Percentage of Engineering Degrees Earned by Women: A Decade-long Flatline

The American Society for Engineering Education annually collects student enrollment and graduation data from over 360 engineering schools and departments that have at least one ABET- accredited program. As shown in the table above, the percentage of undergraduate women graduating with an engineering degree has remained fairly constant during the past 10 years.

CHANCES UNCERTAIN FOR ‘MANUFACTURING UNIVERSITIES’ BILL

Bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate would provide up to $5 million a year for four years to each of 25 "manufacturing universities." Schools would gain the designation – and the money – based on such factors as their percentage of engineering graduates; graduate-degree holders with engineering jobs; involvement in manufacturing startups, and "the amount and purpose of the university’s R&D funding," according to a summary. Chief sponsors are Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) Their minority-party status is one reason GovTrack's formula gives the bill a 1 percent chance. They're joined by Republicans Lindsay Graham (S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), along with three GOP House members. But they're going to need Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and his Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, where the Senate bill now resides, to work it into a Higher Education Act reauthorization. Inclusion in COMPETES is iffy. The bill is backed by the Association of American Universities and Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, along with leading R&D firms and ASME. The 22 universities individually named in the summary as supporters appear to be mostly in sponsors' states. They include the Universities of Wisconsin and Delaware, UCs Davis and Irvine, Penn, Drexel, RPI, Clemson, and the SUNY system.

ANOTHER EFFORT UNDERWAY TO BOOST THE CAP ON H-1B VISAS

Business groups are again trying to persuade Congress to increase H-1B visas, now capped at 65,000, with another 20,000 available to people with advanced degrees, CQ reports. A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wants to raise the cap to 195,000, if economic conditions are right. Another bill would let up to 50,000 advanced degree recipients stay in the country for up to a year while looking for a job and stay permanently if working in a STEM field. Two thirds of H1-B holders are in the computer industry.

CONGRESS UNDER PRESSURE TO INCREASE SPENDING

The stringent GOP budget discipline imposed in 2011 appears to be weakening in the face of pressure to increase defense spending, White House veto threats, and pressure from interest groups. Following passage of budget resolutions in both the House and Senate late last month, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) "laid out a vision for a new round of sequester replacement talks similar to the negotiations that led to the 2013 bipartisan budget agreement," CQ reported. Earlier, the Senate narrowly approved – with support from five Republicans – a non-binding budget amendment that opened the door just a crack to tax hikes to pay for budget increases. Both House and Senate approved defense spending higher than proposed by the White House, but only through the off-budget overseas contingency operations (war) account.

III. KEYSIGHT TECHNOLOGIES
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NEW ‘NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND’ BILL SEEKS TO EASE CONCERNS

Fourteen years ago, Congress passed the George W. Bush administration’s main education program, No Child Left Behind, which was an effort to push states to improve failing schools. It used standardized test scores as its main metric, and punished schools that did not make annual progress on improving scores. The bill expired in in 2007 and has not been reauthorized, mainly because of bipartisan opposition. Republicans disliked the authority it gave the federal Department of Education to approve or reject state standards; and Democrats were sympathetic to teachers’ unions, which opposed using test results to measure job performance. Now a new bipartisan plan has been hatched in the Senate, according to the New York Times. It wouldn’t formally require states to base teacher performance on test results. And while it would require states to put into place “challenging” reading, math and science standards, it would no longer allow the Education Department to vet those standards, and leave to states decisions on how best to deal with troubled schools.

SEATTLE SEEKS TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE TECH INDUSTRY

The Seattle Times notes that next fall 10 of the city’s high schools, and three middle schools, will start to offer a range of computer-science classes. It’s an effort to prepare Seattle students to take advantage of the state’s growing tech industry. A 2013 study found that Washington state employers could not fill 20,000 jobs – from computer science to health care – that required STEM knowledge. Another study in 2014 found that only 9 percent of Washington students end up working in STEM jobs, so that means the vast majority of the state’s best-paying and fastest-growing jobs are being filled with workers from other states and countries, the Times says. The paper acknowledges that the city’s K-12 system needs to also do a better job at training teachers in computer science. One possible solution: recruiting industry professionals to co-teach classes alongside certified teachers. The paper applauded a new measure that recently passed the state legislature’s House and is now in its Senate; it would set standards and make funding available for training teachers in computer science. It also urges lawmakers to beef up the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, which awards scholarships in STEM subjects.

CANADIAN TEAM FINDS CHEAP, EASY WAY TO PRINT BIOSENSORS

Efforts to print biosensors have not gone too smoothly. They can require a lot of work and money, are difficult to create and even harder to mass produce. But researchers at McMaster University in Canada may have solved those problems. They’ve devised a way to produce “bio-inks” that will work in conventional ink-jet printers and spit out sheets of paper containing man-made DNA molecules with very high molecular weight. The printed DNA emits a signal when it comes into contact with a specific disease biomarker. Moreover, the paper sensors emerge from the printer ready to use. Cheaply printed biosensors could be used in packaging to warn if food inside has become contaminated with deadly bacteria, including E.coli or Salmonella. And in doctors’ offices, the sensors could allow for inexpensive, real-time diagnoses of infections. Because the method can be extended to almost any compound, including small molecules, bacteria cells or viruses, researchers say, it has potentially hundreds of other possible uses, ranging from cancer detection to monitoring water supplies.

DENIZENS OF THE DEEP INSPIRE NEW TYPE OF BODY ARMOR

Yet again, researchers have used bio-mimicry to develop a new product, in this case, body armor that’s both tough and flexible. It’s based on fish scales. Researchers from MIT and Israel’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology made a prototype of the armor, which has overlapping layers of hard scales and soft, tissue-like material, according to Newsweek. The stiff plates have the potential to be highly resistant to penetration even though the armor would only marginally reduce the user’s flexibility. Newsweek reports that the material will soon undergo testing with bullets and other fast-moving projectiles. Clearly the fish-scale armor would have military applications, but the team also says it could be used to protect space-walking astronauts from radiation and micro-meteorites. The researchers tell the magazine that the armor can be fine-tuned so that full-body suits would be more supple around joints, like knees and elbows.

VI. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

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2015 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

WHAT: Join the American Society for Engineering Education for its 122nd Annual Conference & Exposition

WHERE: In Seattle, WA

WHEN: June 14 - 17, 2015

WHY: The ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition is the only conference dedicated to all disciplines of engineering education. It is committed to fostering the exchange of ideas, enhancing teaching methods and curriculum, and providing prime networking opportunities for engineering and technology education stakeholders such as deans, faculty members and industry and government representatives.

ENGINEERING RESEARCH COUNCIL VIDEOS

See a playlist of 11 videos, including presentations by officials and experts from U.S. science agencies, the White House, and elsewhere. Also, watch videos from the deans' public policy colloquium.

NEW STUDENT CHAPTER

With the support of Interim Dean Chilukuri K. Mohan, an ASEE student chapter has been formed at Syracuse University. The chapter, ASEE @ SU, was shaped under the guidance of student chapter faculty advisor Mark Glauser. PhD Research Assistant Carli Flynn will serve as the chapter’s first president.

HERE’S WHAT’S PLANNED FOR THE MAY/JUNE 2015 EDITION OF PRISM:

COVER STORY— ET: Long overshadowed by traditional engineering teaching and scholarship, engineering technology finds itself newly relevant, with its hands-on teaching gaining converts and advanced manufacturers needing its talent.

FEATURE ARTICLE — SAFE ZONES: ASEE’s 2014 conference included a series of workshops providing ways that engineering schools could create “safe zones” for students who consider themselves marginalized, particularly lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals. Nearly a year later, what has been the impact?

Do you have a comment or suggestion for Connections?

Please let us know. Email us at: connections@asee.org. Thanks.

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