Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education is vital to foster the next generation of innovators in America. With STEM occupations predicted by the Department of Commerce to grow nearly twice as fast as non-STEM professions between 2008 and 2018, the Obama administration has vowed to produce 1 million additional STEM graduates over the next decade–the amount needed to fill the workforce pipeline. And while the participation of students in STEM fields in the U.S. lags behind that of scholars internationally, the number is far lower among minorities, specifically African Americans, Latinos and women.
Black Enterprise and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will host a symposium at our Women of Power Summit entitled, “Educating Our Daughters: Preparing the Next Generation of Women of Power,†with Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant, Ella Edmondson Bell, Associate Professor of Business Administration at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth; Sandra Finley, President of the League of Black Women; Rose Stuckey Kirk, President of the Verizon Foundation; Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., President of Spelman College; and Suzanne Walsh,  Deputy Director on the Postsecondary Success Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  The speakers will discuss how to increase the number of black women in industries related to STEM.
We recently caught up with Dr. Tatum to talk about the future of STEM education, how to create an innovative ecosystem for the next gen and the college’s all-women, African-American, undergraduate robotics team.
How can educators and program organizers not only get more people of color involved in STEM, but actually retain that talent?
I think the key to both recruiting and retaining young people in these fields where they’re so underrepresented is really rooted in effective mentoring. When someone you know inspires you and encourages you to pursue an interest, and encourages you when the going gets rough. If you’re working toward an important goal, they’re going to be moments when we get discouraged, so it’s very
helpful to have access to someone who can say, ‘I’ve felt that way,’ or ‘I’ve been through that, but hang in there’ and ‘yes, I understand that code’s not working like you want it to right now, but keeping working with it, it’ll pay off.’STEM fields provide a foundation of skills. You mentioned leadership being one of them. What other skills would you say the STEM fields prepare graduates for, especially in the realm of business?
When we think about what the skills are that are needed to be a successful business person, we certainly need leadership, but we also need the ability to think critically, analyze problems, present solutions, implement those solutions; and you need persistence and a certain kind of stamina and self-confidence because, as we know, business has its ups and downs. Â You have to be able to persist through moments or periods of difficulty and discouragements, as well as appropriately plan for the future.
The goal of the Spelman College SpelBots robotics team is to encourage students and young women of African descent to explore robotics and computer science. How has the team worked to fill the STEM pipeline?
In the past year, they have done demonstrations around Atlanta but also at UCLA, Georgia Tech, which is of course here in Atlanta, but working here with local middle schools and high schools to demonstrate their work with the robots to encourage young people to think about the opportunities that are available to them, if they should decide to pursue the avenue of computer science and robotics.
What has been your proudest Spelbots moment in the team’s 10-year existence?
There have been a number of proud moments. In 2009, the team was back in Japan competing in another RoboCup competition. They tied for first place and that was very exciting. In the tie for first place,
they were competing against a Japanese team from a university that is widely considered like the MIT equivalent in Japan. They were playing with a highly-regarded team of young, Japanese men. Their sense was, as they described it to me, that this Japanese team thought that they were going to be easy competition–this group of young Black girls from Atlanta.Another very proud moment was when two of our Spelbots successfully competed in the AT&T Mobility Challenge… They were selected as first prize winners for the mobility challenge and the prize winning program that they created–the competition was to create a mobile application–and the prize-winning mobile app that they designed was called HBCU buddy, which was an app that would help students learn more about HBCUs.
What are your hopes for the robotics team in the future?
I think we would like to be able to say that the Spelbots inspired other young women and young men, other members of the African American community, in particular, to consider careers in computer science and technology.