Science is the new black.
It impacts everyone, solves the world’s problems and ironically, there’s a disconnect: a skills gap equating to a shortage of professionals pursuing careers in science and STEM. This is juxtaposed with a strong demand and continued growth in a field that fuels innovation and offers job security. (For instance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, mathematical sciences is expected to grow by 28.2% by 2024.)
I sat down with Dr. Jayshree Seth, 3M chief science advocate, and Katie Couric, award-winning journalist, to talk about destigmatizing science, removing barriers to entry and how to pursue one of these hot jobs especially if you don’t necessarily have a Ph.D. (Here’s a hint: for numerous science-related jobs, you don’t need one. Yes, soft skills—like effective communications—matter.)
According to the 3M’s 2019 State of Science Index, 72% of Americans surveyed are curious about science, yet 75% say they know little to nothing about science.
Seth explains, “People have compartmentalized science that you have to look a certain way, you have to do a certain thing and that’s doing a disservice to science and scientists. People are very easy to deselect and say, ‘Oh, I’m not a scientist’ or ‘I don’t know enough about science.’ They are associating science with a particular career or a particular field or a particular person or a particular gender. The point that we’re trying to make is that science is everywhere, science impacts everybody.”
In fact, Seth’s daughter became interested in science by default — baking prompted her to dance with curiosity. Her daughter asked why measurements matter. Once water, yeast and sugar were doubled, she got excited. “She said, ‘When the bread comes out, nobody touch it! I need to take a picture first. ‘We’re like, ‘Oh, you’re a good scientist! Look at you, look at this. What happened when you added sugar? What happened when you added yeast?’”
Turns out, Seth's elementary school-aged daughter’s baking project essentially became a science project. “Then she won at the state! She was like, ‘Oh I like this, but I don’t like science.’ Even as a little girl, she identified science as something that was unattainable or perhaps her gender and this is fundamentally the issue. When people say they are skeptical of science, they are not even sure what they are skeptical of because 87% of the people in the survey said science is needed to solve the problems of the world.”
Seth says trust is part of the equation. “We have a trust paradox. If you trust something, then you will attempt to understand it. But if you don’t even trust it, then you won’t understand it. And if you don’t understand it, you can’t trust it. And then you get into that situation so the only way to break it is to systematically break down the barriers and how we communicate it. The context of bread making — what you were doing and how you observe — was way more important than saying, ‘You’re doing science now, missy.’””
The narrative of solving problems that make the world a better place puts science in the overall context. Couric says, “At a very early age, we need to do a better job of representing all kinds of people who are in science so that your daughter doesn’t get the impression that it’s not for her and she’s not interested so we need to ignite the imagination of these young people by representing all sorts of people. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. Showing themselves reflected in all these careers. People of color, women...when you Google scientists or doctors, you mostly get photographs of white men in lab coats.”
The intrinsic conditioning is so deep, self-awareness may be lacking, too. Couric says, “We get so conditioned from an early age to have specific gender roles and I don’t even think we realize it’s all around you.” She did a documentary featuring a BBC experiment about gender equality in which caregivers changed toddler-aged boys into girls’ clothes and girls into boys’ clothes. The caretakers gave girls dolls and stuffed animals and treated them gingerly whereas the boys were given puzzles and building blocks that helped develop spatial reasoning.
Couric explains, “Afterwards, when the caregivers were told about the experiment, they could not believe how gendered their behavior was towards these little children. From an early age we’re conditioned to make these associations that science is for boys or for white males and that these careers are kind of off limits for certain people. I think we have to be super cognizant that we can start separating these implicit associations we make with people and careers.”
That applies to parents to keep their own insecurities at bay. According to the survey, 87% of Americans are more likely to encourage kids to pursue a career in science, and yet 44% said are less likely to say they are a science or math person. Similarly, 47% said they’re less likely to pursue a science career if they could go back in time.
“Nurture curiosity,” advises Couric. “When their kids are walking around the park, talking about things and observing the role science plays in our everyday lives, [be aware of] not sending mixed messages about ‘I’m not good at science or math.’”
Then there’s the genius factor, too. Over 80% respondents in the survey said that it’s important for everybody to know science or have that rudimentary mindset and yet they feel uncomfortable and they lack confidence.
“Most people think that science is for geniuses. In fact, last year we had 37 percent [of people in the survey] say science is for geniuses so it’s the whole Einstein thing and all of that and that’s why people like me say, ‘OK, there’s no chance that I was a genius and yes, I have to work hard in a STEM career, but you have to work hard everywhere.’”
Seth’s advice: don’t let that scare you and “don’t self-select out of certain things because you think you can’t do it. You are much needed.”
Considering an estimated 2.4 million jobs may remain unfulfilled due to the skills gap, the jobs exist, the skills may not be there yet, but they are attainable.
So, if you’re thinking about a career change, every job in this field of demand doesn’t require workers to have earned their Ph.D. In fact, a Pew Center Research Analysis examined the STEM workforce from 1990 to 2016 and revealed that 36% of STEM workers have not completed a bachelor’s or higher-level degree.
“Part of it is retraining and on the job training,” notes Seth. “There’s are a lot of things you can do by just going to school just enough to know those areas and then rise up other ways, but it’s retraining.”
Couric says, “I think somebody mid-career can take a coding class and they can shadow people and talk to people. Often times, English majors make the best doctors. You don’t have to necessarily be a super science geek. In fact, some of these other skills make you a better rounded person. I deal with a lot of cancer scientists and someone told me that in medical schools, sometimes they’re looking for people who have a whole different skill set which is really adds to their repertoire of skills as scientists or doctors.”
At the end of the day, it’s about identifying and solving problems. “Diversity is critical to problem solving,” says Seth. “Even if you don’t have a hard core STEM degree, you can be part of a team that is engrossed in a STEM initiative. It’s still important to have those complementary skill sets.”
