Hot, Sexy Engineers

Here some recent statistics that tell you about America’s educational priorities:

In 2009 the U.S. graduated 37,994 students with bachelor’s degrees in computer and information science. This is not bad, but we graduated more students with computer science degrees 25 years ago!

In 2009 the U.S. graduated 89,140 students in the visual and performing arts, more than in computer science, math and chemical engineering combined and more than double the number of visual and performing arts graduates in 1985. Techcrunch.com, April 28^th (citing Marginal Revolution).

Techcrunch.com goes on: “We are raising a generation of American Idols and So You Think You Can Dancers when what we really need is a generation of Gateses and Zuckerbergs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics … computer and mathematical occupations are expected to add 785,700 new jobs from 2008 to 2018. It doesn’t take a math major to see that we’re graduating students at a far lower rate than required to meet demand.” Engineering isn’t sexy or seen as sufficiently cool to generate the necessary interest… the hot math-driven arena is finance, where too many engineering graduates with strong math skills wind up… to make the big bucks. But since the majority of college and grad-school enrollees are trending toward being women, there is a solution that needs to be aided and abetted: lots of women engineers!

The reality for most “little girls” is that the kinds of toys that engender of love for what will grow into a passion for math, science and engineering are considered stuff for little boys. Erector Sets, electronic and mechanical assembly toys, etc. are literally boy-toys (sorry!). So that’s where a bevy of entrepreneurial women with engineering degrees have stepped into the fray to design a new generation of toys for girls that will hopefully set those with the inherent talents on a path to fulfill the demand for engineers, creating and building the next generation of the Grand America we know and love. You rock, girl frien’s!

Here are three examples brought to our attention by FastCompany.com (December 6^th):

$29.95 [pictured above]: Devised by Debbie Sterling, a Stanford-educated engineer, GoldieBlox is a brand new series of construction toys and books for girls that focuses on a young blond girl named Goldie who lives in what Sterling described to us as a "crazy engineering house," chock full of moving parts and gears…

A triad of women who studied mechanical engineering, neuroscience, and electrical engineering created Roominate, a modular hacker dollhouse that comes with connectable circuits… The original Roominate comes with four combination dry erase walls and floor panels, a complete circuit, 24 modular pieces for building furniture, decorations, and 16 connectors. The $59 toy is intended for ages 6 to 10. Expanded versions of the Roominate, including the Roominate Suite and Chateau de Roominate, are also available on the Roominate site…

Slightly older girls (11 and up) might enjoy the $199 Hummingbird robotics kit, created by BirdBrain Technologies (a spin-off from Carnegie Mellon University). The kit comes with four sub-kits: a light and vibration set with 10 multi-colored LEDs and two vibration motors; a control set that comes with an auxiliary motor power supply, a USB cable, and a screwdriver; a motion that includes DC motors and servos; and a sensing kit that contains sound, temperature, distance, light sensors along with a rotary knob; basically, anything you would need to build the robot of your dreams.

So for those looking for holiday gift that could change the world, there some interesting choices that just might do that. We need to “re-engineer” our societal perceptions of nerdy ugly women becoming the only women embracing engineering. It just ain’t true! It’s time America faced up to taking responsible for a future that everyone assumes is out there, but no one really is willing to take the steps “to make it so.” Come on, woman, this is one more chance to show up dem men-folk, big time! With more women atop tech companies, it’s time to tap one of our most valuable resources: our people, particularly of the feminine persuasion! We need you!

I’m Peter Dekom, and I believe in investing in our great nation.