STEM Archives - The Pennsylvania Daily Star

US Navy’s STEM ‘Equity’ Program Prioritized Candidates, Internships Based on Race, Docs Show

February 17, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The U.S. Navy approved more than $750,000 for a project that, while purporting to “equitably” increase the number of students interested in serving in the Navy’s STEM fields, prioritized recruiting underrepresented minority students, documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) proposed a way to encourage students to pursue degrees in fields of science, technology, economics and math (STEM) amid pressures for the U.S. military to out-compete adversaries in technological development, according to the since-approved application obtained by the Functional Government Initiative through a records request and provided to the DCNF. Although the project was framed as providing an opportunity for all students to break into the STEM fields based on the students’ qualifications, the Navy granted a budget extension to include 75 scholarships for underrepresented minority students and gave them first selection for the few on-campus paid research internships created through the program.

Teachers, Activists Push School Districts to Drop Calculus in the Name of Equity

March 14, 2023 Admin

Teachers and activists are pushing for high schools to drop their calculus courses to increase equity as many minority and low-income students don’t have access to the class, according to The 74, a nonprofit news organization covering education.

In the 2017-2018 school year, 76% of schools with “low student of color enrollment” offered calculus while 52% of schools with a high proportion of students of color offered the advanced math course, according to a Learning Policy Institute report. The course, teachers and activists argued, is disproportionately offered to students not of an underrepresented group, giving other students an advantage in the college admissions process, according to The 74.

University of Pennsylvania Allocates $890,000 for ‘Inclusivity in Teaching and Learning’ STEM plan

January 10, 2023January 9, 2023 Admin

The University of Pennsylvania will spend $890,000 in the next six years with the goal of “increasing inclusivity in teaching and learning” in the STEM fields thanks to a $385,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The funding “will support a rigorous examination of STEM education at the undergraduate level,” according to a university news release.

Penn officials committed an additional $385,000 to the initiative. Penn is just one of 104 schools who received the six-year grants from HHMI under their “Inclusive Excellence 3 initiative,” according to science research foundation’s website.

Scholars Work at ‘Decolonizing Light’ to Combat ‘Colonialism in Contemporary Physics’

December 19, 2022December 18, 2022 Admin

A group of scholars at Concordia University in Montreal have dedicated themselves to “Decolonizing Light.”

The effort is not about banning flashlights, but rather advancing other ways of knowing about light, science and physics.

The group’s tagline is “Tracing and countering colonialism in contemporary physics.”

Commentary: Debunking the Narrative on Women in STEM and Business

December 11, 2022December 10, 2022 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Across the globe, governments are removing legal barriers to women joining the workforce. At the same time, many companies and governments are pushing for equal numbers of women and men in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and entrepreneurship.

Stanford Professor Single-Handedly Debunks California’s Woke Math Standards

May 10, 2022May 9, 2022 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A Stanford University professor slammed California’s proposed Math Framework for being “false” and “misleading.”

Brian Conrad, Stanford University mathematics professor and director of Undergraduate Studies in Math, did a deep dive into the California Math Framework (CMF), which he laid out on his website. The proposal frequently contradicts the findings of academic studies its writers cite, according to Conrad’s analysis.

Study: Women Less Likely to Pursue STEM Careers in All 80 Countries Surveyed

February 4, 2022February 3, 2022 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Young women were five times less likely than young men to aspire toward STEM careers in 80 different countries, according to research and a report from the Institute for Family Studies published in late January.

Women preferred “people-oriented” careers such as nursing or teaching, while men preferred “things-oriented” careers generally falling into STEM or blue-collar categories, researchers reported.

University Spent $80,000 on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training for STEM Faculty

December 14, 2021December 13, 2021 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A recent FOIA request filed by Campus Reform revealed that the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) spent $80,000 on a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training created by the Kardia Group, LLC. The agreement was signed in 2018 and included two series of meetings and workshops for the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 semesters.

The Kardia Group was founded in 2004 and describes themselves as a “leading strategic partner in the transformation of the culture, functionality, and success of the academic endeavor.” Its website lists resources and services ranging from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to “transformational change for groups.”