Category Archives: Computer Science
Center to advance predictive simulation research established at MIT Schwarzman College of Computing – MIT News
Understanding the degradation of materials in extreme environments is a scientific problem with major technological applications, ranging from spaceflight to industrial and nuclear safety. Yet it presents an intrinsic challenge: Researchers cannot easily reproduce these environments in the laboratory or observe essential degradation processes in real-time. Computational modeling and simulation have consequently become indispensable tools in helping to predict the behavior of complex materials across a range of strenuous conditions
At MIT, a new research effort aims to advance the state-of-the-art in predictive simulation as well as shape new interdisciplinary graduate education programs at the intersection of computational science and computer science.
Strengthening engagement with the sciences
The Center for Exascale Simulation of Materials in Extreme Environments (CESMIX) based at the Center for Computational Science and Engineering (CCSE) within the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing will bring together researchers in numerical algorithms and scientific computing, quantum chemistry, materials science, and computer science to connect quantum and molecular simulations of materials with advanced programming languages, compiler technologies, and software performance engineering tools, underpinned by rigorous approaches to statistical inference and uncertainty quantification.
One of the goals of CESMIX is to build a substantive link between computer science and computational science and engineering, something that historically has been hard to do, but is sorely needed, says Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. The center will also provide opportunities for faculty, researchers, and students across MIT to interact intellectually and create a new synthesis of different disciplines, which is central to the mission of the college.
Leading the project as principal investigator is Youssef Marzouk, professor of aeronautics and astronautics and co-director of CCSE, which was renamed from the Center of Computational Engineering in January to reflect its strengthening engagement with the sciences at MIT. Marzouk, who is also a member of the Statistics and Data Science Center, notes that CESMIX is trying to do two things simultaneously. On the one hand, we want to solve an incredibly challenging multiscale simulation problem, harnessing quantum mechanical models of complex materials to achieve unprecedented accuracy at the engineering scale. On the other hand, we want to create tools that make development and holistic performance engineering of the associated software stack as easy as possible, to achieve top performance on the coming generation of exascale computational hardware.
The project involves participation from an interdisciplinary cohort of eight faculty members, serving as co-PIs, and research scientists spanning multiple labs and departments at MIT. The full list of participants includes:
MIT was among a total of nine universities selected as part of the Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program (PSAAP) III to form a new center to support science-based modeling and simulation and exascale computing technologies. This is the third time that PSAAP centers have been awarded by the U.S. Department of Energys National Nuclear Security Administration (DoE/NNSA) since the program launched in 2008 and is the first time that the Institute has ever been selected. MIT is one of just two institutions nationwide chosen to establish a Single-Discipline Center in this round and will receive up to $9.5 million in funding through a cooperative agreement over five years.
Advancing predictive simulation
CESMIX will focus on exascale simulation of materials in hypersonic flow environments. It will also drive the development of new predictive simulation paradigms and computer science tools for the exascale. Researchers will specifically aim to predict the degradation of complex (disordered and multi-component) materials under extreme loading inaccessible to direct experimental observation an application representing a technology domain of intense current interest, and one that exemplifies an important class of scientific problems involving material interfaces in extreme environments.
A big challenge here is in being able to predict what reactions will occur and what new molecules will form under these conditions. While quantum mechanical modeling will enable us to predict these events, we also need to be able to address the times and length scalesof these processes, says Kulik, who is also a faculty member of CCSE. Our efforts will be focused on developing the needed software and machine learning tools that tell us when more affordable physical models can address the length scalechallenge and when we need quantum mechanics to address the accuracy challenge.
CESMIX researchers plan on disseminating their results via multiple open-source software projects, engaging their developer and user communities. The project will also support the work of postdocs, graduate students, and research scientists at MIT with the overarching goal of creating new paradigms of practice for the next generation of computational scientists.
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Computer scientist James Allen named AAAS fellow – University of Rochester
November 24, 2020
University of Rochester computer science professor James Allen (University of Rochester photo / J. Adam Fenster)
James Allen, the John H. Dessauer Professor of Computer Science at the University of Rochester, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
AAAS, the worlds largest general scientific society, elects fellows based on distinguished scientific and social efforts to advance science or its applications.
Allen, who is also associate director and a senior researcher at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, is one of 489 fellows chosen this year. He is being recognized for broad contributions to artificial intelligence and natural language understanding, including seminal contributions in temporal logic.
His contributions include PLOW (Procedure Learning on the Web), a system that enables a user to teach the computer to perform tasks on the web, and TRIPS (The Rochester Interactive Planning System), an intelligent planning assistant that interacts with its human manager using a combination of natural language and graphical displays.
Allen joined the Department of Computer Science at Rochester in 1979 as an assistant professor after completing his PhD in computer science at the University of Toronto. He served as chair of the department from 1987 to 1990 and received the William H. Riker Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching in 1997. He has supervised 34 PhD students.
Allen is a recipient of a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award. He recently also received the Herbert Simon Award from the Cognitive Systems Foundation. A fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and the Cognitive Science Society, Allen was editor-in-chief of the journal Computational Linguistics from 19831993.
Tags: AAAS, announcement, award, Department of Computer Science, Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, James Allen
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Computer scientist James Allen named AAAS fellow - University of Rochester
MIT’s New Center to Advance Predictive Simulation Research Will Focus on Exascale Simulation of Materials in Hypersonic Flow Environments -…
CESMIX will focus on exascale simulation of materials in hypersonic flow environments. It will also drive the development of new predictive simulation paradigms and computer science tools for the exascale. Pictured is an illustration of a hypersonic vehicle, where materials needed for thermal protection are subject to extreme loading. Credit: U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Center to advance predictive simulation research established at MIT Schwarzman College of Computing
MIT is among nine universities selected as part of a program sponsored by the DoE to support science-based modeling and simulation and exascale computing technologies.
Understanding the degradation of materials in extreme environments is a scientific problem with major technological applications, ranging from spaceflight to industrial and nuclear safety. Yet it presents an intrinsic challenge: Researchers cannot easily reproduce these environments in the laboratory or observe essential degradation processes in real-time. Computational modeling and simulation have consequently become indispensable tools in helping to predict the behavior of complex materials across a range of strenuous conditions.
At MIT, a new research effort aims to advance the state-of-the-art in predictive simulation as well as shape new interdisciplinary graduate education programs at the intersection of computational science and computer science.
The Center for Exascale Simulation of Materials in Extreme Environments (CESMIX) based at the Center for Computational Science and Engineering (CCSE) within the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing will bring together researchers in numerical algorithms and scientific computing, quantum chemistry, materials science, and computer science to connect quantum and molecular simulations of materials with advanced programming languages, compiler technologies, and software performance engineering tools, underpinned by rigorous approaches to statistical inference and uncertainty quantification.
One of the goals of CESMIX is to build a substantive link between computer science and computational science and engineering, something that historically has been hard to do, but is sorely needed, says Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. The center will also provide opportunities for faculty, researchers, and students across MIT to interact intellectually and create a new synthesis of different disciplines, which is central to the mission of the college.
Leading the project as principal investigator is Youssef Marzouk, professor of aeronautics and astronautics and co-director of CCSE, which was renamed from the Center of Computational Engineering in January to reflect its strengthening engagement with the sciences at MIT. Marzouk, who is also a member of the Statistics and Data Science Center, notes that CESMIX is trying to do two things simultaneously. On the one hand, we want to solve an incredibly challenging multiscale simulation problem, harnessing quantum mechanical models of complex materials to achieve unprecedented accuracy at the engineering scale. On the other hand, we want to create tools that make development and holistic performance engineering of the associated software stack as easy as possible, to achieve top performance on the coming generation of exascale computational hardware.
The project involves participation from an interdisciplinary cohort of eight faculty members, serving as co-PIs, and research scientists spanning multiple labs and departments at MIT. The full list of participants includes:
MIT was among a total of nine universities selected as part of the Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program (PSAAP) III to form a new center to support science-based modeling and simulation and exascale computing technologies. This is the third time that PSAAP centers have been awarded by the U.S. Department of Energys National Nuclear Security Administration (DoE/NNSA) since the program launched in 2008 and is the first time that the Institute has ever been selected. MIT is one of just two institutions nationwide chosen to establish a Single-Discipline Center in this round and will receive up to $9.5 million in funding through a cooperative agreement over five years.
CESMIX will focus on exascale simulation of materials in hypersonic flow environments. It will also drive the development of new predictive simulation paradigms and computer science tools for the exascale. Researchers will specifically aim to predict the degradation of complex (disordered and multi-component) materials under extreme loading inaccessible to direct experimental observation an application representing a technology domain of intense current interest, and one that exemplifies an important class of scientific problems involving material interfaces in extreme environments.
A big challenge here is in being able to predict what reactions will occur and what new molecules will form under these conditions. While quantum mechanical modeling will enable us to predict these events, we also need to be able to address the times and length scalesof these processes, says Kulik, who is also a faculty member of CCSE. Our efforts will be focused on developing the needed software and machine learning tools that tell us when more affordable physical models can address the length scalechallenge and when we need quantum mechanics to address the accuracy challenge.
CESMIX researchers plan on disseminating their results via multiple open-source software projects, engaging their developer and user communities. The project will also support the work of postdocs, graduate students, and research scientists at MIT with the overarching goal of creating new paradigms of practice for the next generation of computational scientists.
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4-H ignites a passion for science and technology in Minnesota youth – Southernminn.com
Imagine. Your whole body vibrates as your spacecraft prepares for ascent; indicator knobs light up like fireworks in the sky. With hands-on activities in tow; space command counts down for your departure...three, two, one BLAST OFF.
4-H STEM programming, from engineering to drone racing to polymer science, offers youth of all ages the chance to explore and discover a universe of exciting opportunities.
Our goal for 4-H STEM experiences is for youth to find their spark, said Michael Compton, Extension educator and director of 4-H STEM programs. And we want to help them become better communicators, problem solvers, decision makers, and collaborators too.
14,487 Minnesota youth took part in 4-H technology and engineering experiences last year.
Constructing a new world
Red dust makes clouds in the atmosphere as we land at our first stop on this 4-H STEM adventure. Craters and canyons engrave the rock. We are just about ready to explore, but first we need our spacesuits!
40 youth from 10 Minnesota counties are engaged in five, 30 minute sessions during the week of Nov. 16 through Nov. 24 in the exploration called Mission to Mars. This hybrid learning series combines live online sessions with hands-on learning activities that ensure young participants can dig deep into the wonders of building a life on Mars.
Each participant received an at-home learning kit to support their experience. The kits included all the supplies necessary for hands-on activities that explore how mechanical engineering, physics, computer science and agriculture play critical roles in creating inhabitable societies.
At live online meetings, youth interact with one another, share what they learned from the at-home activities and work together to complete a weekly mission. The Nov. 17 session, called Red Planet Odyssey Adventure, challenged youth to use a set list of materials to build their very own rovers that could explore the surface of Mars (or their living room).
The combination of collaborative and independent learning creates space for youth to explore what gets them excited and share their learning with others who have similar passions. I learned that Mariner 9 mapped 85% of the Mars surface and sent back over 7,000 images to Earth! said Sydney Ogren of Anoka County. Her excitement and surprise was shared by Aliee Ravinski from St. Louis County, who was shocked to learn that Mars temperature is inhabitable to humans. I didnt know Mars has permafrost! she said with clear enthusiasm.
Engineering a better drone
After the exciting visit to our Mission to Mars, we descend back to Earth and land in Chisago County where 4-Hers are exploring robotics, coding and aerospace engineering in the 4-H Drones Club. This new STEM program is for youth in grades 6-13 who are curious about hands-on career options in tech.
When in session, club members learn how to build drones from scratch, practice drone flying using computer simulation and design drone race courses for real world experience. I learned how to fly and solder a drone, said Marshall Tveit, a 13 year old from Isanti County. And Im better able to explain new things when showing them to people.
Extension Educators Jeremy Freeman (Chisago) and Jennifer Johnson (Isanti) brought drone programming to 4-H beginning of 2019 in partnership with Youth Drone Sports. Not only do youth explore the mechanics of drone design, they also get to meet people from different backgrounds and walks of life, said Freeman. Our club members have been invited to drone flying competitions across the Twin Cities since the program began and have met some great people.
The 4-H Drone Club is scheduled to expand to Benton and Isanti Counties with the goal of tripling total capacity.
Discovering new possibilities
After all that flying, were settling back into life on Earths surface. Our legs feel like jelly but were on the path to learn even more about how STEM makes a difference for our communities and world.
The 4-H Green Superheroes of Science League is a learning series that engages kindergarten through third grade youth in experiments connected to polymer science. There are 59 youth from 23 Minnesota counties who are participating this fall.
The goal of the program is to excite our youngest 4-H members in science and engineering, says Anne Stevenson, Extension educator, and member of the 4-H STEM team. We want all young people to develop science skills such as making observations using their senses, and planning and conducting investigations.
The 4-H Green Superheroes meet weekly online to show and tell what they explored, tested and discovered during video-guided at-home experiments. Hannah Grant, a 7 year old from Goodhue County talked about her discoveries during the programs first experiment: How to make the best slime. She tried two different slime recipes; one provided by a 4-H teen teacher and the other of her own creation, and then compared their properties. Each was different, she said Sometimes things can be good in different ways.
4-H offers a variety of STEM learning experiences for youth of all ages. Find your next 4-H STEM adventure on our website.
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4-H ignites a passion for science and technology in Minnesota youth - Southernminn.com
HCCC Offers Opportunities for Adjunct Faculty and Instructors at Virtual Job Fair – The Hudson Reporter
Hudson County Community College (HCCC) will host a Virtual Job Fair on Monday, December 7, from 4 7 p.m. for those interested in serving on the Colleges award-winning team of educators.
Opportunities are available for online, remote, and on-campus instruction as Adjunct Faculty and Instructors in the following areas:
For additional information, candidates for employment as adjunct faculty and instructors may contact Lilisa Williams, Director of Faculty and Staff Development, at lwilliams@hccc.edu. A masters degree in the discipline taught is required, except for Continuing Education, Workforce Development, and Culinary Arts, which require a Bachelors degree. College teaching skills are preferred. Additional requirements include flexible scheduling and willingness to attend professional development and required Human Resources training.
Information is available at http://hccc.edu/ajf2020/. Interested candidates may register for the Virtual Job Fair at https://tinyurl.com/jobfairHCCC. Event Number: 132 309 5075; Password: AFVC2020.
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Missouri S&T News and Events Missouri S&T faculty honored for outstanding teaching – Missouri S&T News and Research
Forty-two faculty members from Missouri University of Science and Technology have been honored with the Outstanding Teaching Award based on their end-of-course evaluation scores for academic year 2019-20. An additional 35 faculty members received an Outstanding Teaching Commendation.
Two faculty members are also being honored with the Sustained Excellence in Outstanding Teaching Award, which recognizes faculty members who have received Outstanding Teaching Awards for at least nine out of the last 10 years.
Recipients of the Sustained Excellence in Outstanding Teaching Award will receive a monetary award, which is provided by theForsee Family Engineering Faculty Fund, Finley Faculty Enhancement endowment and the Class of 1937 Faculty Excellence endowment.
University officials plan to formally recognize the award recipients at a banquet this coming spring.
The 2019-20 Sustained Excellence in Outstanding Teaching Award will be presented to:
The 42 S&T faculty members who will be honored with the Outstanding Teaching Award for 2019-20 are:
The 35 faculty members who received the Outstanding Teaching Commendation for 2019-2020 are:
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Artificial Intelligence Is Now Smart Enough to Know When It Can’t Be Trusted – ScienceAlert
How might The Terminator have played out if Skynet had decided it probably wasn't responsible enough to hold the keys to the entire US nuclear arsenal? As it turns out, scientists may just have saved us from such a future AI-led apocalypse, by creating neural networks that know when they're untrustworthy.
These deep learning neural networks are designed to mimic the human brain by weighing up a multitude of factors in balance with each other, spotting patterns in masses of data that humans don't have the capacity to analyse.
While Skynet might still be some way off, AI is already making decisions in fields that affect human lives like autonomous driving and medical diagnosis, and that means it's vital that they're as accurate as possible. To help towards this goal, this newly created neural network system can generate its confidence level as well as its predictions.
"We need the ability to not only have high-performance models, but also to understand when we cannot trust those models," says computer scientist Alexander Aminifrom the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
This self-awareness of trustworthiness has been given the name Deep Evidential Regression, and it bases its scoring on the quality of the available data it has to work with the more accurate and comprehensive the training data, the more likely it is that future predictions are going to work out.
The research team compares it to a self-driving car having different levels of certainty about whether to proceed through a junction or whether to wait, just in case, if the neural network is less confident in its predictions. The confidence rating even includes tips for getting the rating higher (by tweaking the network or the input data, for instance).
While similar safeguards have been built into neural networks before, what sets this one apart is the speed at which it works, without excessive computing demands it can be completed in one run through the network, rather than several, with a confidence level outputted at the same time as a decision.
"This idea is important and applicable broadly," says computer scientist Daniela Rus. "It can be used to assess products that rely on learned models. By estimating the uncertainty of a learned model, we also learn how much error to expect from the model, and what missing data could improve the model."
The researchers tested their new system by getting it to judge depths in different parts of an image, much like a self-driving car might judge distance. The network compared well to existing setups, while also estimating its own uncertainty the times it was least certain were indeed the times it got the depths wrong.
As an added bonus, the network was able to flag up times when it encountered images outside of its usual remit (so very different to the data it had been trained on) which in a medical situation could mean getting a doctor to take a second look.
Even if a neural network is right 99 percent of the time, that missing 1 percent can have serious consequences, depending on the scenario. The researchers say they're confident that their new, streamlined trust test can help improve safety in real time, although the work has not yet been peer-reviewed.
"We're starting to see a lot more of these [neural network] models trickle out of the research lab and into the real world, into situations that are touching humans with potentially life-threatening consequences," says Amini.
"Any user of the method, whether it's a doctor or a person in the passenger seat of a vehicle, needs to be aware of any risk or uncertainty associated with that decision."
The research is being presented at the NeurIPS conference in December, and anonline paperis available.
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Artificial Intelligence Is Now Smart Enough to Know When It Can't Be Trusted - ScienceAlert
Students and schools in the news – Blue Springs Examiner
The Examiner
Redhage and Wood do well atforensics tournament
Casie Redhage of Blue Springs and Drake Wood of Lees Summit, students at Simpson College in Iowa, participated in the Oct. 16-17 speech and debate tournament at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo. Both achieved finalist status in the public forum debate competition and helped the Simpson College team capture first place in the team sweepstakes and third place in the individual event sweepstakes.
Blue Springs resident honored at Colgate University
Savanna England, a graduate of Blue Springs High School, is a member of the Colgate University class of 2020, majoring in molecular biology. England has earned the deans award with distinction, having earned a grade-point average of 3.6 or higher.
Blue Springs resident In Nebraska marching band
Patrick Orel of Blue Springs is a junior computer science major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he plays horn in the marching band.
Local Students graduate From Missouri State University
On Oct. 11, an in-person commencement ceremony was held for spring and summer graduates of Missouri State University in Springfield. Local students who were honored at that ceremony include:
Blue Springs: Jana Hester, master of arts.
Independence: Heidi Jennifer Banks, bachelor of science; Jason A. Grubb, master of science in education; Caitlin Celest Braton Sifuentes, bachelor of science, magna cum laude.
Lees Summit: Simon Reagan Ales, bachelor of science; James Bailey Bertken, bachelor of science; Chase Alexander Chancy, bachelor of science; Samuel Michael Dow, bachelor of science; Natalie R. Pritchett, bachelor of science; Clara Richardson, bachelor of science; Jacob Riley, bachelor of science; Evan Lake Robertson, bachelor of science; Jaclyn S. Roemer, bachelor of science.
Raytown: Aurora A. Barrera, bachelor of science; Nathan Alexander Harrel, bachelor of science; Claire Danielle Quin, master of science.
Examiner staff
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This learning platform is proving adults can benefit greatly from learning math and science – iMore
Throughout our childhoods, we're taught skills such as science and mathematics to develop our critical thinking skills and prepare us for adulthood. However, learning shouldn't end when your schooling does. Why? To start, those who adopt a learner's mindset beyond traditional schooling are more likely tosucceed in their professionalandpersonal lives.
You can't cultivate a curious mind overnight, though. Developing a growth mindset requires action, namely the willingness to seek challenges, identify areas of improvement, and learn from mistakes. Luckily, you don't have to go back to school to develop (or re-develop) a learner's mindset. WithBrilliant, you'll learn how to look at challenges a new way while satisfying your craving for knowledge. Plus, if you're one of the first 200 iMore readers to sign up, you'll get20% off your first yearof Brilliant Premium that's $30 off.
Brilliantis an online platform built for students, professionals, and lifelong learners who want to build quantitative skills in math, science, and computer science withfun and challenging educational content. You'll find over 60 courses ranging from fundamentals to intermediate and advanced courses for professionals. Don't just expect a bunch of textbook questions and simple brainteasers, either. Each course is designed so that you can approach concepts visually and interact with them directly, allowing you to see math and science in a new way.
Brilliant's courses are developed by experts such as award-winning teachers, researchers, and professionals from organizations like MIT, Caltech, Microsoft, Google, and more, so you can rest assured that you're learning from the best. Additionally, not only will completing these courses satisfy your curiosity, but they're also designed to make you curious about the next topic, creating an environment where your learning is rewarded with the thirst for more knowledge.
For example, one of the Foundational Computer Science courses thatBrilliantoffers isIntroduction to Neural Networks, which features over 195 concepts and exercises on how to dissect the machinery behind neural networks and understand what types of problems they can solve. This course covers topics such as AI, classification, backpropagation, logic gates, and more. Completing this course fulfills one of your prerequisites for theArtificial Neural Networkscourse under Applied Computer Science, which in turn will set you up for theComputational BiologyandMachine Learningcourses.
Over 48,000 usersare learning with Brilliant, and for good reason. Don't forget, be one of the first 200 iMore readers to sign up andget 20% off your first year.
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This learning platform is proving adults can benefit greatly from learning math and science - iMore
McGrath one of 10 women to earn STEM scholarship – The Riverdale Press
By ROSE BRENNAN
These days, participating in online videoconferencing calls have become mundane. But when a particular Zoom call is open to just 10 people across North America, it can become exciting and new all over again.
Such was the case for Grace McGrath, a Riverdale resident and junior at City College of New York, selected as one of 2020s Palantir Women in Technology Scholars. And thats no small feat, as she stood among only nine other women representing colleges across North America, including Yale and Cornell universities.
McGraths interest in STEM really kicked off when she was in high school. She enjoyed computer science, but also fell in love with physics. So as college approached, McGrath began looking for a perfect fusion of interests she could pursue as a major.
I was like, Let me find something that combines my interest in computer science and computers, as well as my interest in physics, McGrath said. I decided to go with electrical engineering because I was interested in learning more about the hardware.
Once she began studying at City College, McGrath joined clubs focused on science, technology, math and engineering. She sees her membership in Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York better known as WiTNY as particularly pivotal.
The program matches students with winter and summer internships in their respective fields.
And the companies the women get matched with arent just mom-and-pop engineering start-ups. McGrath scored an internship at Bitly, a tech company many might recognize whenever they need to shrink a URL down to size.
WiTNY definitely set me up to be successful and be able to apply for scholarships, McGrath said. Ive definitely learned a lot, and Im so grateful for that.
McGrath also is involved in several other STEM organizations at City College, receiving a Turner Construction engineering scholarship last year through the Society of Women Engineers another organization fighting for womens equity and accessibility in STEM fields.
Through all of this, McGrath remains one of City Colleges top students. Shes enrolled in its honors college and is on the deans list. Shes also a part of the national engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi.
McGrath learned of Palantir Technologys scholarship through her women in computer science club. The Denver-based Palintir is a company focused on data analysis, reportedly earning its name from the magical seeing stones featured in J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings.
As a Women in Technology Scholar, McGrath was awarded a $7,000 grant she could apply toward college tuition and other expenses. She also attended a full-day professional development workshop hosted by Palantir.
Normally, that workshop would be held in-person at Palantirs Palo Alto, California, facility, coming complete with an all-expenses paid trip there and back. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, that trip wasnt possible for McGraths cohort of scholars.
But Palantir remained committed to the professional development day theyd promised, instead hosting it over Zoom. For McGrath, that day was priceless, regardless of whether she was crossing the county in plane or not.
Its not the same as going out there, but I still got to talk to all the same people, and we still had the same workshop, she said. I got to speak to a lot of different engineers and people who work at Palantir, and just got a lot of advice about starting your tech career.
Why is there a focus on womens professional development in STEM fields, specifically? Regardless of gender, the math- and science-heavy subjects could be challenging to almost any student. And women in those fields might need an extra boost not because theyre less talented, but because theyre less represented.
Engineering of nearly any specialty continues to be one of the most male-dominated disciplines in the United States. A Georgetown University study showed that 9 out of 10 students majoring in McGraths field of electrical engineering were men.
Other STEM disciplines face the same gender gap. In the same Georgetown study, marine, nuclear, mechanical and mineral engineering were almost completely male at the undergraduate level.
The STEM gender gap might present a less than ideal landscape for women hoping to pursue careers in them. But scholarship programs like Palantirs exist to combat that gap, McGrath said. And their continued existence might create a brighter future for women who want to pursue STEM not to make a statement, but because its what they like to do.
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McGrath one of 10 women to earn STEM scholarship - The Riverdale Press