 31%. |
| (2) Engineering - The second largest group at 2.2 | | | | |